by Simon Warner
So what might we make of the soundtrack as an entity? It is a production that eschews the predictable devices and skips the cliches: it could after all have simply drawn on the existing cues in the novel as its main template. Instead it uses some of those hooks but finds others and, if it doesn’t entirely respect historical accuracy at all times, that is perhaps a pedantic reflection we can rise above.
Ultimately, I feel this album melds its own impressionistic, indeed plausible, portrait of the excitements and temptations, the rigours and the regrets, of these restless travellers and in Gustavo Santaolalla’s original score – an eclectic and engaging affair which draws on different tempos and textures and a sonic palette that is far from predictable – possesses a set of sensitive tone poems to which we can, and will, return.
On the Road – the novel Songs, artists, recordings and performances mentioned in the 1957 book On the Road – the movie soundtrack The 2012 album track listing
Charlie Parker – ‘Ornithology’
Miles Davis
Lionel Hampton – ‘Central Avenue’
‘Breakdown’
Billie Holiday – ‘Lover Man’
‘Blue Skies’
‘A Fine Romance’
George Shearing
‘Slow Boat to China’
Slim Gaillard – ‘Cement Mixer’
Slim Gaillard – ‘C-Jam Blues’
Freddy Strong – ‘Close Your Eyes’
Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie Parker – ‘Congo Blues’
Willis Jackson – ‘‘Gator Tail’
Lester Young
Wynonie Harris – ‘I Like My Baby’s Pudding’
Perez Prado – ‘More Mambo Jambo’
Perez Prado – ‘Mambo de Chattanooga’
Perez Prado – ‘Mambo Numero Ocho’
Duke Ellington
Greg Kramer – ‘Sweet Sixteen’
‘Roman Candles’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
Coati Mundi – ‘Yep Roc Heresy’
‘Reminiscence’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
‘Lovin’ IT’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
‘The Open Road’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
‘Memories/Up to Speed’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
Ella Fitzgerald – ‘I’ve Got the World on a String’
‘That’s IT’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
‘Keep it Rollin’’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
Slim Gaillard – ‘Hit That Jive Jack’
‘God Is Pooh Bear’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
Son House – ‘Death Letter Blues’
‘I Think of Dean’ (Gustavo Santaolalla)
Jack Kerouac – ‘On the Road’
Notes
1The film received its UK premiere on 12 October 2012 and debuted in the US on 21 December 2012. See Simon Warner, ‘On the Road: Words beat pictures despite Salles’ best intentions’, Beatnicity, 20 October 2012, http://beatnicity.com/2012/10/20/on-the-road-words-beat-pictures-despite-salles-best-intentions/ [Accessed 16 December 2012].
APPENDIX
Kerouac and Cassady on record
Compiled by Dave Moore and Horst Spandler
A list of recordings which relate to Jack Kerouac and/or Neal Cassady.
The qualification for inclusion is that the item must either refer directly to Kerouac or Cassady, or quote from their work.
ARTIST TRACK TITLE DATE JACK/NEAL ALBUM (if any)
Dizzy Gillespie
‘Kerouac’ (improvisation on ‘Exactly Like You’, named in 1953)
1941
Jack
The Harlem Jazz Scene –1941
Allen Ginsberg
‘The Green Automobile’
1954
Neal
Holy Soul Jelly Roll
Allen Ginsberg
‘Howl’ (for Carl Solomon)
1956
Neal
Holy Soul Jelly Roll
Allen Ginsberg
‘Sunflower Sutra’
1956
Jack
Holy Soul Jelly Roll
Ella Fitzgerald
‘Like Young’
1959
Jack
Get Happy
The Nervous Set cast
‘Fun Life’
1959
Jack
The Nervous Set
Lenny Bruce, Steve Allen
‘All Alone’
1959
Jack
Swear to Tell the Truth (movie soundtrack)
André Previn
The Subterraneans (movie soundtrack)
1960
Jack
The Subterraneans
André Previn
‘Like Blue/Blue Subterranean’ (from The Subterraneans movie)
1960
Jack
Like Blue
Linda Lawson
‘Like Young’
1960
Jack
Introducing Linda Lawson
Don Morrow
‘Kerouazy’
1961
Jack
Grimm’s Hip Fairy Tales
Perry Como
‘Like Young’
1961
Jack
For the Young at Heart
Charles Laughton
The Dharma Bums (extract)
1962
Jack
The Story-Teller
The Barrow Poets
Mexico City Blues (104th Chorus)
1963
Jack
An Entertainment of Poetry & Music
Paul Simon
‘A Simple Desultory Philippic’
1965
Jack
The Paul Simon Song Book
David Amram
‘Summer in the West’ (from Lonesome Traveller)
1965
Jack
A Year in Our Land
Bob Dylan
‘Desolaion Row’
1965
Jack
Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan
‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’
1965
Jack
Highway 61 Revisited
Eric von Schmidt
‘Lolita’
1967
Jack
Take a Trip with Me
Paul Jones
‘Tarzan, etc. …’
1967
Jack
Love Me, Love My Friends
Joki Freund Quintett & Harald Leipnitz
‘Mordsspektakel’
1967
Jack
Amerika (Europa?) – Ich Rede Dich An!
Joki Freund Quintett
‘Charlie Parker’ (240th Chorus)
1967
Jack
Amerika (Europa?) – Ich Rede Dich An!
Grateful Dead
‘That’s it for the Other One’
1968
Neal
Anthem of the Sun
Four Jacks And A Jill
‘Master Jack’
1968
Jack
Jukebox Hits Of 1968, Vol. 2
David Amram, Lynn Sheffield
‘Pull My Daisy’
1971
Jack
No More Walls
Allen Ginsberg
‘On Neal’s Ashes’
1971
Neal
Holy Soul Jelly Roll
Michel Corringe
‘Kerouac Jack’
1971
Jack
En Public
Bob Weir
‘Cassidy’
1972
Neal
Ace
Aztec Two-Step
‘The Persecution & Restoration of Dean Moriarty’
1972
Jack and Neal
Aztec Two-Step
David Amram
‘East and West’
1973
Jack
Subway Night
David Amram
‘The
Fabulous Fifties’
1973
Jack
Subway Night
Gary Farr
‘Mexican Sun (?)’
1973
Jack
Addressed to the Censors of Love
Road
‘Come Back Jack Kerouac’
1973
Jack
Road
Mott the Hoople
‘The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception’
1974
Jack
Brain Capers
Willie Alexander
‘Kerouac’
1975
Jack
Willie Loco Boom Boom Ga Ga
Doobie Brothers
‘Neal’s Fandango’
1975
Neal
Stampede
Al Stewart
‘Modern Times’
1975
Jack
Modern Times
Jethro Tull
‘From a Dead Beat to an Old Greaser’
1976
Jack
Too Old to Rock ‘n’ roll
David Amram
‘Pull My Daisy’ (live)
1976
Jack
Summer Nights, Winter Rain
Willie Alexander
‘Kerouac’
1976
Jack
Live at The Rat
Tom Waits
‘Jack & Neal’
1977
Jack and Neal
Foreign Affairs
Willie Alexander
‘Kerouac’
1978
Jack
Willie Alexander & the Boom-Boom Band
Sylvain Lelièvre
‘Kerouac’
1978
Jack
Sylvain Lelièvre
Pataphonie
‘Kerouac’ (instrumental)
1978
Jack
Le Matin Blanc
The Cooper Brothers
‘Old Angel Midnight’
1978
Jack
The Dream Never Dies
Jack Nitzsche
Heart Beat (movie soundtrack)
1979
Jack and Neal
Heart Beat
Dexy’s Midnight Runners
‘There, There, My Dear’
1980
Jack
Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
Allen Ginsberg
‘The Shrouded Stranger’
1980
Jack
In Wuppertal: Poems & Songs
Allen Ginsberg
‘Pull My Daisy’
1980
Jack and Neal
In Wuppertal: Poems & Songs
Allen Ginsberg
‘Prayer Blues: For John Lennon’
1980
Jack
In Wuppertal: Poems & Songs
Allen Ginsberg
‘Howl’ (incl. ‘Footnote to Howl’)
1980
Jack and Neal
In Wuppertal: Poems & Songs
Grateful Dead
‘Cassidy’
1981
Neal
Reckoning
Godley & Creme
‘Snack Attack’
1981
Jack
Ismism
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
‘912 Greens’
1981
Jack
Kerouac’s Last Dream
Mark Murphy
‘Parker’s Mood (including The Subterraneans extract)
1981
Jack
Bop for Kerouac
Mark Murphy
‘Ballad of the Sad Young Men’ (including On the Road extract)
1981
Jack and Neal
Bop for Kerouac
Emil Mangelsdorff Quartett
‘Blues for Allen (i.e. Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Footnote to Howl’)
1981
Jack and Neal
Das Geheul
Emil Mangelsdorff Quartett
‘Rosengärten’ (excerpt from Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’)
1981
Neal
Das Geheul
Van Morrison
‘Cleaning Windows’
1982
Jack
Beautiful Vision
David Amram
‘This Song’s for You, Jack’
1982
Jack
This Song for Jack (movie soundtrack)
King Crimson
‘Neal and Jack and Me’
1982
Jack and Neal
Beat
Wah!
‘The Story of the Blues – Part 2’
1982
Jack
The Way We Wah!
Blue Oyster Cult
‘Burnin’ for You’
1982
Jack
E.T.I.
Charlélie Couture
‘La Route (Oui Mais Kérouac est Mort)’
1982
Jack
Quoi Faire
David J.
‘With the Indians Permanent’
1983
Jack and Neal
Etiquette of Violence
Graham Parker
‘Sounds Like Chains’
1983
Jack
The Real Macaw
Steve Tilston
‘B Movie’
1983
Jack
In for a Penny…In for a Pound
The Smiths
‘Pretty Girls Make Graves’
1984
Jack
The Smiths
The Icicle Works
‘When it all Comes Down’
1985
Jack
Seven Singles Deep
The Long Ryders
‘Southside of the Story’
1985
Jack and Neal
Looking for Lewis & Clark (10’’ single)
Van Morrison
‘Cleaning Windows’
1985
Jack
Live at Grand Opera House Belfast
Bob Dylan
‘Somethng’s Burning, Baby’
1985
Jack
Empire Burlesque
King Crimson
‘Neal and Jack and Me’ (live)
1985
Jack and Neal
The Noise-Frejus 82
It’s Immaterial
‘Driving Away from Home’ (Dead Man’s Curve mix)
1986
Jack
Ed’s Funky Diner (12’’ single)
Minor Characters
‘1972’
1986
Jack
Minor Characters (7’’ EP)
Andy Summers
‘Search for Kerouac’ (instrumental)
1986
Jack
Down and Out in Beverly Hills
David Carradine
Reading from On the Road
1986
Jack and Neal
On the Road (double cassette)
East Buffalo Media Association
‘Sea’ (from Big Sur)
1986
Jack
Sea
East Buffalo Media Association
‘Mantra for Kerouac’
1986
Jack
Sea
Jesse Garon & the Desperadoes
‘The Rain Fell Down’
1986
Jack
A Cabinet of Curiosities
The Go-Betweens
‘The House That Jack Kerouac Built’
1987
Jack
Tallulah
Marillion
‘Torch Song’
1987
Jack
Clutching at Straws
10,000 Maniacs
‘Hey Jack Kerouac’
> 1987
Jack
In My Tribe
The Panic Brothers
‘Bivouac’
1987
Jack
In the Red
Hobo
‘Üvöltés (‘Howl’) – Carl Solomonert – reszletek (Hungarian)’
1987
Neal
Üvöltés
Pierre Flynn
‘Sur la Route’
1987
Jack
Le Parfum du Hasard
Richard Séguin
‘L’Ange Vagabond’
1988
Jack
Journée d’Amerique
Beatnik Beatch
‘Beatnik Beatch’
1988
Jack
Beatnik Beatch
David Amram
‘Pull My Daisy’
1988
Jack
Pull My Daisy & Other Jazz Classics
Crash Harmony
‘(Mexico) Jack Kerouac is Dead’
1988
Jack
Wesleyan University radio tape
Roger Manning
‘Pearly Blues’
1989
Jack
Roger Manning
Billy Joel
‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’
1989
Jack
Storm Front
Eric Andersen
‘Ghosts upon the Road’
1989
Jack and Neal
Ghosts upon the Road
The Washington Squares
‘(Did You Hear) Neal Cassady Died?’
1989
Jack and Neal
Fair and Square
Mark Murphy
‘San Francisco’ (including Big Sur extract)
1989
Jack and Neal
Kerouac Then and Now
Mark Murphy
‘November in the Snow’ (including On the Road extract)
1989
Jack and Neal
Kerouac Then and Now
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
‘912 Greens’
1989
Jack
Legends of Folk