Gilliam Anthems

The news that Quincy Jones is planning to remake "We Are The World" brings to mind the satire of charity singles that Terry Gilliam penned for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Heath Ledger's character is a charity scam artist, and "We Are The Children of the World" is first heard as the ringtone on his Blackberry. (The ringtone is also the last thing heard at the end of the credits)

The other song Gilliam wrote for the movie is a very Pythonesque police recruitment anthem called "We Love Violence".

Interstitial baubles

Overnight made think of its ostensible subject The Boondock Saints and its lovely title music: best part of the film, in my opinion.

Seeing Madonna perform "Imagine" on the Tsunami benefit made me wonder exactly how many utopian odes have ever been scribed in history. Lennon wasn't the first, but he certainly is the patron saint of the genre. The song that popped into my mind as a nice example of a minor effort is Roger Water's "The Tide is Turning (After Live Aid)", and there he was only moments later, singing "Wish You Were Here" with Slowhand.

And posting Anja's song, which geeked a few of you, made me think of her dad's little duet with the tabla master Zakir Hussain.