Music To My Ears by Michael A. Black

I always wished that I could read music, but, alas, in grammar school I could never tell the difference between Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE. When we were given our Tonettes, a small, plastic flute that was supposed to teach us how to make music, I was among the unscrupulous boys on the playground who used it to mimic a police whistle. Of course I shivered in fear as the music teacher, who happened to be the principal’s wife, went from desk to desk, bending down to listen to each member of the class play the assigned tune. She recoiled from my side like I was dispensing a foul odor, and perhaps I was. I did take a few guitar lessons when I was in my mid-teens. I had aspirations of maybe becoming a singer until I was advised by one of my high school music teachers that I had a “pitch problem.” That was the end of my singing career.

So after learning how to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” I put the guitar into its case and never removed it again. But through it all, I never lost my appreciation for good music, especially when it came to the movies.

Good theme music should lurk in the background as a film unfolds, enhancing the entire experience, and then filter back into your memory after you’ve left the theater or turned off the television set. Think about the great ones: The Magnificent Seven, the theme from the Rocky movies, 2001, A Space Odyssey, and The Exorcist. Remember Paul Newman flicking his nose at Robert Redford to indicate the con was on track as the first few bars of “The Sting” sounded in the background. Of course, who among us can forget the greatest of them all, the James Bond theme. I look forward to that one cropping up in each new Bond movie.

And then there are the musicals. Think where we’d be without Elvis and Ann Margret singing “The Lady Loves Me” in Viva Las Vegas, or without Frank Sinatra explaining how to deliver a knockout performance to Debbie Reynolds in The Tender Trap. Think about what you remember about my all-time favorite movie, Casablanca, and I’m sure you’ll tell me it’s Dooley Wilson singing “As Time Goes By.” I still get a shiver whenever I hear “The William Tell Overture” and picture the Lone Ranger and Silver racing across the Western plains. I used to record the old TV show, Mancuso, FBI, just to listen to the opening theme song. I also developed an appreciation for rap music after watching Undisputed, with prison boxing champ, Wesley Snipes, squaring off against an imprisoned Mike Tysonesque heavyweight champ, played by Ving Rhames.

Yeah, music, especially theme songs, can add a lot to a movie. As they say, it can soothe the savage beast. Let me see, where did I put that old Tonette?

Comments

[Camille Minichino]

The tonette is one instrument more than I can claim to know, Michael. But I also love music and relate to most of your selections -- until you got to rap!

Probably my favorite, that can bring me to tears and smiles at the same time: Louis Armstrong's It's a Wonderful World. My second favorite version is by Cornet Chop Suey out of St. Louis.

[Michael A. Black]

I know what you mean about rap music, Camille. So much of it is offensive, but in this particular movie it fit. It's more of guy's flick, though.