Before the advent of cable, Paper Moon used to be one of those "evergreen" films that the networks would show once a year, and though that practice has seemingly gone the way of the dodo, the film itself is standing the test of time beautifully with the help of an absolutely golden soundtrack, a hand-picked assortment of top-notch mid-1930's cheerfulness. If you should ever see a vinyl copy of it anywhere, snag that sucker because it's rare and valuable.
For most people, the film's most memorable music moment is probably when Addie Pray (played by Tatum O'Neal) sings "Sunnyside Up" to her fool of a father played by her real life dad, Ryan O'Neal. For me, however, it's really all about the Enric Madriguera version of the Irving Berlin song, "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee, Let's Have Another Slice of Pie," a little number so rosy and at ease with itself that it seemed to make me permanently seven percent happier, just for having heard it. There's nothing special about how it's introduced in the film. Like all of the other music, it's played as simple source music, but it still somehow inspired me to imagine the 1930's more vividly than I ever had. Upon hearing it in Paper Moon, I suddenly pictured myself sitting at one of those chrome lined kitchen tables, sipping coffee from a lemon yellow Fiestaware cup, chatting with my neighbor, Madge. A crumble-top apple pie sat cooling on the windowsill.
Bogdanovich even reprises Coffe/Pie later in Paper Moon, which makes me think that this particular track was special for him too. The whole soundtrack is upbeat and fetching, but there's something particularly poignant about this song, which was originally written for a scene in the Irving Berlin musical, Face The Music. That scene is set in a self-service restaurant modeled on the Horn and Hardart Automat, and is sung by a group of once-wealthy citizens who are now awaiting better times:
"Just around the corner, there's a rainbow in the sky, So let's have another cup of coffee, and let's have another piece of pie."
In Paper Moon, this song and all the other music in the film is played diagetically, coming the omnipresent radios throughout, which makes for a really nice counterpoint to all the stark, dustbowl-ish visuals. I don't think I'd ever considered the music of that era in relation to its economic hardships, but it makes perfect sense that no one would want to listen to depressing music during financially harsh times. Maybe that's another reason why this soundtrack is popping for me so completely right now. All the news about the current recession has me spooked like everyone else, and like everyone else, I want to believe that the coming election will have a positive effect on the situation. In the meantime, another cup of coffee and another slice of pie sounds just right.
Unfortunately, the soundtrack isn't available digitally just yet, but Amazon announced last week that it's going to make "long tail music" available soon (meaning music that's currently out of print) so one can hope. Until then, we have adorable You Tube versions of it, which simply feature vinyl recordings spinning on record players. There is something so wonderfully absurd about using YouTube to watch an old record play. (Note, this isn't the Enric Madriguera version. For that you'll have to watch the film)
By the way, for all you Gen-Xers out there, consider that in 1973 when this movie was made, depression-era music was to our parents as 1970's music is to us now. Weird, huh?
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