...where distraction is the main attraction.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Mad Men + Revolver, Part Two

Sure enough the Interwebs were abuzz about Mad Men's "Tomorrow Never Knows" licensing.  For some quality insight about Matthew Weiner's creative process and some (unconfirmed) financial details, you should see this NYTimes Artsbeat article and this excellent Wall Street Journal Speakeasy piece.

What the articles don't mention -- and Weiner would never ever reference this -- is the song's connection to the Tibetan Book of the Dead.....the same tome mentioned in Roger's earlier LSD sequence.  There's a undercurrent of death gaining momentum this season (example: yesterday's episode title "Lady Lazarus" came from Sylvia Plath's poem about her failed suicide attempts, obsession with death, and possible rebirth).  So if Apple Corps rejected Weiner's "Tomorrow Never Knows" license request it may have proven to be more than just disappointing.

And it seems as if every blog post out there has a death/suicide prediction about this season.  I'm not going that direction.  I'll let the writers, production staff, and performers take me to the end.
To make up for the broken post below:

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A Monday of Mad Men + Revolver

MAD MEN

(SPOILERS, PER USUAL)

"Tomorrow Never Knows".  They got the rights to use "Tomorrow Never Knows."  NO ONE GETS THE RIGHTS TO USE BEATLES MUSIC.  EVER.  And that's not hyperbole.  Saint Paul must have been smiling down upon the show.

"Tomorrow Never Knows" closed out last night's episode and it was tremendously utilized.  I'm typing this post 45 minutes after the episode finished.  I've been listening to the whole of "Revolver" since.  Every single track would work for this season of Madness.  Most folks would have gone with "Eleanor Rigby" but that would be too much on the nose (knows?).  "Tomorrow Never Knows" works best as the sauce on a well prepared entree.



Actually tonight's episode could have been set entirely to Revolver.  "Got to Get You Into My Life" for Pete's new situation.  "For No One" for any Pete scene that follows his tryst.  "I Want to Tell You" during Megan's secret call sequence.  "I'm Only Sleeping" for Megan's admission to Don.  "Good Day Sunshine" and "She Said She Said" to the scenes that immediately follow.  Maybe "Yellow Submarine" in the opening credits.  Okay, that's sort of a stretch.

What a great album.  Going for a second pass right now.

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I shouted at the TV when the credits came up.  "What!  It's over?!  Why?"  I guess the episode itself wasn't too bad either.  Five brief thoughts:

1.)  Rory Gilmore!
2.)  Pete Campbell is terrible at everything.
3.)  As Kristen noted, we've seen the last of Happy Don Draper at the office.
4.)  Moar Joan Plz!
5.)  The elevator sequence was so awesome, I laughed out loud.  I wanted to rewind and watch it again.  Something really grim is going to happen before this season is through.



There was a whole bunch of pseudo-intellectual-brilliance about baseball and whiskey that took over an hour to write...but then Blogger decided to delete it all.

I'll recap the important part.

A year ago, Kristen and I went to Ireland for our buddy Melissa's beautiful wedding.  In honor of the anniversary of that Ireland trip, I'll be mixing some Irish Blended reports in with the Scotch Blended reports......starting tomorrow.