I've long believed "Sing the Wee" as heard on the album was just a demo -- the singers are all performing in trained, operatic style; they're not trying to mimic the characters in the film. I suspect Ridley Scott after hearing the demo ultimately decided "Thanks, but no thanks" and abandoned it -- but Goldsmith was so fond of the song he used it in the end titles, and included the demo on the album.
I agree with him. I often do, obviously, but here, specifically, keeping it in the score just because it's great music is justified by how great the music really is. It makes the concept of "music inspired by" feel less inherently criminal.
I agree, I always loved the song and how it works within the score.
Just listened to your awesome podcasts Yavar.Great job and it makes me wanna buy the MUSIC BOX Version as well to my silva.One of my top ( oh man its hard to make a top ten list for Goldsmith)Goldsmiths. I also need to check out THE STRIPPER again. I didnt like it when I first got it..I have to revisit it again.Also SPYS which I never hated as much as the folks here on the forum.
Thanks so much for the kind words, moolik! Don't wait too long on the Music Box Legend, honestly. In fact I thought it had already sold out, like Lionheart!
I think my love for this score and movie are clear through this thread. To me, Legend is at the same peak for Goldsmith as Star Trek: The Motion Picture. And I think Music Box's excellent presentation of the Silva Cues + the other odds and ends are as complete as this score will ever be unless the original masters turn up (which seems highly unlikely). Who knows when this will be reissued after Music Box runs out, so its now or never.
I doubt those 250 copies will last long, for such a beloved score. Frankly I'm surprised this release has lasted this long, considering the Lionheart expansion released earlier the same year sold out in a matter of months. That had 500 fewer copies made, sure, but the film was also much more obscure so I understand Varese's thinking even if they sadly underestimated demand. Both expansions similarly added just ~4 minutes of previously unreleased music too... I get that might not be much to most folks, but in both cases IMO it's a good/important few minutes and worth double dipping.
Made a neat discovery recently thanks to Jon Burlingame, which I thought I'd bring up in this thread since I suspect some folks may not have noticed it in the Waltons thread. While Goldsmith composed only six original scores for the series after the Homecoming TV movie pilot, he did contribute a piece of original music to a seventh episode of the series, in pre-production (Arthur Morton wrote the actual score for it) -- the song "My Parents' Child" from "The Minstrel", with words by John Furia Jr. (who wrote the episode itself):
Now there are shades of Goldsmith's "Tomorrow Is the Song I Sing" from The Ballad of Cable Hogue a few years earlier, here... BUT for the title phrase "My Parents' Child" (and later in the song, "tomorrow's child"), Goldsmith's accompanying musical phrase to me strongly connects to the notes of the title phrase in "My True Love's Eyes" from Legend, which he penned over a decade later. Listen and let me know if you hear it too!
I’m sure someone could attempt to compile that info, but it’s going to be a bigger number than most people expect. Are you talking only things with lyrics, or do all the instrumental rock covers of Black Saddle count?
)Goldsmiths.
