Music usually has got some sort of meaning, i.e. if lovers kiss the music gets louder and more intensive.
I was wondering about the song "The Long Goodbye". It was there almost all of the time in different version. What else, besides that it pointed out to the title of the film and was foreshadowing the fate of Marlows friendship, could it have stand for? What other meanings could the song have?
[deleted]
Well, I'm not a native english speaker. So I didn't get all of the lyrics. From what I understood the lyrics are:
There’s a long goodbye
And it happens every day
When someone passing by,
invites your eye to come away.
Even as she smiles a quick hello
You let her go
You let some woman fly (????)
And you to turn your head
You know you’ve said
A long goodbye
[...]
Down some autumn street
People meet as in the dream
Running for a plane
Through the rain
If the heart is quicker than the eye
And they might be lovers
Until they die
Well, something like that.
Taking a second look at the lyrics now I think that the meaning of the song isn't only about foreshadowing the end of the movie (and how Marlows friendship is ending) but also about the woman that he can't have. And maybe even about how the marriage of Eileen and Roger Wade will come to an end.
I was wondering about a deeper meaning because the song is dominating the film a lot. It's everywhere. But right now no other possibly meanings are coming to my mind. So, if anybody else has a suggestions what the song could mean, I would be glad to hear about it.
Pretty darned good for not being a native English speaker. The part that wasn't interrupted by dialog, I transcribe as
there's a long goodbye
and it happens every day
there's some passerby
invites your eye
to come his way
even as he smiles a quick hello
you've let him go
you've let the moment fly
can you recognize the theme
on some other street
two people meet
as in a dream
running for a plane
through the rain
they could be lovers till they die
it's too late to try
when a missed hello
becomes a long goodbye
To my surprise, googling several of the more obvious phrases yields no hits whatever. Apparently the song was never recorded or known outside this movie, because any song known at all has its lyrics sprinkled all over the web. In fact, I found a couple of John Williams discographies which indicated no recordings of the song. And this probably means that either Williams or Altman nixed the idea.
Anyway, I thought the "long goodbye" referred to the cat getting lost. Goes out the window ten minutes into the movie and he's still looking for it at the end. Last line of the movie is "I even lost my cat".
Edward
The meaning of the title is pretty clear, Marlowe can't accept that his friend is dead, can't say goodbye, until at the end when he finally ends the friendship himself. By weaving the title into a much 'covered' popular song, the film constantly reminds us that the story is about losing someone, a friend that Marlowe feels misplaced loyalty for. Just like the cat, who feels betrayed by Marlowe and disappears forever.
I don't think the lyrics matter at all, they seem to be written to feel almost like a generic popular song, constantly re-worked by every type of performer. It's about creating atmosphere rather than specific lyrics.
Wanda skutnik