This damned song has been stuck in my head for three days. I heard a short clip of the violins coming from the TeeVee room, and it was ear-worm time.
I’ve been chasing people around the office, humming the violin part and trying to find the name of the tune.
And, maybe I was getting a little intense … but it was driving me nuts.
Anyhoo, this evening, after three hours of intense Tafiti-fu, I found it.
Lux Æterna, by Clint Mansell.
Whew.
LawDog
Wow! I’d never heard this song, but I like it! How did you manage to get such a complex song stuck in your head?
That’s always been my favourite bit of end-of-the-world tune, that. The special effects deparment just south of my hippocampus works overtime every time the main phrase hits.
Smashing.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension and dissension have begun.
An earworm from The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. The anti-hero Ben Reich uses it to keep the police (who are all telepaths) from reading his mind as he plans to kill Craye D’Courtney. Great book!
ky person, i’ve never really forgiven alfred bester for that one, dammed thing really did stick in the head.
“gunner”
lawdog, thanks, i enjoyed that, now i’ll be searching for a downloadable mp3 source.
“gunner”
Results are generally mixed but http://www.songtapper.com/ is always worth a check.
I’ve had good luck with Freecorder recording the audio track from Youtube Vids if the bandwidth is good enough to prevent it from skipping. Downloading the video to your local drive with something like Unplug and playing it back with one of the freeware FLV players can deal with bad or slow connections.
I just read the Wiki entry for the movie it was written for. Man that is one depressing story.
Dammit Dawg, now you’ve gone and infected MY ear!
now i’ll be searching for a downloadable mp3 source.
You could always go old school and pay the man for his work. Whether by getting it from a commercial download service or buying the CD. Google Mansell Requiem For A Dream or just search it on a commercial site such as B&N or Amazon.
bryan,
i did say “downloadable source”, i didn’t say “free source”. i don’t have a problem paying for things i want.
“gunner”
Gunner,
Sorry about that. Lately it seems all I see is people downloading for free and never paying the artist for their work. Me, I download free mp3’s all the time as a preview or sorts. If I like what I hear I buy the CD.
FY(nerd)I: The song in question was re-worked with a full orchestra for exclusive use in this trailer (song starts at 1:30):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9tnZRs4tNE
They call it “Requiem for a Tower,” and the full thing can be heard here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI_oWrseTKk
/nerd PSA
bryan,
all good, no worries. i do take free samples when artists and/or the small labels that handle the rather specialised music i enjoy offer them, like you i use them as introductions to the artists work and do buy the cd. i’m currently watching and waiting for an upcoming release of kipling’s poems set to music by an artist named leslie fish, i’ve suggested she include kipling’s “gentlemen rankers” to the playlist and i’m waiting to see if she does it.
“gunner”
If I remember her comments at MidSouthCon, then she should be working on the re-release of one of her older tapes in CD format. Either “Lock & Load” or “Firestorm”. (I suspect “Firestorm”, as she wants to re-record much of it.)
I KNEW I’d heard that before, but it wasn’t Mansell. Paul Oakenfold extensively samples “Lux Aeterna” for his track “Zoo York” on his album Bunkka.
If you like this kind of music, you should listen to Peace Orchestra or Kruder & Dorfmeister or early Delerium or dZihan & Kamien.
Also, BT aka Brian Transeau has composed for films such as Monster.
A version of it can be found on the Requiem For a Dream soundtrack.
LD, you found my song… I know this was almost a year ago, but I’ve been back reading all your posts and I have recently gotten to this one. I have to say, this song is the song that places me in a complete state of euphoria. I’ve had dreams of this song, movie dream, where I was the lead and I dreamt of trust, betrayal, deception, lies and pain. I’ve heard it on so many movie trailers and commercials and I couldn’t find it for the life of me.
Hats off, my friend. I thank you.