This is a good one from one of my favorite movies. I don't think this movie did much at the box office, but as an English teacher (and Cohen brothers fan), it certainly has a place in my heart.
See, this movie (Merk, Josh, Christian - just skip this part) is the Cohen brothers' version of Homer's "Odyssey" set in rural Mississippi in the Great Depression. George Clooney as Ulysses Everett McGill is Odysseus, trying to return home to his wife after being away for several years and encountering any number of supernatural and dastardly obstacles along the way. The movie is full of similarities to the original story, as well as quite a few in jokes that only dorky, quasi-literate people would get.
It's a great companion piece to show to my students after reading the Odyssey, and I'm always pleasantly surprised at how much the kids usually like it. And how can you not love a movie with scenes such as this - Ulysses and the boys meeting the "Sirens"
Most of the public, though, remember this movie for the soundtrack. It was a minor sensation, selling eight million copies and building primarily through word of mouth. It even spawned an near hit with "A Man of Constant Sorrow" on some country stations.
"O Brother Where Art Thou?" seemed to presage America's brief dalliance into roots music, the reverberations of which are still being felt in indie rock by way of alt country (Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis, DBT, etc.) I'm always interested in the deeper sociological meanings behind popular phenomena, especially as it pertains to music, and I'm still trying to figure out what the popularity of this soundtrack "meant" at the time. Maybe it was a backlash against the highly synthesized, prefab, sheen of the teenpop explosion of Brittany Spears, The Backstreet Boys and N' Sync who were huge at the time? I'm not really sure, but that's my best guess.
The version of "Angel Band" in the movie is not performed by Ralph Stanley, however. It's done by the Peasall Sisters, a real gospel group who provided the songs that Ulysses' daughters performed in the movie. You can hear the song at the very end of the movie, as Ulysses and his reunited family (Spoiler!) stroll across town.
I probably shouldn't say it, as Ralph Stanley is one of the iconic bluegrass / folk singers, but I like their version better. Part of that may be that Stanley provides the voice to "O Death" during the KKK scene in the movie, the scariest part by far, and it's hard to hear his voice without thinking of it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?jjmfvn34bq2
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5 comments:
I would recommend Dolly Parton's, The Carter Family's or Doc Watson's "Angel Band" and Bob Dylan's or Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Man of Constant Sorrow" over the examples on the soundtrack. I do admit the soundtrack did a good job making some of the old folk tunes more accessible to modern ears, but I for the most part like other versions better.
Why were there no Carter Family songs on the soundtrack? I hope the people who got into this disc went back and listed to some of the originals.
Merk - the more I think about it, I should have just thrown the commentary for this one to you.
Definitely more in your wheelhouse.
That is sweet, but I am way to cranky. Keep up the good work.
Maybe I will hit you up with a guest post later on . . .
What a beautiful movie, and that soundtrack . . . filled with music I would never listen to, that grates on my nerves . . . yet I cannot resist. It's just so purty.
Gopher?
This is one of those soundtracks that immediately takes you back to the movie itself. I cannot hear "Go to sleep little baby" withouth thinking of that scene. "Oh Death" is freaky, but I love the marching-band coordination of the klan rally adding the necessary absurdity to the organization.
Gopher?
I do seem to remember the soundtrack doing better commercially than the movie. Though that's a bit like comparing apples to ornages, still.
Gopher?
Now, Merk, what in the world is making you cranky these days? ;)
J- one thing that always strikes me about showing this in class is how much the 'lil Wayne-Young Jeezy-Fallout Boy obsessed teenagers like the music too.
Again, there has to be some unconscious appreciation of the music (not to sound like a colleague of ours, but still)
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