28 replies to this topic

[Scott]

I've been lurking for a while and decided it was time to say hello. My name is Scott and I live in British Columbia, Canada (that's on the west coast for those of you who are geographically challenged). I can't remember how I ended up at Blues Brothers Central, but it's indeed the best Blues Brothers web site and community anywhere.

Blues Brothers is one of my favorite movies (hard to decide which is my #1 favorite). Whenever I was feeling down I would pop in my VHS recorded off TV once upon a time, and Jake and Elwood would always cheer me up. Last month I bought the 25th Anniversary DVD and thoroughly enjoyed the scenes I had never seen before.

Anyways, what prompted me to make this post is the fact that I'm a soundtrack completionist. (It also bothers me how the songs on the soundtrack are not in the same order as in the movie.) I didn't realize how many songs were in the movie until I stumbled upon the list on this web site. Like many, I've gotten to the point where I'm stuck. The rest of this post will be about the songs in the movie and what I've learned/found.

Somebody Loan Me a Dime
Performed by Fenton Robinson

I saw a post somewhere on the forums where somebody suggested that it's not any song in particular, but just repeating chords. I stuck the DVD in my computer, turned up the volume, and I agree. One of these days I'll try extracting it.

UPDATE 2006-07-21
I did eventually extract it but couldn't remove much of the foreground noise. Chris managed to get a cleaner extract last weekend and a forum member successfully identified the title and artist.

She Caught the Katy

This was on the original soundtrack.

Shake Your Moneymaker

Not too hard to find this one.

The Old Landmark

This was on the original soundtrack.

God Music

I didn't spend tons of time looking, but this didn't seem to be anywhere, so I extracted it from the DVD. I faded in and out on the beginning and end respectively in an attempt to get rid of the transitions with The Old Landmark. Unfortunately I'm no expert, so the reconstructive work is noticeable, but it beats not having the song at all. Would be interesting to know if extracted from BB2000 more might be able to be reconstructed, but I don't have that DVD and don't really want the shame of owning it.

Soothe Me

There's two versions of this that are fairly easy to come by. I opted to go with the not remastered earlier version from "The Best of Sam and Dave" to stay with the feel of the movie.

Hold On, I'm Comin'

There's two versions of this that are fairly easy to come by. I opted to go with the not remastered earlier version from "The Best of Sam and Dave" to stay with the feel of the movie.

Can't Turn You Loose

I'm not satisfied with the attempted reconstruction found on this web site (no offense), and extracting it from the DVD isn't good enough for me in this case. Since the song also occurs later in the movie, I decided not to worry about trying to include the mall version.

UPDATE 2006-07-21
Chris has managed to get a fairly clean extract and fixed it up to almost perfect; just one rough spot left.

Peter Gunn Theme

This was on the original soundtrack.

Let the Good Times Roll

The first recording I found was a newer, remastered version. Overall it sounded better, but the electric guitar was really annoying. I later found the not remastered earlier version used in the movie and went with that instead.

Anema E Core

This one was hard to find, but it's on Aunt Camella's Italian Favorites, Volume 2 as previously mentioned by UncleEarl (another soundtrack completionist) on August 12, 2005. More on that here: http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84

Quando, Quando, Quando

Originally I was including the version from this site that was straight from the movie, but switched to the full-length version from The Digital Bits when I found that one.

Just the Way You Are

This was also released on The Digital Bits, though purists would argue the version in the movie was actually instrumental. But hey, it's Murph and the Magictones! The list on this web site credits the performance to unknown, but it sounds to me like Murph and the Magictones without the vocal track including in the mixdown.

Music playing in the background at the Chez Paul

This isn't included on the list on this web site, and I haven't got it on my playlist yet either. As someone mentioned previously, the same recording is used again in Trading Places, also a John Landis film. Some day I plan to check both of these movies to see if it's possible to extract enough of it to form a clean loop.

UPDATE 2006-07-21
I eventually extracted from both movies, but couldn't remove all of the dialogue and ended up damaging the tracks. Last weekend Chris managed to make a near perfect extract. Just needs to be normalized and faded out.

Boom Boom

Currently I'm including the widespread recording of this which is not identical to the movie, but I'm thinking of switching to the actual movie version which is on this web site.

UPDATE 2006-07-21
Chris has made an even better extract, with only one rough spot.

Think

This was on the original soundtrack. Doesn't match the movie version perfectly; only bothers me at the end of the song. I might extract from the DVD some day.

UPDATE 2006-07-21
I think I did end up extracting this a few months ago and it wasn't as different as I thought, just a bit at the end.

Shake a Tailfeather

This was on the original soundtrack.

Horst Wessel Lied - English: "Raise the Flag"

This isn't included in the list on the web site, but it's definitely in the movie and I've seen it discussed in an old thread. There are two predominant recordings out there, one attributed to the Waffen SS Soldaten liebel and another one by an unknown German military band from an album called SA Marschiert Volume 2. The latter sounded to me as being the recording used in the Blues Brothers, so I went with that.

Boggie Chillun

I've read on these forums that the predominantly available version of this song is not the recording used in the movie. It's also been said that the version used in the movie was recorded for the movie. Regardless, the recording I have is not good enough for purists, but it's good enough for me for the time being.

Your Cheatin' Heart

Not easy to find, but it's out there.

Gimme Some Lovin'

This was included on the original soundtrack.

Theme from Rawhide

This was included on the original soundtrack. I don't think it's exactly the same as the movie though.

Stand By Your Man

Once again, I used the version from the extended DVD which can be found on this web site.

Sink the Bismark

Although not in the as-released movie, it was recorded for the movie, so I decided to include it. There is a version on this web site, but a better quality version on The Digital Bits, so I am using that one instead.

I'm Walkin'

Another easy find.

Minnie the Moocher

This was included on the original soundtrack.

Can't Turn You Loose

Extracted from the DVD. IMHO this song is more important at this point in the movie because it's the show opener.

Everybody Needs Somebody

This was included on the original soundtrack, and that's the version I'm using currently. There is an extended version on this web site from the end credits, but I haven't swapped it out in my playlist yet because the higher key concerns me a little bit.

Sweet Home Chicago

This was included on the original soundtrack.

Ride of the Valkyries

I haven't found the Pittsburgh recordingof this yet, so I'm making do with a London recording.

The Girl From Ipanema

I would vote this as the most difficult song to find; I certainly haven't found it yet. I've seen people suggest Percy Faith and 101 Strings, but neither of those is right. IMHO 101 Strings is a little bit closer, so I'm using that right now. I extracted everything there was from the DVD but there aren't enough clean samples to reconstruct the entire song. If anybody is interested in the samplings for reference purposes, I'd be happy to share it.

Jailhouse Rock

This was included on the original soundtrack, and that's the version I'm using currently. The extended version from the DVD can be found on this web site, but I haven't swapped it out in my playlist yet (not sure why).

------------------------

Well, that's where I'm at. If anybody wants anything let me know, and if anybody has anything I need let me know. Here's a summary of what I'm after:

- a clean version of God Music, or anything that might help reconstruct it
- a clean version of I Can't Turn You Loose used in the mall scene, or anything that might help reconstruct it
- the proper version of Boogie Chillun
- the Pittsburgh recording of Ride of the Valkyries
- the recording of Girl From Ipanema used in the movie, or anything that might help reconstruct it

[bbcentral]

Hi!
Welcome to Blues Brothers Central

Fantastic work!
Have you seen:
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/music1.php

That's a semi-complete list.


The Boogie Chillun version in the movie is from an obscure record label, but it does exist. Perhaps try going to Amazon.com and searching for albums by John Lee Hooker, many of them have samples you can listen to. You could try searching for the exact version (it's a very old recording). I have the track here somewhere.

As for the rest, we've been searching everywhere for them with no luck yet

The tracks from DigitalBits seem to be slowed down, which is why Murph sounds different. I tried speeding them up a bit (also the pitch) to match the movie and there was quite a substantial difference. You might want to try that, take a 10 second recording of the DVD audio and try to match one of the mp3s. Then do the same conversion on the other files.

The reason for the lower quality Sink the Bismarck on this site is because I found it about a year before DigitalBits, but my source was much lower quality. Their version is much cleaner, but again I'm not sure if the speed/pitch is right.

[Scott]

I was referring to your list a few times in my post. Maybe I should have been more explicit. Your list is pretty close to complete; with the info I posted it could be even closer.

In an old thread someone said that Boogie Chillun was recorded under the Veejay label.

Yesterday I made an attempt at trying to create a closer approximation of Girl From Ipanema from a MIDI file. Most of the MIDI files out there don't sound right though, and it would probably be easier to make a new one from scratch. I tried my hand at that too, but the sheet music I found didn't match up and none of the instruments I tried sounded right.

[bluesharp]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the BBs forum!!

[bbcentral]

I appreciate any suggestions on how to improve this section. Songs from the movie are one of the most asked about topics on this site I think.
Ideally I'd like to find links to CDs on Amazon.com that contain these songs, for anyone else trying to build their collection. Anything else (eg Sink the Bismarck) would just link to the mp3. Obviously I don't post mp3s of commercially available songs, but I don't mind if they are rare tracks that weren't released.

Quote

This isn't included in the list on the web site

I don't know why I missed that one, we've discussed it several times! I'll add it as soon as I can, thanks!

Quote

Boogie Chillun was recorded under the Veejay label.

This is true, and I have exactly this track at home, although I haven't tried looking for a CD that has it yet. The Veejay recording was several years older than his more famous version, the one you find on most CDs.

MIDI can be a nightmare to work with. I had enough trouble doing Funky Nassau, and never managed to finish it (couldn't get the final 30 seconds right, the rest sounded good). I'm still looking around in case I hear it somewhere, but I think the version we want is a musak version, meaning the artist won't be easy to find. It must exist somewhere though.

[Scott]

Right now I'm comparing Just the Way You Are, and I've proven my instrumental-only mixdown theory wrong. The instruments are not exactly the same; I'm not even sure that its Murph and the Magictones playing. From a "the movie is real life" point of view, I would think it most likely that they would be playing a recording of themselves playing.

With regards to Just the Way You Are and Sink the Bismark, maybe you want to have a section at the bottom of the page for music that was almost in the movie? Or perhaps include them in the same list but indicate that they are from deleted scenes?

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE
Performed by Murph and the MagicTones
(The second song Murph and his band play at the Holiday Inn in a deleted scene.)

SINK THE BISMARK
Performed by The Blues Brothers Band
(The fourth song performed at Bob's Country Bunker by The Blues Brothers Band in a deleted scene.)

Here is the info for Horst Wessel Lied:

HORST WESSEL LIED
Performed by an unknown German military band
(The music playing in the background in the American Nazi Party Headquarters.)

And the info for the Chez Paul music:

(UNKNOWN)
Performed by (unknown)
(This music playing in the background at the Chez Paul. Also heard in the John Landis movie Trading Places.)

Amazon links:
The Blues Brothers: Original Soundtrack Recording
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B000002J5K/

The Best of Sam and Dave
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B000002IIC/

Elmore James - Shake Your Moneymaker
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B00004R5ZT/
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B0000032Z0/

Louis Jordan - Let the Good Times Roll
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B000002O17/
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B00000I5M5/

Anema E Core
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B00000DV6J/
Incidentally, if anybody wants this CD, there's only one available so better hurry and grab it.

John Lee Hooker
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B0000033I0/ - "definitive versions" so might not be the right recordings
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B0000032HO/ - Says that Boom Boom is the Veejay recording, but doesn't say that specifically for Boogie Chillun.
Tons more potential discs: Search Amazon for John Lee Hooker

Fats Domino - I'm Walkin'
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B00005YW4I/
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B000002SWX/
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B000009QE2/
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/asin/B00000DRAF/

Might want to link to this page too for the three songs on there:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/bluesbrothers25th.html

That's all I could find. Horst Wessel Lied doesn't turn up any search results, which doesn't really surprise me since I doubt anybody has played the song for a long time considering it was used as a Nazi anthem. If you want I can send you the recording I found.

I also retract my statement that Your Cheatin' Heart was easy to find because I couldn't find a CD on Amazon that had it (though I didn't check every CD). Let's just say the recording I have fell off a truck.

For the recordings that are impossible to find on CD, let me know if you need a copy to put on the site. I will keep you informed with regards to my DVD extractions as well.

[bbcentral]

I'm inspired to update this page now

Deleted scenes should be included, but I will put them where they were in the movie, maybe highlighted differently.
Also the links to the files should be on there, as well as links to CDs you can find the commercially available tracks on (your list helps a lot!).

I shortened the Amazon links a bit using the redirector I made, seeing as their links are so long and stretch the page, hope you don't mind. Eventually I'll set this forum up to do it automatically.

[Scott]

Including the deleted scenes where they belong in the movie is awesome. That's how I did it on my custom CD.

Just the Way You Are - between Quando, Quando, Quando and Boom Boom
Horst Wessel Lied - between Shake a Tailfeather and Boogie Chillun
Sink the Bismark - between Stand by Your Man and I'm Walkin'

I figured you probably already know that which is why I didn't include it in my last post.

I don't mind you shortening the Amazon links. I collected them specifically for you for this purpose. That's one of the reasons why all of them have sample clips to listen to.

For the few songs that haven't been found, do you want to have an audio clip from the movie where the song is heard? I already have one like this for Girl From Ipanema where all the surrounding stuff is clipped out. I can do the same for the music playing at the jail and the music playing at the Chez Paul. Anything you need don't hesitate to ask. I'll probably be playing with this Friday night or Saturday morning.

[Scott]

Last night I learned about hard limiting, which enhances low volume audio and diminishes high volume audio. Using this technique, I was able to make it easier to hear the Girl From Ipanema, the song playing in the background at the prison, and the music fom the Chez Paul. I also grabbed the same "Chez Paul" music from Trading Places.

I'm making these processed MP3 files available for the purposes of eventually identifying what they are and hopefully also finding the original recording somewhere. Though they may not be on CD, they MUST exist somewhere in some format. They're also a small token of appreciation to Chris for everything he's done, and moreso for everything he is going to do in the near future. (Encouragement is good, right?)

The file is 12MB which might be a little big for some people, but I think the plan is to make them available separately on this web site...

http://rapidshare.de/files/15781366/bluesbrothers.zip.html

[Scott]

Just extracted the movie version of Think, which turns out to be a little bit shorter than the version recorded for the soundtrack. I swapped out the soundtrack versions of Everybody Needs Somebody and Jailhouse Rock for the extended versions from the web site, which brings the length of my almost-complete soundtrack to 84 minutes 43 seconds.

I don't think it will be possible to construct a clean version of the Chez Paul music. Even during the quiet times you can hear silverware rattling around and people talking in the background. On a lighter note, I've identified the genre of the music: it's a waltz.

Currently I'm working on putting all the soundtrack info into an XML file. More on that later...

[Scott]

Here it is, an XML file and XSL stylesheet with all the music from the movie.

http://www.thecanonman.com/bluesbrothers.xml

Note to Chris:
Feel free to do whatever you want with this. If you had something else in mind, that's ok with me. The XSL stylesheet is just for demo purposes; I would never write such hideous HTML for a final product. You would most likely want to do the parsing from within PHP, and maybe even do something with Amazon APIs?

I'm thinking of turning the movie script into XML now too...

[bluesharp]

hey,thanks for the list!!

[bbcentral]

Hi, thanks for that! Fantastic work
I've been working with the Amazon API for a while now. I'm writing some software to parse the data into a more useable format.
I tend not to use XML much on this site, I usually just write the content right into the pages, except for albums etc which are database powered.
I'm starting to build up a huge amount of data for the next version of the site now

[Scott]

I don't usually use much XML either, but in some cases where you're storing data that doesn't change it's great. Retrieving data from flat files is faster, especially on high-traffic sites.

Anyways, I'm at scene 60 in the script right now. Hopefully I'm not wasting my time on this... In the case of the script I think you'll see even mroe advantages to using XML. Everything is marked up according to what it is, so for example you can exclude camera notes like CUT TO.

[bbcentral]

Hoping to upgrade the server soon to PHP5, it's supposed to have a lot more power for handling XML data (more functions too).
Now that I'm thinking about it, XML might be a better idea for some pages than MySQL. It will mean less database tables for one, and also less queries I have to run.

[bluesharp]

Glad you know what your talking about guys!!I got lost after the 1st setence

[Scott]

Sorry for all the technical jargon; Chris and I are both web developers. But I appreciate that you took the time to acknowledge that this topic exists. Was feeling like a public two-way conversation between Chris and myself.

[bbcentral]

Bluesharp is our 'official welcoming committee'

[bluesharp]

Thanks Chris.
I was trying to educate myself by trying to understand the jargon but me brains to small!!
Interesting subject i suppose if you know what your talking about and you guys obviously do!!

[itsallblack]

another brainy guy great yicklepidgeon needs some company :lol: welcome from the not so clever itsallblack :wink: