TrueRomance1993-1

True Romance is probably my favorite movie of all time. It has all the components that make a film great: killer dialogue (written by Quentin Tarantino), heavy duty sex scenes between foxy people (Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette), guns and weed, chase scenes, James Gandolfini (in a scarier role than Tony Soprano, the one that inspired David Chase to cast him), Christopher Walken in one of the best scenes of all time and a romantic soundtrack to round it all out.

The score of the soundtrack, by Hans Zimmer, is what holds the film together. It’s a romantic movie despite the action and ridiculous amount of violence, and Zimmer’s score is what reminds the viewer of that fact.

To my surprise the score was remixed by The Very Best on last year’s Very Best Mixtape. At first I thought, “awesome, someone loves this as much as me.” But then I listened to “Chikondi.” Esau Mwamwaya’s vocals, while pretty and directed, just don’t add much life to the score, which is mainly just a simple keyboard line with some tropical steel drums and vibes. In fact, it detracts and at times overpowers the drama of the music.

“Chikondi” translates to “Love Worship Adore,” which is nice. I wish I could translate the whole song. Anyone??

Here are both, for your listening pleasure:

Hans Zimmer: “You’re So Cool” True Romance Score

The Very Best: Chikondi