The unforgettable music of Titanic

David Foster has openly said that he never liked the song and I know a lot of people who say that they liked it at first but grew tired of it later. You know, it became a please… song, the sort you say please… to when it plays because you are sick and tired of hearing it and want it to stop. But no sense about saying please… about My Heart Will Go On because like it or not we will have to keep on listening to this song. Will Jenner’s lyrics for James Horner’s melody has turned out to be prophetic because as long as there is an audience for the movie Titanic this song will go on and on and on…

Watch it get another wind when Titanic resurfaces in 3D this week a hundred years after the ill-fated ship sank in the Atlantic and 15 years since James Cameron film opened in theaters. Titanic became big not only because it was a spectacle but also because it had heart. It became the first movie to gross a billion dollars because we all cried, laughed, swooned and hated those inept people who thought themselves better than God when they built their own version of the Tower of Babel in the Titanic.

Personally, I do not think Titanic can get any bigger than it already is. But I am willing to give Cameron a chance to show off what 3D can do. And so I will watch this again and hear My Heart Will Go On and on and on again in the magnificent Oscar winning score by Horner.

Come to think of it, the success of Titanic also resulted in the release of assorted soundtrack albums. One Back To Titanic featured additional music from the film composed and rearranged by Horner. It has some incidental tracks like The Deep And Timeless Sea, a few Irish jigs and most welcomed by the fans was the new mix of My Heart Will Go On with dialogue from Rose and Jack. I recall this one being played on the radio even months after the movie had been shown.

There was also something like Popular Music From The Titanic Era featuring the pop hits of the early 1900s. Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Oh You Beautiful Doll, Shine On Harvest Moon and others. Another one was by the Titanic Orchestra and had songs that were being performed by the band in the ship Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Poet And Peasant, The Blue Danube and the song they chose to play before they went underwater, Nearer My God To Thee.

You can say those were exploitative moneymaking ventures that chose to ride on the wave of Titanic’s success. Still I like the fact that they gave audiences a chance to experience the music of a bygone time and also reminders that God does not always take kindly to being mocked and neither does He tolerates man’s arrogance.

Speaking of soundtracks, the movie sounds of the moment comes from the box-office champion, The Hunger Games. Titled Songs From District 12 And Beyond, the CD was produced by the award-winning T-Bone Burnett and boasts of an all-star line-up of very hip performers. And all of the songs were written and produced expressly for this album. That means you will not be able to get them from any other CD by the featured artists.

Eyes Open by Taylor Swift, Safe & Sound also by Taylor featuring The Civil Wars, Kingdom Come by The Civil Wars, The Ruler And The Killer by Kid Cudi, One Engine by The Decemberists, Come Away To The Water by Maroon 5 feat. Rozzi Crane, Abraham’s Daughter by Arcade Fire and Run Daddy Run by Miranda Lambert feat. Pistol Annies are some of these.

The unique thing about this album though is that unlike the film, the music is so laidback and intimate. Just think of these songs as coming from the heart of Katniss Everdeen and not about the Hunger Games. It would have been very easy to rock this soundtrack but Burnett and director Gary Ross, decided to go for a folksy, introspective mood. Very nice.

 Now it would have been better for The Hunger Games to have a sweeping, romantic theme that this generation can be dreamy about in the future. Just like the way parents and grandparents think when they hear My Heart Will Go On or Speak Softly Love of The Sunflower or Lara’s Theme from Dr. Zhivago. But times have changed. So have the songs. They don’t make music like that anymore. They don’t make romances like those anymore.