Jackson Browne Song

[grandpa_chum]

ok, first off most of you probably thought this didn't belong in general discussion upon view of the title... but it does...

being a jackson browne fan and looking in a local record store I came upon one of browne's newer albums(which I'm not much of a fan of) but i was thumbing threw them anyway... much to my surprise one of the tracks jumped out at me... simply called "SERGIO LEONE"... never having heard the song I did look up the lyrics, and I must say even after seeing the title i did not expect the song to actually be biographically about leone, maybe references to his movies or something, but i was wrong.

here it is...
He came 'round here with his camera and some of his American friends
Where the money is immortal and the killing never ends
He set out from Cinecitt?through the ruined streets of Rome
To shoot in Almeria and bring the bodies home
He said
I'll be rich or I'll be dead
I've got it all here in my head
He could see the killers' faces and he heard the song they sang
Where he waited in the darkness with the Viale Glorioso gang
He could see the blood approaching and he knew what he would be
Since the days when he was first assisting The Force of Destiny
He worked for Walsh and Wyler with the chariot and sword
When he rode out in the desert he was quoting Hawks and Ford
He came to see the masters and he left with what he saw
What he stole from Kurosawa he bequeathed to Peckinpah
From the Via Tuscolana to the view from Miller Drive
He shot the eyes of bad men and kept their deaths alive
With the darkness and the anguish of a Goya or Van Cleef
He rescued truth from beauty and meaning from belief

[cigar joe]

cool, now how is the actual song? I Like JB too.

[grandpa_chum]

haha... i've actually never heard it.

[Beebs]

Wow. Pretty neat! I thought of songs about Spaghetti Westerns being a good topic with a wide variety of lyric ideas.

I'll have to look it up!

[Leonegeek]

In the mid-80's when I first got into Dire Straits, I discovered that they
had a song on their second album ('Communique') called 'Once Upon A
Time In The West'! The lyrics refer to the film, and the rhythms are a
little Morricone-esqe.

-Dave

[Leonegeek]

In the mid-80's when I first got into Dire Straits, I discovered that they
had a song on their second album ('Communique') called 'Once Upon A
Time In The West'! The lyrics refer to the film, and the rhythms are a
little Morricone-esqe.

-Dave

[Novecento]

Where he waited in the darkness with the Viale Glorioso gang

...

What he stole from Kurosawa he bequeathed to Peckinpah

...

With the darkness and the anguish of a Goya...

Wow - Browne really knows his stuff when it comes to Leone.

[stanton]

Wow - Browne really knows his stuff when it comes to Leone.

"What he stole from Kurosawa he bequeathed to Peckinpah"

But only the first half of this quote is true.

[Novecento]

"What he stole from Kurosawa he bequeathed to Peckinpah"

But only the first half of this quote is true.

Technically it's not entirely accurate but it is a song after all.

However, yes - Leone took a lot of visual style from Kurosawa, but (according to Leone at least) bequeathed to Peckinpah simply the thematic notion of doing a revisionist Western. These are indeed two very separate things whereas Browne's implication is that they are one and the same.

By the way I know Leone and Corbucci claimed Peckinpah would never have done what he did without them, but did Peckinpah himself actually acknowledge this anywhere?

ok, first off most of you probably thought this didn't belong in general discussion upon view of the title... but it does...

This should actually be moved out of "off-topic" to "Leone-related".

[stanton]

Technically it's not entirely accurate but it is a song after all.

However, yes - Leone took a lot of visual style from Kurosawa, but (according to Leone at least) bequeathed to Peckinpah simply the thematic notion of doing a revisionist Western. These are indeed two very separate things whereas Browne's implication is that they are one and the same.

By the way I know Leone and Corbucci claimed Peckinpah would never have done what he did without them, but did Peckinpah himself actually acknowledge this anywhere?

Interestingly in all the books I have about Peckinpah Leone isn't mentioned a single time. Only in an interview book Peckinpah claims that he watched FoD and liked it, and that Leone is "marvellous". And in Seydor's recent book about Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Leone is mentioned a few times, but the other way round. That Leone was one of the many directors influences by Peckinpah. At least OUTW and MNIN are using the twilight western themes of Peckinpah's films. MNIN very intensive.
Actually Peckinpah made revisionist westerns before Leone, and his style and his themes are very different from Leone. Also his way of using and directing violence is very different from Leone. Peckinpah's films are about dying, Leone's about killing.

[Novecento]

Peckinpah's films are about dying, Leone's about killing.

I think you can even take that beyond a thematic sense too.

I'm not sure if it is Frayling or someone else (maybe even just me in my head  ) who noted that the action in a Leone film is slowed down prior to the shooting (hence being about the killing via the long period of tension preceding the shots being fired in a duel), but in a Peckinpah film it is slowed down during the actual act of the shooting (hence being about the dying via slow-motion tied with rapid cross-cutting as people actually get hit by the shots)

[cigar joe]

I think you can even take that beyond a thematic sense too.

I'm not sure if it is Frayling or someone else (maybe even just me in my head  ) who noted that the action in a Leone film is slowed down prior to the shooting (hence being about the killing via the long period of tension preceding the shots being fired in a duel), but in a Peckinpah film it is slowed down during the actual act of the shooting (hence being about the dying via slow-motion tied with rapid cross-cutting as people actually get hit by the shots)

I though I said that