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Song of the Day #4,834: ‘Kaw-Liga’ – Hank Williams

Revisiting all of Wes Anderson’s films in order didn’t result in shuffling my ranking very much. I’ve seen most of these movies many times, even if some of those viewings were years ago, so my opinions are pretty baked in.

The one major exception is 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom. Pre-pandemic, I hadn’t revisited this one since it first came out in theaters, and it sat near the bottom of my Anderson ranking. Well, now I’ve seen it three times in the past 18 months (including twice in the past week), and it’s moving close to the top.

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Song of the Day #4,833: ‘Heroes and Villains’ – The Beach Boys

Continuing my assessment of the career of writer/director Wes Anderson, I’ve arrived at 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. This was Anderson’s first adaptation and his first animated film.

Coming on the heels of The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited, both of which received lukewarm critical receptions, Fantastic Mr. Fox was greeted as a comeback and return to form for the auteur. It boasts a Rotten Tomatoes score in the mid-90s and grossed $47 million.

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Song of the Day #4,832: ‘Little Man, What Now?’ – Morrissey

The second track on Morrissey’s solo debut, 1987’s Viva Hate, ‘Little Man, What Now?’ takes its title from a 1932 German novel (later adapted into movies in both Germany and the United States). The song’s lyrics have nothing to do with the plot of the novel, however.

Instead, this short tune memorializes the career of a child star who faded into obscurity after reaching adulthood.

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Song of the Day #4,831: ‘Foolishness’ – Lucinda Williams

Here’s a track from Disc One of Lucinda Williams’ 2014 Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, her 11th studio album. The album takes its title from a poem by Miller Williams, Lucinda’s father.

I haven’t spent a lot of time with this album but I enjoy the overall vibe. It’s a whole lot of blues rock, played by an all-star lineup of session musicians.

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Song of the Day #4,830: ‘Play With Fire’ – The Rolling Stones

In 2007, Wes Anderson released the most divisive film in his catalog, The Darjeeling Limited. You’ll find this movie at the bottom of most fans’ rankings, yet it won a prize at the Venice Film Festival and earned twice its budget at the box office. It has the second lowest Rotten Tomatoes score among Anderson’s films but it hasn’t enjoyed the reassessment of The Life Aquatic, the only one below it.

As I wrote yesterday, almost all of Anderson’s movies deal with grief to some extent, but The Darjeeling Limited puts that theme front and center. The film follows a trio of brothers traveling on a train through India after a yearlong estrangement following the death of their father. They are weighed down with emotional (and physical) baggage and seeking a spiritual awakening.

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