Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate! As children of the 80s and 90s, mixtapes played a prominent role in my courtship of my loving wife Marion. Or rather, mix CDs did. One of the first ones I gave her included the song “Under the Milky Way Tonight” by the Church as track nine. We later chose it for our first dance at our wedding, which took place on August 9. I’ve made it the ninth track on every mix I’ve given her since then, which I try to do at least once a year, usually on Mother’s Day or her birthday. With her permission I’m posting the track listing for the one she received this weekend, since it’s more indebted to the movies than usual. Although: films are often are the way I discover new old music these days and the mix I made her last year was heavily influenced by movies as well, so maybe this is the continuation of a trend? Anyway, the other convention I honor is limiting the mix to just 80 minutes worth of music, since that was the length of the CD-Rs that got this tradition started. Without further ado, here’s what is included on Marion’s 2024 Mother’s Day mix along with notes about the films that inspired each selection:
- Ian Tracey, Garfield Wilson, and Pirate Chorus – “Ode to the Falling.” This is from the soundtrack for Peter Pan & Wendy, which was directed by David Lowery, the François Truffaut of the “film blogosphere” (am I the first person to use that term in a decade?), and one of our “Friday Movie Night” selections last year.
- Band Nada Kentjana – “Djaleuludja.” This is from the soundtrack for Before, Now & Then, which I reviewed for Educational Media Reviews Online last month.
- Janis Martin – “Cry Guitar.” Film critic Sheila O’Malley mentioned Martin on her blog a couple of months ago, which prompted me to give her a listen.
- Giorgio Moroder – “Ivory Tower.” This is of course from the soundtrack for The NeverEnding Story, a favorite of Marion’s.
- Sergio Bruni – “Canzona Appassiunata.” This is from the soundtrack for The King of Laughter, which I reviewed for Educational Media Reviews Online last year.
- Pet Shop Boys – “Always on My Mind.” As I mentioned in my “Top Ten Movies of 2023” blog post, the scene in All of Us Strangers that this song appears in was one of my favorites of the year.
- Toots & the Maytals – “Pressure Drop.” I listened to a lot of reggae after the MUBI Podcast devoted a show to The Harder They Come last April.
- Michel Legrand – “Concerto from The Young Girls of Rochefort.” This one is, uh, from the soundtrack for The Young Girls of Rochefort, which was the subject of our February, 2024 “Drink & a Movie” blog post.
- The Church – “Under the Milky Way Tonight.” For the reasons described above!
- Grandaddy – “Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake.” No movie connection here, just a good song by a band Marion likes.
- Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris – “To Know Him Is to Love Him.” No movie connection here, either, just a new to me cover of one of my favorite songs from Back to Mono.
- David Bowie – “Chilly Down.” This is Marion’s favorite song from the soundtrack for Labyrinth, a recent Friday Movie Night selection.
- New Order – “Hellbent.” I regularly do this annoying thing where I listen to every album from a band or solo artist in chronological order, which would be fine except that everyone else in my family doesn’t necessarily want to come downstairs to New Order every morning for two weeks. Anyway, Marion noted that she liked this song.
- John Carpenter – “Night.” This appears on the soundtrack for Bacurau, the subject of our May, 2023 “Drink & a Movie” blog post.
- Sandy Lam – “Ji Qing.” This is from the soundtrack for As Tears Go By and I think the MUBI Podcast must have mentioned it in their show about Chungking Express last April?
- Brian Eno – “Fat Lady of Limbourg.” No movie connection: they played “Back In Judy’s Jungle” at the Cherry Circle Room in Chicago when I went there last year during ALA Annual and it reminded me that it had been a minute since the last time I listened to Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), which is an awesome album.
- The Waterboys – “The Whole of the Moon.” No direct movie connection, but the Waterboys’ song “Fisherman’s Blues” was on the soundtrack for Waking Ned Devine, which I saw at the Point of View Cinema (RIP) in Millersville, PA in high school. I dug it enough to buy it on CD, and that’s what was playing when I lost my virginity. So now you know that about me!
- Little Anthony & The Imperials – “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” No movie connection: Little Anthony & The Imperials was another group I gave the “listen to every song in order” treatment to last year.
- Mohammed Rafi – “Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To.” From the soundtrack for Pyaasa, the subject of our November, 2023 “Drink & a Movie” blog post.
- Kacey Musgraves – “Cardinal.” No movie connection: just a good song that Marion likes from an album that came out this year!
- Manon Hollander – “Marie Douceur, Marie Colère.” From the soundtrack for John Wick: Chapter 4. Who doesn’t love foreign language versions of classic rock songs?
Enjoy!
Links to previous mixes I’ve posted about can be found here.
The Prodigal Cinephile 