#ken thorne

[vinyl-artwork]

Ken Thorne, Inspector Clouseau (Original Motion Picture Score), 1968

Artwork by Jack Davis

[coolcherrycream]

The other night, I was watching The Marx Brothers movie At the Circus (1939). There’s a scene where a character named Mrs. Dukesbury is throwing a party. As she enters the room, there’s some music playing (about 1:08:30 into the movie), and it sounded awfully familiar. I soon realized it was the same song that plays in Head when the Italian army surrenders to Micky (about 21:35 into the movie, or at 5:01 in this video).

I always kind of figured this song was Italy’s national anthem, but after listening to it, I now know it is not. Unfortunately, IMDb didn’t have a credit for that song in either At the Circus or Head, so I started looking through my Monkees resources to find out what it was.

SOTCAA contains an analysis of Head’s original script, but the script didn’t seem to mention the music in that scene. The analysis mentions the song:

A delightful patriotic march from Ken Thorne - which sounds like he was channeling some kind of John Wayne movie score - accompanies their collective surrender.

The Monkees, Head, and the ’60s had this to say about the scene:

...while the deeper meaning of this little interlude may be lost on a contemporary audience, the point isn’t - lest we miss it, a slice of faux-Italianate opera sings out over the scene until the last soldier lopes by. (pg. 176-177)

I couldn’t find any reference to the song in The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story (although, to be fair, I didn’t look through all 739 pages), The Monkees Film & TV Vault’s Head page, or the Monkee Magic Head review. So it would seem the identity of this song isn’t currently well-known in the Monkees community.

Next, I tried using some websites that claimed to be able to identify songs by uploading a snippet, and after a few sites failed to identify it, one gave me the answer:

Triumphal March (Marcia trionfale) from the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi

Coincidentally, Micky appeared in the musical Aida from 2000-2004.

The only other online reference I found to this song and the Monkees was a comment on Reddit from a few months ago. Anyway, IMDb’s Head soundtrack page has now been updated, so the identity of this song shouldn’t be such a mystery any more.

[musicthyme]

Visit Original Link

"Comedy Tonight and Playout” from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

Musical Direction by Ken Thorne Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

[longliverockback]

The Beatles Help! 1965 Capitol ——————————————————————— Tracks: 01. James Bond Theme 02. Help! 03. The Night Before 04. From Me to You Fantasy - Ken Thorne 05. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away 06. I Need You 07. In the Tyrol - Ken Thorne 08. Another Girl 09. Another Hard Day’s Night - Ken Thorne 10. Ticket to Ride 11. The Bitter End • You Can’t Do That - Ken Thorne 12. You’re Gonna Lose That Girl 13. The Chase - Ken Thorne ———————————————————————

George Harrison

John Lennon

Paul McCartney

Richard Starkey “Ringo Starr”

* Long Live Rock Archive

[arinewman7]

Girl and Baobabs, Madagascar

Photography by Ken Thorne

[thirtytwoelvismovies]

Today’s listenings.

[nitrateglow]

Unpopular opinion: I don’t think the 1968 Inspector Clouseau is a bad movie. Great? Nah. But watchable and not the embarrassing failure most Pink Panther fans claim it is.

One of the movie’s strengths is actually the score by Ken Thorne. So very, very 1960s and in a good way. YouTube’s been recommending some snippets from the soundtrack for me and they’re a pleasure to listen to without the movie.

[omegaplus]

# 2,162

Portishead self-titled French promotional disc (1997)

A rare promotional color of Portishead’s powerful and critically-aclaimed album. France’s Go Beat! label made only a few cardboard sleeves of this pre-release before Portishead had everyone on full undivided attention. Turntablism and samples include Ken Thorne’s "Inspector Clouseau" (1968); The Pharcyde’s "She Said" (1996) and The Sean Atkins Experience "Hookers & Gin" (1957). So what are you waiting for? Now go get them all.