![]() ![]() Joel Sill became involved because he was working at Steppenwolf’s publishing company, Dunhill Records. The end credits roll to “Ballad of Easy Rider,” the soundtrack’s most straight-on commentary (“All they wanted was to be free”) - which Dylan partially composed, but was completed and performed by McGuinn. No music plays as each of them are shot to death by a local, no music plays as Wyatt’s bike bursts into flames, and there is only silence as the camera rises into the sky. Roger McGuinn’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” accompanies their dawn ride after a short but important nighttime talk (“We blew it,” Wyatt sighs), but fades out as the duo arrives at their destiny on a country road. Then, suddenly, “Flash Bam Pow” by the Electric Flag bangs as Billy and Wyatt ride out of the Crescent City. Brief snatches of dialogue (“He would have wanted us to”) occasionally break up the song, which continues over a montage at a brothel.Īfter a night of drunken revelry in the Mardi Gras parade, set to a diegetic street performance of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” the music goes away again, and there is no song for the acid-tripping, makeout scene in a New Orleans cemetery - just the sound of a girl reciting scripture, snippets of crying and Wyatt talking to a statue as though it were his mother. The fuzzy, kaleidoscope sound of “Kyrie Eleison Mardis Gras” by the Electric Prunes accompanies the mournful meal that Wyatt and Billy share afterward. Where a more conventional score would normally underline the tension, the soundtrack here is silent. Those Southern boys sneak up on the sleeping trio at night and beat George to death. ‘Uh oh.’ It’s a wonderful moment.”Ĭambern’s radical editing, with its lightning-fast flashbacks and flash-forwards, also included cutting on the less obvious “kick beats” in the music - rather than the strong beats - in order to keep viewers on their toes.Įqually interesting is where there is no music. we’re in the wrong place, guys,’” Cambern says. “That song set up that whole sense of: ‘Oh, God. The good vibes smash-cut to a shot of the Long-Allen Bridge taking the characters into the South, scored by Hendrix’s syncopated, acidic “If 6 Was 9.” The song viscerally conveys this place of danger where, according to George, the natives hate what Billy and Wyatt represent: freedom. “It was a continuum of a good feeling, of discovery of the land they were going through,” Cambern says. “Don’t Bogart That Joint”) by the Fraternity of Man. ![]() “What could be better? I think that scene really was the platform for him moving on, in terms of getting more roles.”Īnother laugh arrives when George tries his first joint one night, and the following ride through horse country is cut to “Don’t Bogart Me” (a.k.a. “I mean, that’s Nicholson,” Joel Sill says of the song by psychedelic-folk group the Holy Modal Rounders. One of the film’s forays into humor comes courtesy of the goofy, honky-tonk “Bird Song” (“If You Want to Be a Bird”), which underscores the first ride with Jack Nicholson’s ACLU lawyer, George, grinning giddily underneath his gold football helmet. Our heroes pick up a hitchhiker and travel through desert and mountain country to “The Weight” (“Take a Load Off”), a sunny singalong performed by the Band. “‘Easy Rider’ opened that whole conception of thinking that a song really needs to be placed for its narrative value, as well as its playability in a scene - that is, its contribution.” Schneider and Rafelson continued the trend of “jukebox scores” with “The Last Picture Show” and “Five Easy Pieces,” and the rest of Hollywood took notice.įilmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, John Hughes, Wes Anderson and, famously, Tarantino carried on the tradition of using existing songs in a sophisticated, story-driven way - but there’s also been a 50-year wave of more crass, marketing-motivated imitators. “Easy Rider” wasn’t the first film to use rock music - “Blackboard Jungle” was a pioneer, and “The Graduate” was set to the songs of Simon & Garfunkel - but it was arguably the first to use a curated playlist in place of an instrumental score. “And we kept listening and culling, and listening and culling, and finally getting to the point where we had really worked out, over a long period of time, the music that we felt would be appropriate,” says “Easy Rider” editor Donn Cambern. It was expensive to hire a composer and an orchestra, so as they edited the film they “temped” it with songs from a pile of roughly 200 records. The choice by Fonda and Hopper, the latter of whom also directed, to score the film with rock songs of their generation was as much economical as it was artistic. Produced for around $350,000 by Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, the film was one of the first hits made outside of the studio system. ![]()
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