Considering Quentin Tarantino tried to hire inimitable Italian composer Ennio Morricone for his WWII epic “Inglourious Basterds” — the maestro signed on tentatively and then had to drop out because of prior obligations — it’s probably not a shock to anyone that the American filmmaker decided to use old Morricone songs for the film’s soundtrack regardless.
Earlier this morning one of our faithful U.K. readers sent us the entire tracklist for the ‘Basterds’ soundtrack (from the Cannes website), but since we were caught in the nightmarish nexus of international travel and Air France, we’re just getting to it now (sorry, dude, thanks for sending though). The soundtrack to the film features eight classic Morricone compositions, plus a song by Billy Preston and one co-written by David Bowie, 1940s-period authenticity be damned.
Also included is the track “The Man with the Big Sombrero” by Sam Shelton and the Michael Andrew Orchestra, which comes from the 1943 comedy,”Hi Diddle Diddle” (we thought, Micheal Andrews at first??). We shall console ourselves with the fact that QT has included the theme from 1972 blaxploitation flick “Slaughter” by Billy Preston (whose amiable presence was hired to quell the fractious Beatles sessions on Let It Be — how prescient, we also included a Preston track on our If I Were Quentin Tarantino soundtrack mix made in 2006). The soundtrack also includes cuts from the aforementioned David Bowie and electro-disco maven Giorgio Moroder’s soundtrack to the ’80s Paul Schrader film “Cat People” (more anachronisms), ’70s Brit band The Arrows (who recorded the original version of “I Love Rock and Roll”), and composers Gianni Ferrio and Charles Bernstein. All this seems more than a bit incongruous with the metal-ish Eli Roth-like intro music on the official site and trailer (not to mention the WWII, occupied France milieu, but that’s probably the work of TWC marketing elves (and QT).
It’s interesting to note the meta-ness of Tarantino. He’s not only recycling songs from old films — nothing extraordinary, for Quentin this is de rigeur — he’s actually recycling from his own oeuvre; or at least one song, by Charles Bernstein (“White Lightning”) was also used in “Kill Bill,” QT’s film which of course has the Spaghetti Western vibe he’s always said he intended for this WWII epic.
“Inglourious Basterds” premieres in competition at Cannes on May 20.
“Inglourious Basterds” full film soundtrack credits
1.The Green Leaves of Summer – Dimitri Tiomkin (from the film “The Alamo”)
2. After The Verdict -Ennio Morricone (from the film “The Big Gundown”)
3. L’Incontro Con La Figlia – Ennio Morricone (from the film “The Return of Ringo”)
4. White Lightning- Charles Bernstein (from the film “White Lightning”)
5. Il Mercenario (Ripresa)- Ennio Morricone (from the film, “Il Mercenario”)
6. Slaughter- Billy Preston (from the blaxploitation flm, “Slaughter”)
7. Algeris 1 Novembre 1984- Ennio Morricone, Gillo Pontecorvo (from the “The Battle of Algiers” directed by Pontecorvo)
8. The Surrender (La resa)- Ennio Morricone (from the “The Big Gundown”)
9. One Silver Dollar- Gianni Ferrio (from the Spaghetti Western, “One Silver Dollar”)
10. Bath Attack- Charles Bernstein (from the film The Entity)
11. Davon Geht Die Welt Nicht Unter- Zarah Leander
12. The Man With The Big Sombrero- Sam Shelton and the Michael Andrew Orchestra (from the film Hi Diddle Diddle)
13. Ich Wollt Ich Waer Bin Buhn- Lillian Harvey, Willy Fritsch, and Paul Kemp
14. Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)- David Bowie & Giogrio Moroder (from “Cat People”)
15. Mystic and Severe- Ennio Morricone ((From “Death Rides A Horse”)
16. The Devil’s Rumble- The Arrows (from the film “Devil’s Angels”)
17. What I’d Say Zulus- Elmer Bernstein (from the film, “Zulu Dawn“)
18. Un Amico- Ennio Morricone (from the film “Revolver“)
19. Tiger Tank- Lalo Schifrin (from the 1970s WWII film, “Kelly’s Heroes“)
20. Bastero Gondors Rabhia e Tarantella- Ennio Morricone (from the film “Allonsanfan“)
You can’t embed it, but here’s a live version of the Bowie, Moroder track, super curious as to how this is going to play (work?) in the movie.
– thanks for the easy lay-up, Katie Walsh
