Track Listing

1. Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) - Nancy Sinatra
2. That Certain Female - Charlie Feathers
3. The Grand Duel - (Parte Prima) - Luis Enrique Bacalov
4. Twisted Nerve - Bernard Herrmann
5. Queen of the Crime Council - Julie Dreyfus
6. Ode to Oren Ishii - RZA
7. Run Fay Fun - Isaac Hayes
8. Green Hornet - Al Hirt
9. Battle Without Honor or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei
10. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda
11. Woo Hoo - 5.6.7.8's
12. Crane-White Lightning - RZA
13. The Flower of Carnage - Meiko Kaji
14. The Lonely Shepherd - Zamfir
15. You're My Wicked Life - David Carradine
16. Ironside - Quincy Jones
17. Super 16 - NEU!
18. Yakuza Oren 1 - RZA
19. Banister Fight - RZA
20. Flip Sting
21. Sword Swings
22. Axe Throws

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1927 in Music
• Released on: 2003-09-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics, Soundtrack
• Original language: English, French, Japanese
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
Fashion be damned: Pop culture is just one big Hometown Buffet for writer-director Quentin Tarantino. Nowhere has that sensibility been more apparent than on his hand-picked soundtrack choices, and this oft tongue-in-cheek tale of a female assassin's revenge (his first film in six years) is no exception. With dizzy, almost palpable glee, Tarantino evokes the international hall-of-mirrors influences that energize martial arts films and much of Asian pop culture in general. Thus the hip-hop of Wu Tang's RZA (who, along with composer Charles Bernstein, concocts what passes for the score's traditional cues) somehow finds itself but one ingredient in a heady souffle that includes vintage TV and film cue rarities (Al Hirt's main title from The Green Hornet, Bernard Herrmann's haunting theme from Twisted Nerve, the spaghetti western melodrama of Luis Bacalov's "The Grand Duel," Isaac Hayes in full blaxploitation mode on "Run Fay Run"), Charlie Feathers' vintage rockabilly and a pan-kitsch sensibility that encompasses Zamfir, Nancy Sinatra's angst-in-the-pants take "Bang, Bang" and Santa Esmeralda's disco-era workout of "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." Tarantino's contemporary Japan-Pop selections are no less giddy, ranging from Meiko Kaji's sultry "Flower of Carnage" to The 5.6.7.8's loopy "Woo Hoo." It's everything we've come to expect from a Tarantino score (including dialog excerpts and a few sound fx stingers), with a madcap trip around the pop music world thrown in for good measure. -- Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Relive KILL BILL's Greatest Hits
Since we have quite a wait for the DVD (as of this writing), the best way to experience some of our favorite moments from KILL BILL at home is to get this CD. The opening song performed by Nancy Sinatra is here, along with Luis Bacalov's "The Grand Duel" theme, heard in the film during the animated "Origin of O-Ren" chapter. Bernard Herrmann's "Twisted Nerve" is here (begun in the film as the tune Daryl Hannah whistles in the hospital corridor). Al Hirt's rendition of "Flight of the Bumblebee," better known as the theme from "The Green Hornet," is on board (heard in the film accompanying the Bride's flight over Tokyo and arrival in Japan), as is Tomoyasu Hotei's "Battle Without Honor or Humanity," the guitar riff and brass fanfare heard over the grand entrance of O-Ren and her party at the House of Blue Leaves (and used quite memorably in the film's first trailer). "The Flower of Carnage," the theme song from LADY SNOWBLOOD (1973) sung by its star, Meiko Kaji, and heard in the film following the O-Ren/Bride sword duel, is on the CD as well.

Some great cues from the film are not on the CD or not presented as they were in the film. Missing in action is Ennio Morricone's memorable percussion-woodwind-and-vocal Italian western theme, "Death Rides a Horse," heard as the Bride and O-Ren first confront each other in the House of Blue Leaves. Also missing is the Lily Chou-Chou number, "Kaifuku Suru Kizu," the enchanting wordless vocal heard as the Bride gazes at the array of swords in Sonny Chiba's upstairs room. Only one number ("Woo Hoo") of the three or so performed by the Japanese female pop trio, the 5.6.7.8's, in the House of Blue Leaves sequence is on the CD. The Latin-flavored instrumental number heard over the O-Ren/Bride duel and performed by Santa Esmeralda is suddenly a vocal rendition of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" on the CD. "Seven Notes in Black," heard during the Bride's ambush of the hospital orderly, is heard on the CD only under a rap song performed by the RZA, a number not heard in the film at all. (In fact, one wonders how the "Original Music" credit awarded to The RZA came about, since there doesn't seem to be any original music in the film.)

It's clearly time for a number of record companies to get on the KILL BILL bandwagon and reissue soundtracks and recordings that contain music from KILL BILL with a tag slapped on saying, "Featuring the music from KILL BILL." The first candidate would, of course, be Nancy Sinatra's 1966 album, "How Does That Grab You?" which contains the recording of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" used for the opening credits of KILL BILL. All it needs now is a tag stating, "Featuring the theme song from KILL BILL." The second and third candidates, of course, would be anything by the 5.6.7.8's and the fictional "Lily Chou-Chou." Calling all imports!

Great soundtrack
As much as Kill Bill was a terrific movie, the soundtrack contains some really good pieces, a couple of which are worth buying the whole CD for. While there are some odd pieces here and there, particularly the 'ode to o-ren-ishii', a fairly annoying rap, and 'queen of the crime council' which is dialogue lifted from the movie, the rest of the songs really describe the feel of the movie and are excellent to listen to.

The song 'Bang Bang' is the opening theme of the movie and is very easy on the ears, with a soft, sad, melodic tune. Track 2 is 'That certain female' which sounds like an elvis song, but nothing too spectacular. 'The grand duel' is a very moving song that is played during the anime sequence in the movie. When this song reaches toward the middle it gets very dramatic and emotional. 'Twisted Nerve' is the whistling song in the hospital, and is also very good coupled with the subtle orchestral tones. Too bad its only a minute and twenty seven seconds long. The next two are the 'oddities' I mentioned, and after that its 'Run fay run' and 'green hornet', both of which, while not as good as the next two songs that follow it, are still very 70s in their tune which is what the film tries to capture. 'Battle without honor or humanity' and 'Don't let me be misunderstood' are my two favorite tracks, the former being the bit where O ren ishii and her group walk toward the House of Blue leaves dance square. Its a very authoritative and badass song that also has a 70s feel to it and I love it. The latter is an extremely catchy and lengthy tune (at 10 minutes), part of which is played during the final fight in Kill Bill. It sounds very much like a latino song but, again, has that 70s touch to it, with fast guitar and trumpet rhythms. Next up is 'woo hoo', the song played by the japanese band in the House of Blue Leaves. A very very 60s-70s-ish dance song that you might not want to play in a room full of today's teen generation, but still strangely attractive in its tune. Next is 'Crane/white lightning' which I think was played during the climactic fight of the movie which is heavy on the synthesizers and sounds very tense. 'The flower of carnage' is a melodic japanese song that best describes O-ren ishii's character. 'The lonely shephard' is the movie's closing theme that, like 'the grand duel', has a very moving tune done mostly in flute. 'You're my wicked life' is another dialogue bit from the movie, which more or less prepares you for the next half of it. The rest of the soundtrack are brief bits of musical effects used throughout the movie, labeled by the CD case as 'kung fu stings and sfx'.

All in all this is an excellent soundtrack that features a a number of great songs that definitely keep with the whole feel of the movie. Highly recommended.

One Word --- Outstanding!
The movie is good, but the soundtrack is terrific outstanding! The carefulness and cleverness to use of various songs and music for this movie are truly amazing. This soundtrack drives audiences to the right mood, the right tone, and the right atmosphere. It really takes you to immerse into the story, to feel the atmosphere, and to sample the bride's feelings. Like the song "Bang Bang (My baby shut me down)" sets you up the exact tone of the bride's sadness. And the "Twisted Nerve" builds an anchor into the audience mind. Whenever hearing whispering, you will think of the nurse coming to kill the Bride in the hospital. Other songs and music like "Run Fay Run", "Green Hornet", "Battle Without Honor or Humanity", and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" vividly lead you to the peak of your emotion along with the fighting scenes in the movie. Last but not least, the Japanese song "The Flower Carnage" sadly ends the life of O-Ren who got killed by the Bride in the Crazy-88 battle.

I haven't seen such a real outstanding soundtrack for a long while. This is a no doubt FIVE-STAR TWO-THUMBS-UP quality. Besides the music, the soundtrack CD comes with couple bonus video clips from the Kill Bill vol.1 movie as well. Overall, highly recommend!