Bob Dylan’s best 1970s song, according to Quentin Tarantino
The anticipation of Quentin Tarantino’s release brings with it a lot of questions. Most notably, what is the plot? Just behind that intrigue is curiosity over the casting, and finally, what will the soundtrack be? Alongside his filmmaking legacy, Tarantino has built up quite a reputation for crafting soundtracks that tap into human nostalgia in a unique way. Blending cult classics with lesser-known hits, he has fans in the palm of his hand, eagerly awaiting an introduction to their new favourite song.
“One of the things I do when I am starting a movie,” the acclaimed director once said, “When I’m writing a movie or when I have an idea for a film is, I go through my record collection and just start playing songs, trying to find the personality of the movie, find the spirit of the movie. Then, ‘boom,’ eventually I’ll hit one, two or three songs, or one song in particular, ‘Oh, this will be a great opening credit song’,” the director added.
A foolproof methodology that has seen the likes of Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ and Dusty Springfield’s ‘Son Of A Preacher Man’ take on new lives amongst cinematic subcultures and revitalise themselves as hits among newer fans.
Surprisingly, Bob Dylan has never featured on the soundtrack of any Tarantino film. Given Tarantino’s appreciation for all things high art, you would think that Dylan’s work would be a shoo-in for Tarantino. But in many ways, Dylan’s work is as dense as Tarantino’s dialogue. It is so packed with his own unique storytelling sense that it makes it difficult for any song to reasonably fit into a scene with out stealing the limelight.
But his omission from Tarantino’s filmography isn’t related to any ill feelings from Tarantino. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. Tarantino has heralded ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ to Uncut magazine and explained just what it is about Dylan’s work that appeals to him so much.
“It’s my all-time favourite song.” he said. “It’s one of those songs where the lyrics are ambiguous you can actually write the song yourself. That’s a lot of fun – it’s like Dylan fooling around with the listener, playing on the way he or she interprets the lyrics.”
He continued, “I used to think ‘If You See Her, Say Hello’ was a more powerful song than ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ but, over the years I’ve kinda realized ‘Tangled…’ has the edge, just for the fun you can have with it.”
Given what Tarantino perceives as malleability within the song, it is surprising he hasn’t based some of his own storytelling around it. Tarantino’s tenth and final project The Movie Critic has recently been scrapped by the acclaimed director and he is reportedly back at the drawing board, conjuring up ideas. Perhaps in the movie that is supposed to see him bow out from the industry, in a blaze of glory, using a Bob Dylan classic to spark a flame of interest could be an interesting move. Heck, we even know an actor who could play a Dylan-inspired character.
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