The music of Tarantino

A while back Miksteip - a radio-program in Norway - had a Quentin Tarantino-special. In other words, they devoted their entire 2-hour program to the music used in Tarantino´s movies.

Needless to say, the program was just about as badass as Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. In this post I´d like to share some of my favorite songs from the movies of the influential director/auteur, many of them featured in the Tarantino-special on "Miksteip".



The fact that Tarantino has always put a lot of effort into choosing the right music for his movies is no secret, as shown by the following quote:

When I´m writing a script, one of the first things I do is find the music I´m going to play for the opening sequence. I can´t go forward until I figure out how I´m going to start - what the opening mood music will be - Quentin Tarantino

So, what better place to start then at the beginning? In his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino proves that the aforementioned quote rings true. He really does give it a lot of thought, and in the end that gives us a very memorable opening sequence in both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Although the opening of Pulp Fiction is a great one, the song used in Reservoir Dogs is a better song if you remove the filmic context of it. And although it´s hard not to link song and film moment, I´ll only include songs that I also consider strong in it´s own right.

Little Green Bag - The George Baker Selection

Reservoir Dogs

Stuck in the Middle With You - Stealers Wheel

Reservoir Dogs

Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield

Pulp Fiction

Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack

Jackie Brown

The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You

Jackie Brown

(Although not on the soundtrack, this song can be heard as Jackie Brown puts on a record at her house. The song she puts on at first is on the soundtrack, but it is definitely not a coincidence that Quentin Tarantino lets the record run to play this one as well...)

Bang Bang - Nancy Sinatra

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Don´t Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Down in Mexico - The Coasters

Death Proof

Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) - David Bowie

Inglorious Basterds

Freedom - Anthony Hamilton & Elayna Boynton

Django Unchained

Ancora Qui - Elisa

Django Unchained

Who Did That To You? - John Legend

Django Unchained

Too Old To Die Young - Brother Dege

Django Unchained