“Tubular Bells” is used three times in the film, the second time is when Regan and company are pulling away from the house just before the credits run. The third time is the very end of the credits until finis (about 3 minutes-ish).
“Tubular Bells” entire is about 25 minutes long. Several pieces of it were used in a 45 RPM for about 4 minutes–roughly from the first half of the 25 min version. The “B” side is from the second half of the 25 min version and includes the introduction of the instruments by Vivian Stanshall.
Leaning On the Everlasting Arms - a hymn sung at several points in Night of the Hunter - each time creepier and creepier, culminating in one of the heaviest moments I’ve seen in 50’s film (just the stark way it’s shot and everything):
This kids’ sing-along song wasn’t so innocuous for this kid:
Black Girl - Long John Baldry John Baldry - Black Girl - YouTube
“My daddy was a railroad man,
killed a mile and a half from here.
His head was found in the driver’s wheel,
and his body ain’t ever been found…”
The 25-minute piece you’re referring to is actually only Part One of *Tubular Bells *; the entire album-length piece is almost 50 minutes long.
Yes, the single issued in America was an edited version of the album’s opening section and was subtitled ‘(Now the Original Theme from “The Exorcist”).’ The B-side, which as **burpo **describes was the part with the instrument announcements, was simply titled “Tubular Bells” with no subtitle.
Mike Oldfield was unhappy with this release and responded by putting together an authorized “Tubular Bells” single for European release. Titled “Mike Oldfield’s Single (Theme from Tubular Bells),” this avoided the “Exorcist” music entirely, presenting instead a re-recording of a section from Part Two of the original album–the part that sounds like a Scottish lament.
The cover of “Blinded By The Light” by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band struck me as being really intense and intimidating, with a bit of sci-fi weirdness thrown in.
The Beatles’ “Here, There, and Everywhere” scared my friend and me as 6-year-olds digging Revolver. I found out later it’s because the voices are closely miked.
Someone upthread (15 years ago) mentioned “Girl Land” on Free to Be You and Me. My 5-year-old loves that album (44 years old and still going strong), but always makes me skip that spooky, maudlin track (sung by Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy).
OMG, I still have my Fisher-Price wind up clock that plays that tune as the hands and “face” rotate through different scenes. It’s from 1962-ish. It still works. It’s made of WOOD!
Egad, I’d forgot about that one. Exactly who thought that would be an appropriate song for a kids’ record? I believe it was on the same album as The Cat Came Backwhich lists all the different ways people tried to get rid of a cat, including this lovely sentiment:
“*The man around the corner swore he’d kill the cat on sight,
He loaded up his shotgun with nails and dynamite;
He waited and he waited for the cat to come around,
*Ninety seven pieces of the man is all they found.**” :eek:
I also have a vague memory of a song where a man was going to cut a goat’s throat (?) because apparently all it takes to make a child appropriate song is for the words to rhyme.
[QUOTE=JSomeone upthread (15 years ago) mentioned “Girl Land” on Free to Be You and Me. My 5-year-old loves that album (44 years old and still going strong), but always makes me skip that spooky, maudlin track (sung by Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy).[/QUOTE]
That one both spooked and fascinated me as a very young kid…mainly because I was too young to understand the symbolism. I thought it was a real amusement park that they were closing down, and didn’t understand why that was a good thing–it was always a shame when an amusement park closed, wasn’t it? A friend of mine thought that Jack Cassidy’s ringmaster was some sort of evil magician that trapped children–“You go in a girl and you never come out!” (I like to think that character prepped me for the Emcee in Cabaret.)
I didn’t realize until later that “Girl Land” was a metaphor for traditional, restrictive female roles–“where good little girls pick up after the boys”–and that changing gender roles (the new park that replaces Girl Land) will allow girls to “do what [they] like and be who [they] are.” The symbolism that makes it the most interesting song on the album also makes it hard for its child audience to grasp.
