Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Paul Simon parodying then popular rapper/ dancer MC Hammer for Paul's song 'Proof' from 1990's The Rhythm of the Saints album.
The music video is as funny as 'You Can Call Me Al'!
"Boots" (Netflix) - A soundtrack-analysis (with GIFs and links)
The idea to this post came to me when I randomly had a line of the soundtrack in my head and suddenly thought "wait, the text is painfully accurate for Sullivan - is that the case with every song used in the show"? So if you enjoy "Boots" as much as I do, you might enjoy my "little" episode-by-episode analysis of the soundtrack :) I tried to make it appealing by including GIFs and links to the songs on youtube :)
More under the cut!
(Sullivan sings "We are the champions" here)
Episode 1 (The pink Marine)
I want to break free (Queen): This plays when Cameron sits in the bus to boot camp. Of course you can read the choice of this song as cynical ("break free" when joining the military?!), but for Cam, this is an act of breaking free - from his mother, his old life...he starts his very own journey.
Venus (Bananarama): This plays during the head-shaving. I read that this song is very popular in the LGBTQ+ scene, but I personally know this song from the Venus-razor ad, which played in Germany for years...so I found that quite fitting and funny they used it for the head-shaving :)
Run away (Oingo Boingo): This is playing during the end credits of the first episode, after Cam had already contemplated to wash out of boot camp, because it's nothing like he thought it would be. The text reflects that and his decision to leave home: "Run away all alone, Run away from fear, Run away from sadness, Run away from tears, Run away from home"
Episode 2 (The buddy system)
What we all want (Gang of Four): This plays right in the beginning, when Sullivan gets dressed and says "kill!" into the camera. At first I thought they chose this song only because it's sounds totally badass and fits Sullivan's energy. But then the text got stuck in my head and I thought "hell, waaaait a minute...this sounds like it is about Sullivan!" - and the idea to dive deeper into the soundtrack was born :
Could I be happy with something else?
I need something to fill my time
Could I be happy with something else?
I need someone to fill my time
This demon on my back
Preaches the razor's cut
The hope that does not fade
Fast and frightening (L7): This plays during the obstacle course, the part where Sullivan teaches the recruits how to clear his wall, and Cameron failing miserably while Sullivan stares him down and shouts at him. The text, again, is beautifully accurate for Sullivan and the whole situation (if you ignore that they sing about a "she"):
Her glance hits me like lightning
I heard that girl is fast and frightening
Dirty hair and a laugh that's mean
Her neighbors call her an evil machine
She's fast, she's lean
She's frightening
Episode 3 (The obstacle course)
Princess of the universe (Queen): This is playing when Cam tries to conquer the stairway to heaven. Here I just like that fact that they picked a song named "Princess of the universe" instead of something with "king" in it :D Princess of the universe fits Cam perfectly - and of course the song has such a great energy! EDIT: @allforreading-fandomthings pointed out to me that it's actually "PRINCES of the universe", so plural of prince (which makes total sense as the first line is "here we are, born to be kings, we're the princes of the universe) - sorry for that and thank you for the correction!!
What's a girl to do (Marcia Ball): This song starts playing when the recruits clean the barracks, but also (and that's intersting) plays throughout the whole scene that follows, which is Barbara Cope and Sergeant Pitowski cooling down after having sex. I always felt like Barbara feels embarrassed that she had sex with him the moment he snatches her cigarette and says "sugarplum" and that he knows when "a woman needs a good whoopin'". Like she feels looked down upon and plays it down with her "well, getter get back to it" (selling cosmetics). Of course I could be overinterpreting things, but in my eyes, the text fits this idea:
Well I'm tired and confused
The way you treat me I feel so abused
I can't let go and you can't be true
What's a girl to do with a man like you
Little Bit O' Soul (Ramones): This song starts playing when they're on the confidence course and Cam just arrived at the slide for life, out of breath and bracing on his knees. The song isn't played out, but the energy and the text is very uplifting, which is nice:
And if your party flops 'cause there's nobody groovin'
You need a little bit o' soul and it really starts movin', yeah!
And when you're in a mess and you feel like cryin'
Just remember this little song of mine
Episode 4 (Sink or swim)
Then (The Charlatans): This plays when Sullivan leaves with his car to meet his lawyer, wanting to get advice if he should leave the Marines. I think the lyrics never play in the scene, but you could interpret them being about the Marines/the military:
I wanna bomb your submarines
You don't do anything for me
You were sometimes hard to find
You were never safe to be with, then
When the Rainbow comes (Word Party): This song plays after Sullivan met the lawyer, when he's still sitting in his car, contenplating if he should leave the Marines. The song plays in the radio and then becomes louder as Sullivan remembers getting his Semper Fi tattoo ("Semper Fi motherfucker"). The lines that are audible during that scene are these, and once I realized them, they hit me like a brick - it's really like someone sends a message, a plea to Sullivan through the radio:
C'mon pack your bags
Clear the floor
Let's step out through the open door
(then it's cut off, but it continues like this:)
Leave a note that says goodbye
Build a new house
Down by the sea
Get to the place we were meant to be
You'll know it when you smile
Episode 5 (Bullseye)
Waiting for the night (Depeche Mode): This song plays in the end credits, after Ochoa's passing. Apart from the very fitting, gloomy mood of the song, the lyrics fit as well:
I'm waiting for the night to fall
I know that it will save us all
When everything's dark
Keeps us from the stark reality
Episode 6 (The things we carry)
The sweetest taboo (Sade): This is the sexy song playing when Sullivan is in the motel, nervously waiting for Wilkinson. And while I should have known that the lyrics would be meaningful, they broke my heart for Sullivan when I actually read them:
If I tell you, if I tell you now
Will you keep on, will you keep on loving me?
If I tell you, if I tell you how I feel
Will you keep bringing out the best in me?
You give me the sweetest taboo
That's why I'm in love with you (with you)
You give me the sweetest taboo
Too good for me
Sometimes I think you're just too good for me
(that GIF is not from that exact scene, but it's sweet :D)
Angel of mercy (David Kauffman & Eric Caboor): This song plays when Cope brings back Ochoas personal belongings and we can see how the name tags get removed etc. It's such a beautiful, sad and bittersweet song, which, again, fits the mood perfectly...and also the lyrics seizes the thoughts the recruits are having about Ochoa:
Oh, I should have seen it coming
Guess I could have stayed awake
Always some damned fool mistake
Keeps me falling in this place
Change is sometimes for the better
If a man can keep his head
Well at least that's what I've read
Can't believe all that is said
Elegia (New order): It's that song that is playing when Sullivan runs through the forest in Guam, scared and determined to leave his lover behind, while we see Wilkinson waiting in the motel room. The song doesn't have any lyrics, but it transports the emotional heavyness of the scene...and then I was curious what "elegia" / "elegy" means...and it's a song/poem of mourning, or a funeral lament....*cries*
A better way (Johnny Smith Congregation): This song is very calm and plays in the scene when Fajardo visits McKinnon and his family at home and when they're talking about black people in the military and Fajardo wanting to make a change as a woman. And of course, the very fitting lyrics of the song are:
frustration confusion, disenchantment, disillusion – I guess that 's the way it's gonna stay until we can find a better way [...] is this the way its gonna stay, if we dont find a better way
Luv Dancin’ (feat. Jasmine, Radio Edit)(Underground Solution): That's the sexy, upbeat song that accompanies Jones scene when he and Cam meet for the first time ("looks like we're bunkies!"). Of course, the lyrics are flirty as hell:
I’ve been watching you, boy
The way you move is doing something to me
That sexy body of yours, baby
I dream about it every day of the week
Episode 7 (Love is a battlefield)
Here and now (Luther Vandross): This is the song Sullivan sings on Maitra's wedding (probably unpopular opinion: I think Max Parker sung it better ^^;). And while the lyrics are very obvious and it's of course a love song that he sings for the bridal pair (but he could very well sing it to Wilkinson as well), there is another interesting fact about the song: Luther Vandross was in fact a closeted gay man, which makes the choice for this song even more meaningful.
Can't touch this (Mc Hammer): Right after Sullivan's singing and the scene with imagines Wilkinson, the wedding party is in full swing and "Can't touch this" plays - and the song goes on into the next scene, when the camera shows the recruits showering and all the naked butts are on screen...and I find it hilarious that they play ""Can't touch this"! :D Poor Cam!
Black velvet (Alannah Myles ): That's the sing playing during the sexy sleepwalking scene with Cam and Jones. I don't find the text of the song particularly fitting, but I just LOVE that they used this song here, because it's THE classic "it's getting sexy and we're subtly foreshadowing it" song :D When it came on I knew exactly what this scene will be about - or so I thought :D It's just a very beautiful, sexy song!
(damn, there's NO GIF of that scene where Cam's almost kissing Jones?! That's a pity :D)
No big deal (Love and Rockets): Aaah, this alread hurts when I just think about it...it's the song that plays in the bar when Sullivan assaults that guy with the beer glass...and just this one line "No big deal" that comes in after the screen went black is so.damn.sarcastic... No big deal my ass, Sullivan.... :( The song is actually quite nice, but I think it's ruined for me ^^;
Episode 8 (The crucible)
Know your rights (The Clash): This just plays for a few seconds, right when the recruits start marching at night after McKinnon gave the order "march!". Again, we don't hear the lyrics of the song, but I was curious about them and damn - they are political! Small excerpt:
You have the right not to be killed
Murder is a crime
Unless it was done
By a Policeman
Or an aristocrat
Changes (David Bowie): Of course that's the song Hicks sings in that bar after the Crucible :) And yes, as I already expected, the lyrics are fitting:
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes, don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes, just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me, but I can't trace time
Under pressure (David Bowie & Queen): Yeah, "Under pressure" indeed - this is the song that comes in after Cam sees the news on the TV in the very last scene, the songs also plays during the credits. And it gives me chills looking at the lyrics and I'm so afraid for Cam and the others:
Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure that burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets
Why, why, why?
Love, love, love, love, love
Insanity laughs under pressure
We're breaking
Thank you so much for following me through this post - I had so much fun putting it together :D I am in awe of this show, because the more I dive into it, the more I see how carefully curated it is, that (almost) nothing is in there by accident, almost everything serves a purpose or has a deeper meaning. And that's one thing I love so much about this show!! Thank you for reading and sharing and loving the show :)
Little heads-up for @allforreading-fandomthings because you were curious about this post ;)
My sources were genius.com for most of the lyrics and also this website about the Boots-soundtrack.
