Coen Brothers Final Day Two: Music and the Coens

2. Music is an important element in Coen films. More than background score, the songs and their lyrics are carefully selected and integrated to comment, create humor, and / or to underscore themes and motifs. Isolate and explicated examples of the use of music in several Coen films. In conjunction with their use of music / sound, it would also be interesting to consider the films that are marked by the absence (or minimal use) of music.


Music plays a supplementary role in the films of Joel and Ethan Coen, although in a very different way that it is conceived for most Hollywood features. While many studios are content to package songs for a soundtrack and haphazardly insert them into films where they (vaguely) see fit, and other directors (Quentin Tarantino for example) use music to augment the mood, the Coens integrate songs into their films in order to comment on the themes or underlying narrative. As they continue to make movies, the Coens have shifted the use of music (or, occasionally, the lack thereof) to include the score as commentary.

As early as Blood Simple, music is used in a discursive manner. The Coens use “It’s the Same Old Song,” by The Four Tops, repeatedly within the movie. It functions both to accentuate the decisions made by characters (the love triangle / murder angle), but one could also argue that the Coen brothers are using the lyrics to comment on their own decision to begin moviemaking with a neo-noir. Indeed, it is “the same old song / but with a different beat since you’ve been gone…” The Coens announce to audiences, critics, and the film community that, while their neo-noir is “the same old song,” narrative-wise, their technique distinguishes itself from previous instances of film noir revision. Their incorporation of unorthodox camera techniques (some borrowed from Sam Raimi) and willingness to ironically comment on the admitted un-originality of Blood Simple’s narrative provides a “different beat” needed to distinguish their debut from other first time filmmakers.

In Raising Arizona, Joel and Ethan begin using music to juxtapose styles and themes. The film’s score is primarily a southern / western combination of banjo music and “roots” flavored vocalizations, punctuated by a bluegrass version of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” Interspersed with these lighthearted musical excursions are Ennio Morricone-esque “Spaghetti Western” cues (attached to the “apocalyptic” biker Leonard Smalls) and a synthesizer score reminiscent of Goblin’s score for Suspiria. These darker elements create a contrast to the otherwise upbeat tone of Raising Arizona.

The Big Lebowski continues the juxtaposition of music and setting, although the Coens opt to let songs provide much of the commentary. Much of Lebowski’s soundtrack is designed to distinguish the Dude’s mindset from the film’s actual 1991 setting; songs like Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me” or Kenny Rogers “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” roots Lebowski in the late 60s / early 70s, where the Dude peaked mentally and likely remains, regardless of the year. The inclusion of The Sons of the Pioneers “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” as The Stranger’s theme not only creates a juxtaposition between The Dude and Sam Elliot’s mysterious “fourth wall breaking” narrator, but also comments on their shared ability to keep “drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.”

The Man Who Wasn’t There includes a primarily classical score, commenting on a tendency of classic noir films to use the more contemporary jazz set pieces – strange for a movement that priding itself on a fascination with the past. Similarly, The Ladykillers uses its songs to intensify the juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane, alternating between hymns like “Come, Let Us Go Back to God” and Nappy Roots’ “Another Day, Another Dollar.”

Later in their career, the Coen brothers make a bold choice with No Country for Old Men by removing a musical score altogether. The most noticeable song in No Country is used to punctuate the seriousness of Llewelyn Moss’ injuries as a cheerful Mariachi band plays over his collapsed body. The film is otherwise barren of music, perhaps a result of the Coen brothers unwillingness to dilute Cormac McCarthy’s source material with their ironic detachment. Although credited with the score, Carter Burwell has only one musical cue, and that appears during the closing credits.

A Serious Man alternates between traditional Jewish music and psychedelic rock music, creating a juxtaposition of the Old world and the shift in American consciousness in the late 1960s. The recurring musical message, that of Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love”, asks “when the truth is found / to be lies / and all the joy / within you dies / don’t you want somebody to love”, the question underlying much of Lawrence Gopnik’s existential crisis. There is an interesting side note to A Serious Man’s use of Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and Credence Clearwater Revival: the former both reflect the age at which Joel (born 1954) would be 13 and having a Bar Mitzvah, and accordingly the film’s setting of 1967. The latter reflect Ethan (born 1957)’s 13^th birthday and Bar Mitzvah. Danny Gopnik, the 13 year old son of Lawrence could then be considered an amalgam of Joel and Ethan Coen, and the film’s music reflects an autobiographical aspect of A Serious Man.