Soundtracking Anderson: Bottle Rocket

The latest film from Wes Anderson, The Darjeeling Limited, comes out next Friday, and in anticipation of that I've reassembled all the music to each of his prior films, starting today with Bottle Rocket.

Wes Anderson is a creature of habit, or perhaps I should word that differently... when Anderson finds something he likes, he sticks with it. Bottle Rocket began his long relationship with Owen Wilson, who's been a part of every Anderson film released thus far, and in light of recent events, it's fascinating to go back and see his Dennis Hopper-like portrayal of Dignan, the wanna-be criminal. Anderson keeps going back to the same well with the music as well, and Bottle Rocket started his relationship with music supervisor Randall Poster*, Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh doing score, the songs of The Rolling Stones** and the music of the old Peanuts cartoons, with songs from Vince Guaraldi appearing on the original short from 1994.

Each Anderson film seems to center on a single artist and branch out from there, and for Bottle Rocket it's the band Love. This Los Angeles psychedelic-tinged outfit was led by the late Arthur Lee, who, like Wilson's Dignan, fancied himself an outlaw. That the band incorporated Spanish-style embellishments only added to the appropriateness of the songs to the film.

Below are playlists reassembling the songs as they appeared in the film. I've included the soundtrack to the original short from '94 as well (chock full of Charlie Brown goodness.)

Playlist: Rssmbld Sndtrck - Bottle Rocket (1996)
1. "Alone Again Or" - Love
2. "2000 Man" - The Rolling Stones
3. "Seven & Seven Is" - Love
4. "Prendeme La Vela" - Abelardo Vasquez & Cumanana
5. "Zorro is Back" - Oliver Onions
6. "Mambo Guajiro" - Rene Touzet
6. "Pachanga Diferente" - Rene Touzet
7. "Over And Done With" - The Proclaimers
Score by Mark Mothersbaugh

Playlist: Rssmbld Sndtrck - Bottle Rocket (1994 - Short)
1. Old Devil Moon - Sonny Rollins
2. The Route - Chet Baker
3. Skating - Vince Guaraldi
4. Stevie - Duke Ellington
5. Happiness Is - Vince Guaraldi
6. Jane-O - Zoot Sims

*When Anderson first delivered Bottle Rocket it fell kind of flat, so producer James Brooks brought in Randall Poster to help flesh out the soundtrack and he brought in Mothersbaugh to do the score as well.
**It should be noted that while The Rolling Stones have a song in every film, none appear in the soundtrack releases.... that is until next week. The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack is being released on ABKO Records, which is notable for being the home of Mick and Keith's little band. That's one way to finally get the Stones on your album.

tags: music, film, soundtrack, wes anderson, mark mothersbaugh, rolling stones, vince guaraldi, bottle rocket, love, arthur lee, playlist