“In the Hall of the Mountain King”, composed by Edward Grieg, performed by the Sussex Symphony Orchestra
You guys know this one. That soft beginning ramping up to a cacophony of stomping brass! This is a truly awesome composition, by which I mean it evokes total fear. It was composed by Grieg for Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt, and this particular opus accompanies Peer’s escape from the Mountain King’s castle, pursued by his many minions. The theme begins softly to describe Peer’s soft and careful footsteps, and is then contrasted with the theme of the King’s trolls looking for him. When the two themes collide, the music hits its loud peak as the chase begins. Timpani rolls conclude the piece as the mountain collapses, and Peer has successfully escaped.
WHO is the Mountain King in Mad Men, you ask? And WHO is Peer? This little opus gets a whole episode named after it in season 2, the episode where Don visits Anna and decides to return to Betty. Is Don Peer, trying to escape from the frightening Mountain King’s castle in Ossining? Or is Don the Mountain King, a member of a race depicted in the play to be concerned primarily with self-interest? Or is Don the Boyg, a creature who, when asked, “Who are you?”, responds with “Myself.”?
In “Flight 1”, Don totally negs this Japanese lady in the restaurant after he has to break it off with Mohawk Airlines (this is the episode where Pete’s dad dies in the AA crash). She’s into him, and usually when Don suffers a work setback, he likes to make it up in personal lady time, but he says “Not tonight” and bravely soldiers on.
Anyways, this song “Sukiyaki” is what’s delightfully playing over this exchange. The original title of the song translates to “I look up when I walk”, which the singer does so his tears won’t fall.
Making the whole thing just that more Weiner-loves-his-details-esque? Sakamato died in a plane crash.
Remember when Paul and Pete were going to go to that NASA conference in 2.10 The Inheritance? And then Don totally crushes Paul’s spirit and life by deciding to go in his place? Well, as the camera cuts from Paul’s dejected form to Don and Pete taking off for their futuristic endeavor, this appropriately sci-fi kind of song plays. Complaints were heard on message boards around the internets about the song sounding anachronistic, but this song was released right in 1962, so it’s perfect!
We’ll get to the actual anachronistic songs (source of much debate) later.
Recall if you will Joan’s impromptu performance of C’est Magnifique, from the Cole Porter musical Can-Can, back in episode “My Old Kentucky Home”. Here’s her singing it for you.
Here’s Dean Martin singing it, if that’s your thing too.
Mad Men Playlist: the haunting theme music from season three, episode five, “The Fog”. This is played during Betty’s surreal dream sequences — to complement the surrealism, this track is a Spanish one! From the Sex and Lucia soundtrack, composed by Alberto Iglesias, it is called Me Voy a Morir de Tanto Amor (I am going to die of too much love). Enjoy these late night jams.
Hey beautiful people! It’s your friendly neighborhood Other Natasha speaking. We’re starting a little fun supplement to our regular posts, called Mad Men Playlist. It’ll be just some of the great music we’ve heard over the past few years. This particular groovy thing comes from season one, episode “Nixon v Kennedy”. Isn’t it beautiful? Joan’s listening to it during the election party.
