For Deexan, With Love!

BLOODSIMPLE

In Soundscape: The School of Sound Lectures, 1998-2001, Blood Simple composer Carter Burwell — a regular Coen brothers’ collaborator — revealed that he was not the first musician chosen to create the soundtrack for the directors’ neo-noir crime thriller. Burrell writes of the unnamed musician:

"He did a very electronic score, and they decided, after hearing it, that they weren't that comfortable with it. And then he lost it. They hired him and he lost it. So they weren't sure what to do. They’re still unclear, was it in his computer that he lost it? Did he misplace the tapes? I don’t know. But somehow he actually lost the score, and that gave Joel and Ethan the opportunity to say, ‘Thank you very much, here’s your cheque, but I think we should try something different,’ which worked out well for me."

On Burwell’s website he elaborates:

"Years later the Coens told me that after our initial meeting they continued to interview composers, ranging from newcomers like myself who had the virtue of being cheap, to established names like Jan Hammer, who at the time was composing the music for Michael Mann’s TV show Miami Vice and who, good German that he is, wore shorts, socks and sandals to the interview and began by handing them his contract and asking them to sign it. They also told me that they did actually hire two musicians before me to score the picture. After receiving some very electronic music the Coens began to doubt that was the right direction. The composers opined that the Coens were squares. Then they reported that their work had been lost, and Joel and Ethan took the opportunity to beg off. At least this is the story I've been told. I guess that’s why I ended up with three weeks to write and record the score."