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Babe: The Deluxe Edition (CD)
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Nigel Westlake
UPC: 888072198562
Release Date: 1/8/2021
Limited Edition Of 1500
$ 19.98
Babe was a massive surprise hit in 1995. A children’s film starring a talking pig seemed to be the last thing anybody expected from visionary filmmaker George Miller (Mad Max), but writer-producer Miller, adapting a 1983 book with director and cowriter Chris Noonan, created a universally praised, moving film about a farm pig (a combination of animatronics and computer graphics) who longs to be a sheepdog. With a memorable lead performance by James Cromwell as Babe’s farmer-owner, Babe received glowing reviews and seven Oscar nominations, winning for Best Visual Effects.
A major part of Babe’s exquisite, perfectly pitched storybook tone is the charming, resonant symphonic score by Australian composer Nigel Westlake. Westlake interpolated a tapestry of classical works, most notably the maestoso section of Saint-Saëns’ third (Organ) symphony, to perfectly capture the human emotions of the film’s animal characters, while ironically treating the humans with an animal-like comedy and whimsy. (The Saint-Saëns melody had been adapted into the British reggae pop hit, “If I Had Words,” by Scott Fitzgerald & Yvonne Kelley; a sped-up version is used in Babe’s end credits.)
Babe was released as a music-and-dialogue album at the time of the film. This CD Club edition features the expanded score as music only, packaged with a new essay by Tim Greiving featuring insights from Miller, Noonan, Cromwell and Westlake.
1. Opening Titles (From the Motion Picture Babe) – Piggery (4:02)
2. Fairground (Extended Version) (3:16)
3. I Want My Mum / The Way Things Are (4:40)
4. Fly Would Never / Crime And Punishment (3:50)
5. Anorexic Duck Pizzicati (Extended Version) (3:21)
6. Repercussions / Into The Knackery (2:23)
7. Pig, Pig, Piggy / Mother And Son (2:28)
8. Pork Is A Nice Sweet Meat (3:26)
9. Christmas Morning (Extended Version) (5:08)
10. Separate The Chickens / Round Up (2:37)
11. Babe’s Round Up (Extended Version) (3:59)
12. Mad Dog Rex (1:14)
13. The Sheep Pig (Extended Version) (1:47)
14. Dog Tragedy (1:36)
15. Hoggett Shows Babe / Maa’s Death (2:58)
16. Home Pig / Hoggett With Gun (2:48)
17. Pig Of Destiny / Up To Trouble (3:29)
18. The Cat / What Are Pigs For (2:26)
19. Where’s Babe / Hoggett’s Song (3:23)
20. Babe In The Kitchen / Help For Babe (4:32)
21. Baa Ram Ewe / Rex On Truck (1:46)
22. The Gauntlet / Moment Of Truth (Extended Version) (1:45)
23. Finale - That’ll Do, Pig, That’ll Do (1:39)
24. If I Had Words (2:54)
25. Toreador Aria (Excerpt) (:22)
26. Pork Is A Nice Sweet Meat (With Vocals) (3:51)
27. Blue Moon (Excerpt) (:40)
28. Cantique de Jean Racine (Excerpt) (:41)
29. If I Had Words (Hoggett’s Song) (1:52)
Music Composed and Produced by Nigel Westlake
Performed by the Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra
https://www.varesesarabande.com/collections/all/products/babe-the-deluxe-edition-cd
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Took a shot on this based on some of what I heard from the samples and original album. Will look forward to diving into this sometime soon!
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Took a shot on this based on some of what I heard from the samples and original album. Will look forward to diving into this sometime soon!
Have you seen the film? It's wonderful.
I did a very long time ago. I'll have to watch it again!
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Holy cow this is incredible!! Nigel Westlake did a 20th anniversary re-recording with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra a few years ago, which until now was the only way to hear the music without dialogue inserts. To have the complete original score to the film without dialogue is something people have been waiting 25 years for. Big ups to Varese for putting this gem out for people to discover / rediscover! It really is top tier film music, and one of the best examples I can think of of classical material being adapted into a score. Highly recommend all of Nigel's work to people here who aren't familiar.
Does anyone know about the score to Babe: Pig In The City? The original soundtrack CD had a measly <10 mins of score, and interviews with Westlake seem to indicate that a grand majority of what he recorded was left on the cutting room floor. Apparently it all got dropped and replaced when producers panicked about the music being too dark/violent two weeks before the movie opened in theatres.
(here's the article, for reference: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6052837/babe-accompanied-live-by-cso-under-composer-nigel-westlake/)
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Oh wow! It sounds like what happened to Westlake on the sequel is kinda like what happened to Goldsmith on the original! Score (substantially) rejected related to concerns about dark tone (the original longer cut of Babe which Goldsmith scored was supposedly much darker).
I would be SUPER interested to hear everything Westlake composed and recorded for the sequel — hopefully some label will produce that for album some day. But for now this Varese DE of his first score is amazing news! I adore this film and score.
Yavar
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His orchestration of Greig's Norwegian Springdans in the cue "Round Up" on the OST and "A Pig That Thinks It's a Dog" on the rerecording is simply sublime and gives me chills every time. So noble and playful at the same time.
This is one of those scores that I have cherished since childhood. I love the rerecording with the Melbourne Symphony but the performance on the OST by the Victorian Philharmonic is incredibly spirited and hard to beat. Many thanks to Varese for this excellent release!
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I have and like the re-recording but had heard from other fans that it has some different (slower) tempos and such compared with the original film recording. True? In any case I’m glad to have the original in complete form sans dialogue (though the dialogue on the original Varese album was more charming than annoying IMO).
Yavar
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It would be so amazing if the original cuts of both films were released...I wonder if George Miller would ever make that happen. Just IMAGINE if the Goldsmith score for the original darker cut of the original Babe were recorded and put into the film? I suppose someone would have to finish writing the last sixth of the score...paging Joel McNeely! 
Yavar
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It does seems like George Miller would have the power to produce new cuts of these films, but perhaps he's happy with how the final versions turned out even with the changes and compromises. Has he ever publicly commented on the original versions?
Not to my knowledge but if other people know more I hope they'll share! I do think the films turned out very well (and are still pretty dark) in the end despite whatever cuts were made to the original darker vision.
Does anybody know if "Babe" actually underwent some reshoots after Jerry Goldsmith's unrecorded score was rejected? The changes to the original film were made pretty early on as opposed to "Pig in the City," which was an "11th hour" retool.
I don't know anything about reshoots but I read/heard that it was substantially cut to remove some of the darkest aspects (though there's still some pretty dark stuff present in the finished film, as I said) after Jerry Goldsmith scored it. The only clues we might have to the original version are the cue titles in Jerry's original score (not offering all that much insight...they mainly show how close he got to completing the film, before he was rejected only a week before the recording was supposed to take place):
http://collections.new.oscars.org/Details/Archive/71303062
Yavar
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I have to confess that I don't remember anything about the movie - let alone the score. The samples sound interesting, though.
The movie was a major success because it was dubbed in multiple German slangs (with voices by various celebs). Reason enough for people to rush to the cinemas. I wonder if the same approach has been taken for other languages as well.
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I have to confess that I don't remember anything about the movie - let alone the score.
You should fix that ASAP! It is an absolutely *wonderful* film and is available on multiple streaming services you're probably already subscribed to. Then you can appreciate the also-wonderful score in film context, and decide whether you want this album.
Yavar
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I have to confess that I don't remember anything about the movie - let alone the score.
You should fix that ASAP! It is an absolutely *wonderful* film and is available on multiple streaming services you're probably already subscribed to. Then you can appreciate the also-wonderful score in film context, and decide whether you want this album.
Yavar
I will do so, but the first step will be the score
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