4.15.2007

Easy Rider- (Soundtrack)



I remember hearing "Don't bogart that joint" for the first time. I must have been 18 years old. A friend from high school came over after class with the album. We listen to that cut over and over again, singing and laughing are daffy tennage heads off. I still have the wax today. Some great cuts on this. One of my favorite soundtracks of all time. The film was amazing too. Peter Fonda was the dude.

If ya get a chance, check out a flick with Fonda called "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry". Another classic road movie. This time with a 69' Charger muscle car, with the pedal to the metal.

-wino


HISTORY
Easy Rider is a 1969 road movie, written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern. The film tells the story of two young men, Wyatt (played by Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), who "went looking for America but couldn't find it anywhere."

Both The Band and Crosby, Stills, & Nash were considered for the soundtrack. However, during editing, Hopper used various music from his own record collection. When CSN viewed a rough cut of the film, they assured Hopper that they couldn’t do any better than what he already had. Bob Dylan was asked to contribute music, but was reluctant to use his own recording of It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), so a version performed by Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn was used instead. Also, instead of writing an entirely new song for the film, Dylan simply wrote out the first verse of “Ballad of Easy Rider” and told the filmmakers, “Give this to McGuinn, he’ll know what to do with it.” McGuinn completed the song and performed it in the film.

Along with Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider helped kick-start an artistic renaissance in Hollywood during the late sixties and early seventies. The major studios realised that money could be made from low-budget films made by directors with artistic intentions. Heavily influenced by the French New Wave, the films of the so-called "Hollywood Renaissance" came to represent a generation increasingly disillusioned with their government and the world.

1. The Pusher - Steppenwolf
2. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
3. The Weight - Smith
4. Wasn't Born To Follow - The Byrds
5. If You Want To Be A Bird - The Holy Modal Rounders
6. Don't Bogart Me (AKA Don't Bogart That Joint) - Fraternity Of Man
7. If Six Was Nine - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
8. Kyrie Eleison/Mardi Gras (When The Saints) - The Electric Prunes
9. It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) - Roger McGuinn
10. Ballad Of Easy Rider - Roger McGuinn

Easy Rider

pass: mud

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved the film and the music that was in it. Thanks for sharing this great soundtrack.

Anonymous said...

Love it, too ... a dateless cult film i enjoy all the time ... and the music is simply mindblowing ... thx indeed, nicola from hungary