Sometimes my Fridays aren’t all about gigs or rushing out after a hard day’s work to catch up with buddies. There are those days too. But especially on these late autumn nights I like to spend some “Me” time alone. My companions are a good slice of pepperoni pizza, a glass of my favorite red wine, some movies and music. My go to movie for these days is Sleepless in Seattle and sometimes I’ll find myself watching the movie for what might be a 100th time while sometimes I’ll just keep the soundtrack on loop and revel in its goodness! I’ll admit, this soundtrack is somewhat special to me in a personal space.
I believe the movie derives 50% of its heart from this beautiful collection of a soundtrack. And, each time I listen to it all over again I feel like hi-5ing director Nora Ephron for doing a brilliant job on this. For apparently she has had the biggest hand in compiling this masterpiece! Ok, calling it a masterpiece might be stretching it a bit and being a bit biased (which I unabashedly am). But, it’s more about being perfectly suited to the films premised and giving it that classic air that makes it such a believable fairytale. From “Stardust” by Nat King Cole to “As Time Goes By” by Jimmy Durante – it is a glorious compilation of pop standards. And not to forget some beautiful country classics like “Stand by Your Man” by Tammy Wynette and “Back in the Saddle Again” by Gene Autry.
It feels like I never get tired of listening to this soundtrack album no matter how many times I listen to it. It’s something I can put on loop without having to worry about skipping a song or two. But, even if it might be the hardest thing to pick one song out of it, if I absolutely had to do it – it would be “In the wee small hours of the morning” by Carly Simon. This song adds such calm to the atmosphere.
However, just when you thought it would be all classics someone had the brilliant mind to throw in a little bit of Celine Dion with “When I fall in Love”, because it’s the 90s and we have remember it that way! Celine was such a staple to any soundtrack back then and this beautiful ballad just seamlessly fits in the concoction while bringing a little bit of freshness.
However, some this soundtrack may come across as confused. But, for me it is “systematic chaos”. Quite like the movie itself… far away from reality but full of heart. All these timeless classics are something that preserves it in a time capsule and never lets it get old – no matter how many times you go through the motions of witnessing that beautiful final scene at the Empire State Building and you ready yourself for your next re-run.
