Dorks And Losers

Mar­tin Scors­ese has always had a deep love for music: “At other moments, they would blend into the scene out my win­dow, or in our apart­ment, the way a color blends into a palette, chang­ing the tone, the hue. It was as if my life was scored with an on-going movie sound­track” (liner notes).

With many of his films, Scors­ese hand­picks the music care­fully to accom­pany his film scenes. He has such an affin­ity at using music to rep­re­sent the set­ting and time in his films. Rag­ing Bull is the apex of his effort and tal­ent. Scors­ese brought in Rob­bie Robert­son, for­mer mem­ber of The Band, as music super­vi­sor for Rag­ing Bull (they would later col­lab­o­rate on The King Of Com­edy, The Color Of Money and Casino). Scors­ese on Robert­son: “Rob­bie has a con­sum­mate, ency­clo­pe­dic knowl­edge of pop­u­lar music. He helped me make some of my selec­tions, and he recorded a few pieces [’Web­ster Hall’ and ‘A New Kind of Love’ — both pre­vi­ously unre­leased] to fill in cer­tain moments in the pic­ture” (liner notes).

The sound­track includes songs from many great artists like Tony Ben­nett (“Blue Vel­vet”), Bing Crosby (“Just One More Chance”), Ella Fitzger­ald (“Cow-Cow Boo­gie”), Artie Shaw (“Fre­n­esi”) and Frank Sina­tra (“Come Fly With Me”). These are clas­sic songs and jux­ta­pos­ing them together cre­ates a mes­mer­iz­ing com­bi­na­tion of empa­thy, sym­pa­thy and nostalgia.

I’m sure that’s one of the rea­sons the pic­ture flows with such unde­ni­able authen­tic­ity. The musi­cal­ity in this pic­ture seeps through the walls, out the win­dows and down the streets. It gets under your skin and draws you way inside Jake LaMotta’s bent reality.

– Rob­bie Robertson

The tracks play so well together that you can hear the film progress: from its begin­ning score of “Cav­al­le­ria Rus­ti­cana: Inter­mezzo” (Arturo Basile & Orches­tra Of Bologna Muni­cop Thetra) — sin­gle hand­edly cap­tures the essence of Jake LaM­otta, his poten­tial, his great­ness and his tragedy all in one song; to “My Reverie” (Larry Clin­ton & His Orches­tra) — paints the tran­quil­ity of Jake’s good times; to Robert De Niro’s mono­logue “That’s Enter­tain­ment” — painfully depicts LaMotta’s fall from grace; and to come full cir­cle with “Cav­al­le­ria Rus­ti­cana: Inter­mezzo [Reprise].”

Per­haps the music, all of it glo­ri­ous, will even­tu­ally lead you away from the film alto­gether, and back to your own life. Per­haps it will inter­act with the world around you in ways that I could never imag­ine. Which is as it should be.

– Mar­tin Scorsese

Sound­track web­site: www.ragingbullsoundtrack.com
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Track list:

DISC ONE

1. Cav­al­le­ria Rus­ti­cana: Inter­mezzo — Orches­tra Of Bologna Muni­cop Thetra
2. Jer­sey Bounce — Benny Good­man And His Orches­tra
3. Pris­oner Of Love — Russ Columbo
4. Just One More Chance — Bing Crosby
5. Cow-Cow Boo­gie — Ella Fitzger­ald
6. Vivere — Carlo Buti
7. Whis­per­ing Grass (Don’t Tell The Trees) — The Ink Spots
8. Two O’Clock Jump — Harry James & His Orches­tra
9. Drum Boo­gie — Gene Krupa & His Orches­tra
10. All Or Noth­ing At All — Harry James & His Orches­tra
11. Flash — Harry James & His Orches­tra
12. My Reverie — Larry Clin­ton & His Orches­tra
13. Stor­nelli Fioren­tini — Carlo Buti
14. Web­ster Hall — Rob­bie Robert­son
15. Big Noise From Win­netka — Bob Crosby & The Bob­cats
16. Fre­n­esi — Artie Shaw And His Orches­tra
17. Do I Worry? — The Ink Spots
18. Turi Giu­liano — Orazio Strano

DISC TWO

1. Sil­vano: Bar­carolle — Orches­tra Of Bologna Muni­cop Thetra
2. Stone Cold Dead In The Mar­ket — Ella Fitzt­ger­ald
3. Nao Tenho Lagri­mas — Patri­cio Teix­eira
4. Heartaches — Ted Weems & His Orches­tra
5. A New Kind Of Love — Rob­bie Robert­son
6. Till Then — The Mills Broth­ers
7. Mona Lisa — Nat King Cole
8. That’s My Desire — Frankie Laine
9. Guglielmo Rat­cliff: Inter­mezzo — Orches­tra Bologna Muni­cop Thetra
10. Bye, Bye, Baby — Mar­i­lyn Mon­roe
11. That’s Enter­tain­ment — Robert De Niro
12. Blue Vel­vet — Tony Ben­net
13. Scapric­ciatiello (Infat­u­a­tion) — Renato Carosone
14. Come Fly With Me — Frank Sina­tra
15. Just A Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody — Louis Prima
16. Lonely Nights — The Hearts
17. Pris­oner Of Love — Perry Como
18. Cav­al­le­ria Rus­ti­cana: Inter­mezzo (Reprise) — Orches­tra Bologna Muni­cop Thetra
19. At Last — Rob­bie Robertson

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