A LETTERED SOUL, BOOK 2- MUSINGS ON ART AND CULTURE

UNFORGETTABLE SOUNDTRACKS

Few days ago, I finally found Hal Ashby's seminal 1978 drama COMING HOME on a streaming service after years of searching for it. I have written about my views on the dramatic portrayals within the screenplay derived from the Vietnam War era and interpersonal dynamics here.

What is equally unforgettable as the screenplay and performances is the soundtrack that pulls together a veritable roster of classics. I mean these are all-time greats, many of which we have lapped up multiple times owing to their ubiquitous presence in popular culture. They are not just interspersed throughout but function as a continual presence during the screenplay's crucial passages.

OUT OF TIME by THE ROLLING STONES

Taking precedence is this bolt of requisite energy by Mick Jagger and his lifelong associates who always possessed a knack for melding rock and roll with the blues to make their songs musically rich.

Here, the lyrical target is not just on the opposite sex but the larger culture, toying between a tryst with impermanent stability and materialism, the fleeting nature of things. The chorus is one to instantly hum along to.

SAVE ME by ARETHA FRANKLIN

True to her Queen of Soul stature, Ms. Franklin takes the trail of betrayal, smooth talks and mendacity into account and in her stride. With robust horns to bolster its credentials, this one is proof of her repertoire being flawless and distinct.

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER by THE BEATLES

It's whimsical, lyrically outlandish and nowhere; similar to many other classics such as 'Here Comes The Sun', 'Yellow Submarine', it seems to burst forth like rainbows and sunshine from a child's perspective. The innate sweetness, the unadorned innocence relayed by the guitar can also hold a darker undertone. It's all in how we hear it and respond to the titular words especially.

BOOKENDS THEMES by SIMON & GARFUNKEL

These two men hardly strayed from their sedate charms and belief in the guitar or piano driving forth a songwriting feat. This dual theme attests to that.

With pithy words amounting to not even a dozen perhaps, the guitar does the deed here- build a compact world of fragile, delicate but omnipresent love for individuals who need it the most. Compassion fits into the scheme of things more appropriately.
Ultimately, music is the antidote here, the source of love, the fountain of everlasting hope.

ONCE I WAS by TIM BUCKLEY

If there's one abiding trait that unites songwriting mavericks, father-son duo Tim and Jeff Buckley, it's that they know how to use their voice as a beacon of compassion.

This song that appears in the final passage of 'Coming Home' is expertly placed in the screenplay, a bookend to this stirring story where the personal becomes political and universal in ways which are humane and unexpectedly finds some kindling of hope to quell dark clouds of trauma for all three protagonists.

When the mouth organ, guitar and Buckley's enunciation of the lines, 'remember me' come together, it gives you goosebumps.

We are many people when with others but it takes one to see and treat us as our authentic self. ONCE I WAS... echoes a ballad of genuine compassion in any given situation where our mental state is tested. It's the billow of the wind, the drop of water, the hand that assures us of our place in the world. Tim Buckley is extraordinary in his pitch and lyrical properties here.

Besides these standouts, there are pivotal moments studded with such titles as HEY, JUDE by THE BEATLES, BORN TO BE WILD by STEPPENWOLF, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL and JUMPIN' JACK FLASH by THE ROLLING STONES.

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HANDY MAN by JAMES TAYLOR

Another guitar-driven melody by James Taylor is one I discovered courtesy Joyce Chopra's justly rediscovered gem SMOOTH TALK(1985); there, in a screenplay realistic to the core when it comes to adolescent angst and self-discovery, Laura Dern plays this song when with her best friend and her sister, both of whom are unlike her in her present state of behaviour and choices but who share deep bonds of trust and care when together.

Since then, this song has become a staple for me. Like Dern, I love it when Mr. Taylor enunciates the lines, " they'll come running to me....", raising his voice to a delicate falsetto that's full of warmth and compassion.

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LOST AT SEA by ROB GRANT & LANA DEL REY

You are always one with those who brought you to this world and raised you. No other collaboration can come in the way of that purity of bonding.

When parent and child then take to music to give to the world a quiet, transcendental worldview of a lifetime, a song like this takes root. Like father, like daughter. Musical partners both in a melody buoyed by the piano.

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