NOVEMBER - 41 Songs in 21 Days

Just a quick couple of songs tonight, both from the newly released DVD of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Those of you who bought the soundtrack way back when the movie, which was part of a brilliant double feature called Grindhouse that also featured director Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror (a note-perfect tribute to the horror films of George Romero and John Carpenter), probably wondered why these two songs appeared on the CD when they were not in the theatrical release of the film.

When Tarantino released Death Proof to international audiences (whom were robbed of the joyous experience of seeing two movies for the price of one), the excised scenes that featured tonight's tracks were restored. The first, "Down in Mexico" by THE COASTERS, plays over the teased but never revealed (in the U.S., at least) lap dance that Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike character receives from one of the women he stalks at the beginning of the film. Tarantino's decision to cut this scene is lamentable, as it's one of the better directed and more electrifying scenes in the movie. Plus, the look on Russell's face is pretty priceless.

The second track, Willy DeVille's "It's So Easy," roars from Stuntman Mike's car at the beginning of the movie's second act, as Russell makes the mistake of sizing up a second group of females for his next kill. From the moment you hear the song in the movie, you want it blaring out of your own car stereo. While I can't promise you'll get a lap dance from Vanessa Ferlito with the first song, I can at least provide you with the same thrill on the DeVille number.

THE COASTERS
"Down in Mexico"

WILLY DEVILLE
"It's So Easy"


MORE ON TONIGHT'S ARTISTS:
- Willy DeVille was the frontman for late 70s NYC punkers Mink DeVille. He has released a bunch of solo albums, and somewhere in there even wrote and recorded the theme song to The Princess Bride. This will be all the more bizarre when you listen to "It's So Easy." I can only imagine Tarantino first heard "Easy" on the soundtrack to the Al Paciono film, Cruising. Learn more at his official homepage, or at this informative Wikipedia entry on DeVille.

- The Coasters. . . well, they're just a bunch of fuckin' pimps. Try and tell me that "Down in Mexico," the R&B group's first single, sounds like it came out in 1956. If I hadn't looked it up myself (and known that the band didn't make it long into the 70's), I would have guessed it was far more contemporary. Among many other hits, The Coasters were responsible for "Charlie Brown," "Yakkity Yak," and "Poison Ivy." Learn more here.