Song: "A Quick One While He's Away" by The Who

Event: The movie, Rushmore

There's not too many filmmakers out there that can make a scene so iconic that every time you see or hear anything associated with that scene, their film is the first thing that comes to mind.  Scorsese and Tarantino have both proven their effectiveness with marrying pop music to intense scenes so whenever you end up on classic radio and hear "Gimme Shelter" or "Stuck in the Middle" suddenly come on, that scene replays in your mind.  (Although, Mr. Scorsese - please, no more with the "Gimme Shelter."  We get it.  I assure you - we get it)

Wes Anderson is, I suppose, the less violent and more hipster friendly version of this type of filmmaker.  He's been able to marry numbers of great pop songs to beautifully staged and filmed scenes.  Like Tarantino, he seems more interested in the music that stands just on the outside of the popular mainstream - focusing more on the songs in middle of the top ten than the first 3.

One song that Mr. Anderson has left his indelible mark on is The Who's epic triptych "A Quick One While He's Away."  Used effectively in the "Revenge" sequence in Rushmore, the song is the backdrop to two friends torn apart over a woman and engaged in a contest at once petty and possibly deadly.

What makes this choice especially interesting is that the song is a whole story, complete with multiple characters and time periods, focusing on the disintegrating (or is it?) long distance relationship and a woman who fancies "engine drivers."  So Anderson is able to co-opt this already vivid song, complete with its own narrative and emotional structure, and make it his own.

So when I hear this song, I don't just think of the sequence of Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzmann undermining each other at every turn.  I think of the movie as a whole.  I think about how the song was used prominently in the trailers for the film, making it seem like some sort of 2 hour prank war.  I think about Anderson's entire ouevre, where my opinion diverts from "popular" voices decrying his decreasing returns.  I think about my favorite moments from his movies, all of those jokes, singular characters and unique dialogue that encourages if not demands repetition and quoting.  I think about all these things and then I sing along with the very end of "You are forgiven!" in a ridiculous falsetto.