Bluegrass, Banjos, and Bullfrogs

Again switching it up this week, I'm going to talk about the Coen brother comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The cult classic from 2000 is loosely based on Homer's The Odyssey. The movie follows Everett and his companions, Pete and Delmar, after they escape from prison in search of a 1.2-million-dollar treasure.

Clooney is Everett, Delmar is on the left, and
Pete is on the right. (src)

The movie loosely follows the plot of The Odyssey in that Everett escapes prison to journey home to his wife and win her back. Along the way, the boys meet a blind prophet, a pseudo-cyclops, and sirens, just like in Homer’s epic tale.

Overall, the movie is more of a comedy than anything else, with a litany of quotable quotes, such as:

“Those boys desecrated a burning cross!”

“The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo.”

“Shake a leg Junior! Thank God your mammy died givin' birth. If she'd have seen you, she'd have died o' shame.”

With this movie, I can’t really get too much into the plot without spoiling the whole thing or any of the jokes, and, if you’ve read The Odyssey, you kind of already know how the movie is going to go.

Keeping that in mind, I’ll just move on to the soundtrack, which is really, really good.

This is one of the most successful soundtracks I’ve ever heard in terms of establishing a tone from the get-go. The first scene is the prisoners breaking up rocks for the railroad; the prisoners are singing “Po Lazarus,” a traditional song. The song is sung a cappella in a nod to the chorus in Greek dramas.

The KKK scene is pretty scary. (src)

A lot of the music in the film is sung a cappella; a chorus alone sings “Down to the River to Pray” during a baptism scene, the sirens sing “Didn’t Leave Nobody but the Baby” without accompaniment when they seduce the trio, and the entire KKK scene is accented by the haunting chants of a men’s choir. The film even ends with an a cappella song, “Angel Band,” sung by Everett’s many children and the blind prophet.

This heavy use of vocal music without accompaniment creates an almost timeless effect and also nods to the simplicity of the lives of the characters.

All of the other music is quintessential bluegrass and folk. The first instrumental track we hear is Harry McClintock’s "Big Rock Candy Mountain.” This almost sickly sweet tune plays over the prisoners’ escape, creating a comedic feel right from the get-go.

But if there’s one track from this move that’s infamous, it’s the Soggy Bottom Boys’ "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow." Not only is this a good song in and of itself, it’s also perfect for this movie. The song’s lyrics are undeniably dismal, and if you looked at them without hearing the song, you’d probably think it was a slow ballad. But the song is actually a super-upbeat bluegrass tune; this makes it almost comical, and it reflects the dark comedy of the film itself.

What do you think? Should I have stayed up until 4am to write this? Do you like Greek epic poems? Am I in class today? Do you like bluegrass?

Here's the whole soundtrack if you would like to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIXbh-VhaFg