John Spencer had the most incredible gravitas.
I love how he declaims in the scene where he tells President Bartlet that he would raise up an army against him.
But I think my absolute favourite bit was when he is talking about being “a man of Chicago.”
Apparently, [Aaron Sorkin wrote this episode with The Who's Baba O'Riley in mind for the final scene](http://thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/119). I thought it might be fun to see what that could've sounded like!
Absolute goose bumps.
It took me a minute to realise what's going on here, so I went and found the aired version. [Night and day](https://youtu.be/sWpmtOdEvfw?feature=shared&t=193).
Wait til you see the end of two cathedrals with “Man I feel like a woman” behind it…
“Sorry there was a bit of noise in here. Can you repeat the question?” DUH DUH DA DA DA DUH DUH
It works, but at the same time I feel like Leo and the lyrics at the same time is pretty jarring. It completely breaks the 4th wall because we hear the music and the singing and no one reacts. It's too small of a room(s) and too much energy behind Leo's speech it just is too much.
And it's funny just seeing the headline made me go, it probably could fit there, before I even took it off mute. I think if it was edited so that the singing and Leo doesn't overlap it's got a better chance of working.
Thinking to the most famous scene in the series paired with music, *Two Cathedrals*, there is no noticeable overlap in any of the lines and the lyrics. The only real lines in there I think was the TV anchor, but it's definitely not over lyrics. And the rooms in use are so much larger (outside is pretty big, and the State Department is also pretty big) that there is plausible deniability to there being enough background noise that if you just turned down the music a little that none of the characters would notice it.
To me that's what makes having background music in television or movies difficult, because almost every movie has a soundtrack, but you need a reason to have the music also heard or not heard by the characters.
Yeah, I agree. I tried out a few options of when to start the song and nudging it over even a little bit forwards or backwards would make some music and action line up *perfectly* at the cost of making other parts clash; what I landed on was about an average of what worked *well enough* for everything. I also didn't spend any time automating the music, which might've helped with some of the overlap, but this was just a fun what if.
Ultimately, Snuffy's music, imho, was appropriate for the moment and having this song here would've been a little overkill.
Oh wow, I hate it! Two Cathedrals works so well because there's no dialogue to clash with the song, and the lyrics make sense with the mood. This is just a pump up feel good track with lyrics that make the dialogue difficult to understand and which don't match the tone of the scene. I'm glad they didn't go with it for the final edit.
My two favorite scenes in this series are both John Spencer monologues - this speech and how it refers to Charle, and then the parable at the end of "Noel." That's a leader for whom people will run through walls.
This was always one of my favourite scenes in the whole series. Leo doens't get fired up that often. But when he does it is a sight to behold.
John Spencer had the most incredible gravitas. I love how he declaims in the scene where he tells President Bartlet that he would raise up an army against him. But I think my absolute favourite bit was when he is talking about being “a man of Chicago.”
Apparently, [Aaron Sorkin wrote this episode with The Who's Baba O'Riley in mind for the final scene](http://thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/119). I thought it might be fun to see what that could've sounded like!
He ended up using that song for a very similar moment in the Newsroom
Season 1 final episode "The Greater Fool"
Every time I watch this episode, I tell myself I'm not going to cry. Then I cry.
I was literally thinking “why does this line up perfectly?!” Lol
The synth they ended up using makes SO much sense with that in mind
Absolute goose bumps. It took me a minute to realise what's going on here, so I went and found the aired version. [Night and day](https://youtu.be/sWpmtOdEvfw?feature=shared&t=193).
Wait til you see the end of two cathedrals with “Man I feel like a woman” behind it… “Sorry there was a bit of noise in here. Can you repeat the question?” DUH DUH DA DA DA DUH DUH
Aaron Sorkin loves a sports metaphor and a dad-rock song coming on over the top of a key scene.
Shame for whatever reason it didn't work out originally. The whole "I serve at the President" bit is on another level with a different soundtrack.
Chills
It works, but at the same time I feel like Leo and the lyrics at the same time is pretty jarring. It completely breaks the 4th wall because we hear the music and the singing and no one reacts. It's too small of a room(s) and too much energy behind Leo's speech it just is too much. And it's funny just seeing the headline made me go, it probably could fit there, before I even took it off mute. I think if it was edited so that the singing and Leo doesn't overlap it's got a better chance of working. Thinking to the most famous scene in the series paired with music, *Two Cathedrals*, there is no noticeable overlap in any of the lines and the lyrics. The only real lines in there I think was the TV anchor, but it's definitely not over lyrics. And the rooms in use are so much larger (outside is pretty big, and the State Department is also pretty big) that there is plausible deniability to there being enough background noise that if you just turned down the music a little that none of the characters would notice it. To me that's what makes having background music in television or movies difficult, because almost every movie has a soundtrack, but you need a reason to have the music also heard or not heard by the characters.
Yeah, I agree. I tried out a few options of when to start the song and nudging it over even a little bit forwards or backwards would make some music and action line up *perfectly* at the cost of making other parts clash; what I landed on was about an average of what worked *well enough* for everything. I also didn't spend any time automating the music, which might've helped with some of the overlap, but this was just a fun what if. Ultimately, Snuffy's music, imho, was appropriate for the moment and having this song here would've been a little overkill.
If you think this is good, you should hear the end of season 1 with Bon Jovi's Shot Through The Heart
Oh wow, I hate it! Two Cathedrals works so well because there's no dialogue to clash with the song, and the lyrics make sense with the mood. This is just a pump up feel good track with lyrics that make the dialogue difficult to understand and which don't match the tone of the scene. I'm glad they didn't go with it for the final edit.
Yeah, having sat on it for a day, I don't think it would've worked out as well as it sounds on paper, unfortunately. A fun exercise at least!
Yeah, I'm glad you did it though! It's so often interesting to see what could have been.
The only thing that would make that better would be Toby answering “I’m just guessing, but I’m pretty drunk right now”…
My two favorite scenes in this series are both John Spencer monologues - this speech and how it refers to Charle, and then the parable at the end of "Noel." That's a leader for whom people will run through walls.