Far From Any Road
| Far From Any Road | |
|---|---|
| The Handsome Family | |
| publication | October 6, 2003 |
| length | 2:48 |
| Genre (s) | Folk |
| text | Rennie Sparks |
| music | Brett Sparks |
| Label | Carrot Top Records |
| album | Singing Bones |
Far From Any Road is a folk song in the style of the so-called killer ballad. It was composed by the couple Brett and Rennie Sparks, members of the Americana music duo The Handsome Family . The piece was part of the 2003 studio album Singing Bones . It became known as the intro song of the first season of HBO - television series True Detective - where it had a not insignificant role in the success of the season, according to many critics.
history
Far From Any Road was released in 2003 on Singing Bones , the sixth studio album by Handsome Family. Handsome Family - consisting of Brett Sparks and his wife Rennie - is a music duo based in Albuquerque , New Mexico that has been active since the 1990s and is well versed in gloomy, laconic folk songs in the Americana style. As with most of the pieces, the duo worked in a division of labor: Brett Sparks composed the music, Rennie Sparks contributed the text. In addition to the two Sparks, trumpeter David McChesney and mandolin player David Guiterrez were involved in the recording . In addition, Brett Sparks brother Darell came on the drums .
In character is Far From Any Road a folk ballad. Stylistically, they compared some critics with the songs of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood , especially their hit Summer Wine . The three stanzas of the piece are performed in a duet - Brett Sparks takes over the first, Rennie Sparks the second. The first half of the third - performed alternately by both interpreters - increases the drama; the second half, functioning as the song finale, both sing in a chorus. Lyrically, Far From Any Road is a gloomy description of the landscape. Scenario is the desert Mesa - landscape of the American Southwest . The unspecified narrator ( who can also be an insect ) describes how he succumbs to the fascination of a poisonous desert plant that only blooms at night. The last stanza of the piece deepens the description of the landscape with pictures of rattlesnakes and mountain cats that begin their nocturnal hustle and bustle - while the narrator becomes one with the landscape forever. A special feature of the musical implementation was the use of castanets- like instruments in the background - an effect which, according to Brett Sparks, should emphasize the atmosphere of Spanish nights and simulate the chirping of crickets .
Due to the time lag, the song achieved an unexpected level of awareness due to its use as the intro piece of the first season of True Detective . The series makers contacted the duo about a year before the first broadcast date with a corresponding email request. The exact way the song was used was open - the talk was only about 30 seconds in the context of an interrogation scene. According to the two musicians, the negotiations with HBO were uncomplicated; the terms of the contract were also fair. Its use as the season's intro song - conceived by the series' musical supervisor, rock musician T-Bone Burnett - was a huge surprise for Brett and Rennie Sparks. According to their own statements, the Sparks duo was also very enthusiastic about the cinematic implementation of the opening credits.
As the prominently placed title track of a successful television series, Far From Any Road advanced to become a song that is known far beyond the special Americana genre. In the French charts it reached the top 100 in May 2015 with the highest ranking at number 61. The success of the title increased the level of awareness of Handsome Family significantly - a fact that, according to the group, was also noticeable in the significantly increased backlist sales . The formation responded to the increased interest, among other things, by releasing a new music clip , which should do more justice to the text and atmosphere of Far From Any Road . In a press release they characterized the importance of the song's success as follows: “We have spent 20 years as a band of outsiders looking for ears to hear us. At last I believe we have found our Carcosa - that glorious kingdom built with the bricks of our deepest dreams. "
reception
The combination of musical theme and series, as it took place in Far From Any Road and True Detective , was rated by numerous media as remarkable, outstanding and above-average successful. The music portal American Songwriter emphasized in an article the above-average harmony of the song with the content of the series as well as the dark antics of the two main actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson . Because the song was not written explicitly for the series, this is remarkable. American Songwriter also rated the piece itself as coherent . The booming, ominous voice of Brett Sparks is the ideal foil for the dreamy, ethereal sighs of his wife. And Rennie's lyrics evoke a desert world, which in its beauty is deadly for all those who come too close to it.
In a conversation with Handsome Family and ex- Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Forbes magazine deepened the thesis that the intro songs of successful series not only act as a backdrop, but also provide a kind of prelude to the story. Together with the opening credits , the intro song also acts as a structural buffer to the commercial blocks, which often frame series broadcasts. In the ideal case, intro songs form a musical identification mark , which means that song and series are directly linked to one another for the audience. In the course of this conversation, Brett and Rennie Sparks stated that the cross-media merging of content played a rather minor role for them. Rather, tours were still their main source of income - although they took into account the success of the song in that they had committed themselves to play Far From Any Road as often as possible.
Cover versions
As a musical gimmick, Far From Any Road has so far been used in two contexts: once as the theme of the Guns n 'Roses World Tour in 2014 and once in the animated series The Simpsons (episode: Cue Detective, 2015). It is included in the official soundtrack compilation for the series, which also contains the intro song for season two and its unofficial theme ( Nevermind by Leonard Cohen and The Only Thing Worth Fighting For by Lera Lynn ). It is also included as a third-party recording on a number of compilations with well-known film and TV series hits. As with many other well-known pop songs , there are also a number of recordings by unknown music amateurs and up-and-coming artists that are posted online on video platforms such as YouTube .
The number of cover versions by well-known artists published on regular albums has so far been in the single-digit range. One from 2014 comes from the jazz- oriented experimental musician Andrew Bird . The Swedish rock and pop singer Jerry Williams recorded another version in 2015 together with the singer Anna Ternheim . A third version - by the Swedish gothic rock band Les Fleurs Du Mal - than MP3 - Download available.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Handsome Family - Singing Bones , album credits at discogs.com, accessed December 3, 2016
- ^ Summer Wine by Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra . Gijs Wilbrink, music blog number Van De Dag, February 20, 2015 (ndl.)
- ↑ a b Far From Any Road at Songfacts.com (English), accessed on August 24, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Life After The Theme Song: "True Detective" Songwriters The Handsome Family and Musician James Iha Talk Music On Television . Drew Tewksbury, Forbes, May 23, 2014 (English)
- ↑ Arts and Entertainment: A conversation with the Handsome Family, the band behind the "True Detective" theme song, "Far From Any Road" , Rachel Lubitz, Washington Post, March 5, 2014 (English)
- ↑ The Handsome Family - Far From Any Road (Chanson) , lescharts.com, access: December 3, 2016
- ↑ Carcosa: on the one hand, the keyword within the series for a secret kingdom, on the other hand, a criminalist trail that runs through the entire season one of True Detective .
- ↑ Sing along to The Handsome Family's "True Detective" theme with new lyric video . Dave Lewis, uproxx.com, March 15, 2014 (English)
- ↑ The Handsome Family, "Far From Any Road," Jim Beviglia, American Songwriter, March 23, 2014 (English)
- ↑ Band biography on the Handsome Family homepage , accessed on December 3, 2016 (English)
- ↑ Various - True Detective (Music From the HBO Series , album credits at discogs.com, accessed December 3, 2016
- ↑ Search query on discogs.com , accessed on December 3, 2016
- ↑ Les Fleurs Du Mal - Covered The Handsome Family . Review on music portal gothic-rock.com, June 21, 2015 (English)