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WeeklyBeats.com / Music / Kedbreak136's music / The Ballad of William Blake

The Ballad of William Blake

By Kedbreak136 on September 22, 2024 8:21 am

Dead Man, by Jim Jarmusch, is a beautiful black and white movie that takes place in the American west during the 19th century. It could be the setting for a cowboy movie but really ends up being more a journey to the underworld, where the protagonist (played by Johnny Depp), is named William Blake, and is helped by a native American that keeps on quoting William Blake (the poet) poems to him. It is a weird dream like movie, with sequences that include Iggy Pop making opossum chili con carne. A beautiful movie.

The poem is The Fly, by William Blake.

› The Fly --William Blake

› making the track

› shameless plug

That's a very surreal description. I'm curious what happens in it.
I do hope it's better than the other western Depp did.
- Raioh

You absolutely nailed the old wild west vibe here. I haven't seen the film, but damn what you've made sounds cool!

Need to watch the movie again. Thanks for the reminder. Nice to hear your beautiful strat. It has a great sound. The atmosphere and the vibe your samples add are very much „Wild West“. I can imagine, how the making of this song was fun. Very nice one.

J'adore la mélodie de saxophone vers la fin.

Superbe ambiance la track.

I remember watching this movie a long time ago... like in the early 00's?  I don't remember it too well other than it was atmospheric and the soundtrack stood out to me.  I believe it was done by Neil Young?  Seems like it might be a time for a revisit.  Regardless your track does a great job of creating a lonesome western visual and the birds give it a nice ominous feeling.

I love that movie, was thought provoking. I need to watch again. Enjoyed this track, a great atmosphere that would go well with the movie. Cool to hear that poem read, is that you reading it? Oooh, love the sax that comes in, that's a climax.

Devieus wrote:

That's a very surreal description. I'm curious what happens in it.
I do hope it's better than the other western Depp did.
- Raioh

I did not watch the other westen movie, i think the one where he plays a native american? Dead Man is not so much a western movie, this is more a weird gothic fairy tale that happens to take place in a black and white western, supported by neil young's wailing guitar. An experinence more than a movie.

jegasus wrote:

You absolutely nailed the old wild west vibe here. I haven't seen the film, but damn what you've made sounds cool!

Thank you for the kind comment! Strat + tremolo and it already takes us 140 years back (or more accurately to ennio morriconne).

Q-Rosh wrote:

Need to watch the movie again. Thanks for the reminder. Nice to hear your beautiful strat. It has a great sound. The atmosphere and the vibe your samples add are very much „Wild West“. I can imagine, how the making of this song was fun. Very nice one.

Yes it was really fun, spraying things here and there. I like it when things click and the process is just like a fun playful experience, with little analytic thinking. Thank you for your kind comment.

djippy wrote:

J'adore la mélodie de saxophone vers la fin.

Superbe ambiance la track.

Merci beaucoup! Faudrait que j'apprenne a vraiment jouer du saxophone, ca pourrait etre encore plus interessant.

Cosmic Cairns wrote:

I remember watching this movie a long time ago... like in the early 00's?  I don't remember it too well other than it was atmospheric and the soundtrack stood out to me.  I believe it was done by Neil Young?  Seems like it might be a time for a revisit.  Regardless your track does a great job of creating a lonesome western visual and the birds give it a nice ominous feeling.

That's right - Neil Young made the soundtrack. I remember looking for this soundtrack for a long time until i found a nice little shop in shibuya that was speciailized in movie soundtracks and I was able to find it, in the early 2000s. It is pure magic. Thank you for the comment, and please revisit the movie, it is timeless in its weird quirks.

miraclemiles wrote:

I love that movie, was thought provoking. I need to watch again. Enjoyed this track, a great atmosphere that would go well with the movie. Cool to hear that poem read, is that you reading it? Oooh, love the sax that comes in, that's a climax.

One of those weird movies that seems to have been lost in the collective memory, before depp was just playing a variation of a drunk pirate in all his movies. Yes, I am the one reading the poem. I tried with AIs but could not really get the vibe right, it felt too much like a commercial or a documentary so I ended up doing it myself and applying effects. Thank you!

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