if my life had a sound track...

i have an extensive music collection. cd's, tapes, 8-tracks (i can only listen to these in my dad's broke-down hippie van-come-mega-tackle-box), records (can't really play these anywhere, as i don't have a player, nor trust anyone else to not scratch them as i use theirs -- i guess i just have them to look at...). some are well-known albums by various bands or solo artists, though most of them bear the phrase "on tour" or "best of". everything from the classics (motzart, bach, etc.) to classic rock (stones, zeppelin, beatles, monkeys) to subsect cult favorites (velvit underground, meat-loaf, etc).

but, as my best friend, and fellow blogger, says, the best kind of music is usually the kind with no words. and the best, and easiest, place to find these are movie sound tracks. most of my albums are movie soundtracks. as you know, sound tracks can have all instrumental, all artist hits, or a mixture of the two. i like the third choice.

has anyone asked you, "if your life was a movie, who would you want to play you?" well, the right actors are all well and good, major faces are important. but even moreso are the ones behind the scenes. writers, directors, and producers, for example (for me: the writers from "pirates of the carribbean," tim burtion/jim henson jointed for director and producer). but, perhaps the most taken-for-granted job is the one who writes the score, and choses the songs. the wrong notes, an improperly-placed/edited song, could completely destroy a scene, or sometimes, an entire film! the real question shouldn't be "who would play you?", but "who would organize your sound track?"

personally, i would chose danny elfman, but should he ever become unavailable to assist in scoring the life of a small-town bumpkin, i could get a start on my list of songs.

first, i've always liked, and identified, with the song livin' la vida loca. it's all about how a guy can't resist the crazy, odd quirks of this chick, most of which activities i quite enjoy -- especially the part about having a new addiction for every day and night (i have an incredibly addictive personality, though my interests vary too much to stay addicted for long. i'm sure i give all my friends and family whiplash sometimes). should there ever be a romance scene in my life-film, i want this playing in the background. or perhaps i could be seranaded in a karaoke bar... anyway, i'm not here to write the film, just roughly set up the score...

i've also got this great image in my head going, should the world ever fall to a post-apocolyptic industrial wasteland, and a resistance army is set up to fight against an unjust unified-world-order. as i fight for freedom in the great field battle, cannons, guns, and bombs uprooting trees, scattering mud clots onto the heads of the opressed, genetically-altered soldiors of the opposing side, all of us dirty and defeated in the end. now, take out the sounds of explosions, cries of agony, and, in its place, let the ABBA song fernando play. a great song, of the sour effects war has on the body and soul, set to such a very jaunty little tune, as sung by the true disco queens. think about it: death, distruction, and carnage assaulting the viewer's eyes, as hurdy-gurdy-hippie-disco-dance music plays with their ears. the juxtaposition is beautiful.

other than the music, the film may need capes, mad scientists, dashing and/or disgusting pirates, and definately werewolves. and a magical sock monkey.

but that's a rant for another time. 'till then, i'm livin' la vida loca, whether the song is playing or not... come on post-apocolyptic industrial wasteland....