Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds: Motion Picture Soundtrack

Inglourious Basterds Soundtrack

Quentin Tarantino usually has a strong hand in the music that filters into his movies.  But in the case of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds Soundtrack, his touch feels lighter, despite having his name firmly cemented in the title.  The album opens with Nick Perito’s tune “The Green Leaves of Summer,” a rich cinematic instrumental with a classical/western feel.  Perito worked for several decades with famed musician Perry Como.

The album makes a smooth transition into composer Ennio Morricone’s “The Verdict (Dopa La Condanna),” which fuses classical and western in a way that must have made Tarantino’s heart palpitate.  Having scored hundreds of films, many of which are probably on Tarantino’s top 100 list, (A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad, the Ugly) it’s no surprise to find him making not one, but four appearances on the album.

Charles Bernstein brings the hipster vibe to the mix with “White Lightning (Main Title).”  Having other songs previously featured in the Kill Bill movie, Bernstein is becoming a staple of a Tarantino soundtrack.  In this track, a cool ’60s-influenced bass line is thrown in a blender with the Wild West.  Billy Preston snaps the soundtrack into overdrive with “Slaughter.”  Released in the seventies, the track is oddly one of the more modern songs found in the entire lot.

The Film Studio Orchestra keeps the campfire burning with “One Silver Dollar (Un Dollaro Bucato),” another western inspired cowboy song.  The German tunes start to trickle in during the second half of the album, starting first with Zarah Leander’s “Davon Geht Die Welt Nicht Unter,” which translates to “That is Not the End of the World.”  Originally released in 1942, Leander was a hit in Nazi Germany while later shunned by many after the war, although her political convictions remained somewhat unclear.

Relative newcomers Samantha Shelton and Michael Andrew contribute “The Man With The Big Sombrero,” before Lilian Harvey & Willy Friston sound off with “Ich Wollt Ich Waer Ein Huhn,” a German tune popular in the thirties, which loosely translates to “I Wish I Were a Chicken.”  Jacques Loussier delivers perhaps the oddest piece on the entire album with “Main Theme From Dark Sun,” a moody instrumental.  Continuing to borrow songs from other films, David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting Out The Fire),” plays like the odd song out on the album.  Lalo Schifrin, best known for creating the Mission: Impossible theme song, makes an appearance on the soundtrack with “Tiger Tank,” which is fittingly a name for a particular German tank from the Second World War.  Ennio Morricone makes two final contributions to the album before the smorgasbord of music is laid to rest.

Never one to back down from bold musical decisions, Quentin Tarantino has created another soundtrack that seems to be well received by his fans.  Less in the cultural zeitgeist than his previous work, it should nonetheless bring old tunes to new ears in a way that few can successfully achieve.