Great Songs In Movie History Volume 1: Looking For The Magic - Then & Now...

One of the things that always sticks with me is the songs that a filmmaker chooses to use in a particular movie scene. As a fan of multiple genre's of music, I am always interested to try and get into the filmmakers head as to why they picked that particular song and choose to use it at that particular moment. Quentin Tarantino is often praised for his quirky music choices ('Across 110th S't by Bobby Womack in Jackie Brown and 'Hold Tight' by Davey Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mich & Tich in Deathproof are two of my favorite examples of QTs weird musical selections) and they leave a lasting memory in your head long after the credits roll. Can you hear 'Stuck In The Middle' and really not think of Reservoir Dogs? Or Tom Petty's 'American Girl' and not think of Silence of the Lambs? I don't know about you... but this happens to me all the time. I recently saw 'You're Next', the newest horror movie sensation, in the theater the other day and boy was I impressed. The movie was written by Simon Barrett and it seems that Mr. Barrett had a similar musical idea in store for the audience when he was writing his horror opus. Since there are minor spoilers in the rest of the post, I will continue after the jump....


In the opening scene of the film a gruesome double murder takes place and there is a weirdly familiar song echoing in the background. It is 'Looking For The Magic' by The Dwight Twilley Band, and even though I can't really say for sure if I know the song from before I saw the movie (it came out in 1977), I damn sure won't ever forget it AFTER this movie. The song is haunting, has a very unique sound, and will forever go down as being associated with this movie. When the original victim puts the song on they put the CD on repeat, so the song is now on an endless loop considering that both people staying at this country house are now dead... and the funny part is that throughout the film the original location of the murder is re-visited by a few characters fleeing the attack of the masked murderers, and every time the house is approach the damn song is on! It plays, fades out, ends, and then restarts... OVER AND OVER as a reminder to the killings in the 1st reel of the movie and how they related to the desolate nature of the locale. So fucking great.

So here is the newest addition to my Spotify account: First up, the original 'Looking For The Magic' by The Dwight Twilley Band, and then after that we have an updated version of the song by the group Mind The Gap that appears on the You're Next soundtrack. Even though I like the originals 70s style vocals, the new one has a cleaner sound and still conveys the original songs feel. The song is now burnt into my head, and after you see the movie it will be burnt it to yours too. Enjoy the videos, and tell me your thoughts on this song if you have seen 'You're Next'...

Original:




****Editor's Note***

After I posted this and did some digging I found that the one and only Tom Petty, a label mate of The Dwight Tilley Band at the time of release, played the guitar on 'Looking For The Magic'... which makes this song even fucking cooler!!!!

New Version: