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Like Elton John and Phil Collins, Only Cooler In Every Way

Posted at 8:46 AM on September 22, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (2 Comments)

The Wall Street Journal today provides a full airing of Paul Westerberg's involvement with creating the soundtrack to "Open Season." It was a big job that involved lots of high-level negotiations and collaborations, that drew Westerberg out of his insular, basement-unit solo career. It also involved frightening small children. According to the Journal, Westerberg said


"One song, 'Everybody's Stupid,' was kept out of the movie after the child of one of the producers was frightened by its lyrics."

Somehow we find that reassuring. Westerberg wrote 20 songs, ten of which were selected for the soundtrack; he also suffered the indignity of having his theme song, "I Belong," rerecorded by Pete Yorn and translated into 29 languages. Will all this exposure do for Westerberg what "Lion King" did to for Elton John? Or what "Tarzan" did to for Phil Collins? We live in hope.

  • Also this: "You're So True," Joseph Arthur's awesome theme to "Shrek 2." Never saw the film, loved the soundtrack.

  • Not to mention this: more stuff about this stuff.

    Comments (2)

    I'm so proud of my fellow writers that they're all writing for cartoons.
    Life ain't no cartoon..enjoy your paychecks.

    Posted by Barry | September 22, 2006 11:35 AM

    Although every CGI flick as of late seems to revolve around a "ragtag bunch of animals" (Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Ice Age, The Wild, Chicken Little, Shark Tale, Finding Nemo, et al.), I am pleasantly surprised to see the producers of one of these films enlist the talents of Westerberg, of all people. Childrens music is a hot market lately (witness the success of Kidz Bop, High School Musical, and Jack Johnson's "Curious George" sdtk). I am a sucker for filmic song cycles (Harold & Maude, for example) so I'm curious to see how this turns out.

    Hans, you can add Bryan Adams' work for "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" to the list, too.

    Posted by mac | September 25, 2006 4:09 AM

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