Throughout the series, Breaking Bad has cleverly inserted a
variety of music tracks to fit perfectly into their episode. It was a dimension
to the show which, in itself, was an art. The series introduced us to the
narcocorrido genre, Mexican ballads about drug dealing, in season two. The
season four finale featured one of the television’s best music/action scenes
when playing “Crystal Blue Persuasion.”
A number of recognizable songs, i.e. America’s “Horse With
No Name,” and obscure songs are featured fittingly and artistically. It draws
the audience closer with lyrical connections and emotional responses.
Who is the artist behind the sounds of Breaking Bad?
Composer Dave Porter has scored every episode of the series. Aside from
selecting the songs of others, the sounds he records are unique. “I employ a lot of ethnic
instruments, found sounds and recordings, vintage and modern synthesizers, and
a fair bit of electric guitar. All of these sounds get recorded into Pro Tools
and then usually processed by plug-in programs or external processors to morph
them into something new,” he told thewired.com.
Dave Porter
In
addition to Porter’s compositions, the finale, “Felina,” included three songs.
The first, was Marty Robbins “El Paso.” The song is blatantly ominous. It is a
narrative of a man who pursued a woman (which could be the metaphorical
equivalent to Walt’s meth cooking which he loves so dearly) to his death.
Certain lyrics are obvious forewarnings: “A bullet may find me, tonight
nothing’s worse, than this pain in my heart.” Sure enough, Walt gets clipped by
his own machine gun contraption.
Next,
the song “Lydia the Tattooed Lady” from the Marx Brothers played. It was Todd’s
ringtone as his phone rang shortly after Jesse killed him. It was more of a
chilling scene as Lydia herself was facing death after being poisoned with
ricin.
The
final song and outro of the series was Badfinger’s “Baby Blue.” The song, like
“Crystal Blue Persuasion,” fits perfectly as a color theme because of Walt’s
signature blue meth. Playing while Walt ultimately died, two lines stood out as
especially definitive for Walter White. First, “Guess I got what I deserved,”
is fitting. Walt killed many, many people throughout the show and put his
family through a tumultuous series of events. His death seemed “deserving” in a
sense. “The special love I have for you, baby blue,” is perhaps the most
definitive line. The meth business became Walt’s true love, as he confessed to his wife, Skylar, earlier in the episode.
Breaking Bad had notable influence on the song, too. Hollywood Reporter noted that during the week after the finale, "Baby Blue" sold 37,000 copies.
This
final scene features Walt caressing the cooking equipment, cherishing his final
moments on Earth with the love of his life, his baby blue.
No comments:
Post a Comment