playlist #7
 

Posted on 21.10.2023

Every day, discover one or more tracks from a film by Wim Wenders, for whom music is an integral part of the story.

Paris, Texas  by Ry Cooder in Paris, Texas

If, in cinema, music punctuates the image (which remains to be seen), what punctuation marks do Ry Cooder's unforgettable "sliding" chords correspond to in the first images of Paris, Texas, showing a solitary man wandering in the desert? Suspension points? In any case, it would have to denote a certain way of indicating a rather long duration, a moment where time has been paused, signalling that this man has been there for a long while and probably will continue to be for a long time to come. Apparently, Wim Wenders had set the images to an old blues tune, Dark Was the Night - Cold Was the Ground by Blind Willie Johnson, a musician active in the 1920s. Based on this piece, Cooder played live in front of the images projected on the big screen, like Miles Davis improvising the music for Elevator to the Gallows. The result is a majestic lament. It speaks of Travis's suffering, but more broadly, elevating the character to the level of a legend, it speaks of man's despair. The whole album is well worth the trip.

Dark was the night, cold was the ground by Blind Willie Johnson

A. F.

SÉANCE

Paris, Texas de Wim Wenders (1984, 2h28)
Cinéma Comoedia - Dimanche 22 octobre, 16h45