and the bells were ringing

levon helm, the last waltz, 1978 (d. martin scorsese)

virgil caine is the name,
and i served on the danville train,
'til stoneman's cavalry
came and tore up the tracks again.
in the winter of '65,
we were hungry, just barely alive.
by may the tenth, richmond had fell,
it's a time I remember, oh so well,

the night they drove old dixie down,
and the bells were ringing,
the night they drove old dixie down,
and the people were singin'.

they went
la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la,

back with my wife in tennessee,
when one day she called to me,
"virgil, quick, come see,
there goes the robert e. lee!"
now i don't mind choppin' wood,
and i don't care if the money's no good.
ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest,
but they should never have taken the very best.

the night they drove old dixie down,
and the bells were ringing,
the night they drove old dixie down,
and all the people were singin'.

like my father before me,
i will work the land,
like my brother above me,
who took a rebel stand.
he was just eighteen, proud and brave,
but a yankee laid him in his grave,
i swear by the mud below my feet,
you can't raise a caine back up
when he's in defeat.


(first posted in 2007)

lontano

martin scorsese - shutter island - 2010

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

subtle relationships of sound and music found in shutter island
(the soundtrack being an outstanding gathering of 20th century classical music)

specifically, sounds of:
rain, snow, wind, thunder, water and the sea, fire, vinyl lps (surface sounds, memory), distant melodies, distant voices, dreams, bird sounds and other animals, drone, reverberant spaces (military architecture)

 boat ride to shutter island, flash back (includes record player no. one)

 voice fades when women becomes visible

records and record players (odeon records, moments of nazism *)

record player no. two - it's mahler

record player no. three - memory of nazi's office

record player no. four - wife flash back two

record player no. five - nazi's office

distant melodies (from two different sequences in the film, first one with delay)

thunder / john cage (with voices, snow fall, and a girl's voice) / mahler
girls voice reminiscent of the twins in the shining

 the sea / man falling into the sea (heard, not seen) / feldman's rothko chapel /
scelsi's uaxuctum and small rodents

also worthy of mention is the ward c section with bird sounds, water dripping, electronic outbursts, and distant voices


music supervision - robbie robertson
sound mixer - petur hliddal
supervising sound editor - eugene gearty
music editor - jennifer l. dunnington
music researcher - jared levine

music:
- john cage - root of an unfocus, music for marcel duchamp
- brian eno - lizard point (from on land)
- morton feldman - rothko chapel 2 (from rothko chapel)
- lou harrison - suite for symphonic strings, nocturne
- györgy ligeti - lontano
- ingram marshall - fog tropes, prelude: the bay (from alcatraz)
- krzysztof penderecki - symphony no.3, 4th movement: passacaglia - allegro moderato
- max richter - on the nature of daylight
- giacinto scelsi - uaxuctum 3rd movement
- alfred schnittke - four hymns: hymn II for cello and double bass
- lonnie johnson - tomorrow night
- johnnie ray - cry
- kay starr - wheel of fortune (also used in l.a. confidential)
- dinah washington and max richter - mixed by robbie robertson

and the bells were ringing

virgil caine is the name,
and i served on the danville train,
'til stoneman's cavalry
came and tore up the tracks again.
in the winter of '65,
we were hungry, just barely alive.
by may the tenth, richmond had fell,
it's a time I remember, oh so well,

the night they drove old dixie down,
and the bells were ringing,
the night they drove old dixie down,
and the people were singin'.

they went
la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la,

back with my wife in tennessee,
when one day she called to me,
"virgil, quick, come see,
there goes robert e. lee!"
now i don't mind choppin' wood,
and i don't care if the money's no good.
ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest,
but they should never have taken the very best.

the night they drove old dixie down,
and the bells were ringing,
the night they drove old dixie down,
and all the people were singin'.

like my father before me,
i will work the land,
like my brother above me,
who took a rebel stand.
he was just eighteen, proud and brave,
but a yankee laid him in his grave,
i swear by the mud below my feet,
you can't raise a caine back up
when he's in defeat.

levon helm, the last waltz, 1978 (d. martin scorsese)