Badlands : The Music

Did anyone else notice a strong similarity between the music in Badlands and True Romance? I love the soundtrack, light yet haunting very similar to True Romance, which put a playful, sweet twist on a violent story.

Yes i did and so did a lot of people in the past.

I think a lot would be an understatement, LOL!

"Ya never know what ya don't know, ya know?"

It's actually Carl Orff song. Also in many other movies. great song, yes!

Gassenhauer is a short piece from Carl Orff's Schulwerk. The title means "Street Song". As the full title ("Gassenhauer nach Hans Neusiedler (1536)") indicates, it is either an arrangement of, or inspired by, a much older work by the lutenist Hans Neusiedler from 1536. It (along with several other pieces) is in fact credited to Orff's longtime collaborator, Gunild Keetman on at least one recent release of the Schulwerk[1]. As with many other pieces from the Schulwerk, it has been used multiple times on television, radio, and in films, including the films Badlands,[2] Ratcatcher, True Romance (corr - Hans Zimmer, "You're So Cool"), Monster (film) and Finding Forrester.

Thanks a lot for clearing that up, I knew it reminded me of another soundtrack but I couldn't remember what it was.

"You have watched it, you can't unwatch it!"

Yes! I was shocked as heck to find Gassenhauer in there. I heard it once on the radio and somehow tracked down a very old recording - love that song. Too bad they didn't play the whole thing.

They seemed to be trying to get some sort of music box quality with that song - contributing to the feeling that it was all unreal - some little girl's fantasy.

What hump?

Do you know the name of the song that sounds when they are in the forest, just before Kit gets to know that some people is coming? Is says something about the trees and the breeze.

Yeah the soundtrack is awesome and the Orff piece is very similar to the Hans Zimmer score in True RomanceI also really liked the Erik Satie number at the end. I'd never heard it played by instruments other than a piano.

I just love the music in this film, but it's driving me crazy identifying which piece is which. Is the music in the opening scenes (with the zylphone playing)the theme by James Taylor, or Carl Orff? I would appreciate it if someone could list the music in order and playing over which particular scene. Thanks.

The film opens and closes over the credits with Gassenhauer (Street Song) from Musica Poetica / Orff Schulwerk by Carl Orff & Gunild Keetman. Portions of his theme play throughout the film, along with 5 other excerpts from Musica Poetica. I searched used record stores pre-internet for years trying to track this music down, and after missing it on several purchased re-issue LPs "[some German title] aus Musica Poetica", finally got the 6-CD remastered box set (BMG, 1994) of the original 10-LPs issued 1963-1975. You stated as follows:

---

would appreciate it if someone could list the music in order and playing over which particular scene.

---

I took my best shot at this - see this board's thread "The Music In Badlands and True Romance", posted by myself - by musica_poetica (Sun Aug 9 2009 00:54:21):
http://www.imdb.com/board/10069762/board/nest/128746118?

Check out this other link for films mentioned at the end of this 2-page essay on the 500 year evolution of Gassenhauer that began as a simple lute song:
http://www.osdiscography.com/OSD2.pdf

Is it the same song???

Badlands

True Romance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du0NSnJnoEY&feature=related

You could be forgiven for thinking they are the exact same song.

http://www.youtube.com/user/eddyc09?feature=mhum

Good points, I think you are right on the mark about it being an homage. But are the references here to it being a "song" correct? It's a piece of music, yes, but without words can it be a song?