The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - The Story of the Song

Resembling the distant howl of a coyote, the humble recorder sounds one of the most recognisable melodies in the history of music. Appearing repeatedly in film, music and television, its the start of the theme to The Good, The Bad And The Ugly written by Ennio Morricone who has died aged 91. No other composer, bar perhaps John Williams, has had the same cultural impact as Morricone.
      Ennio Morricone was born in Rome to a musical father who helped him learn to play several instruments. After an initial stint playing trumpet in jazz bands in the Forties, he became an arranger and was then asked by fellow Roman Sergio Leone to compose a theme for the first of his 'Spaghetti Westerns' 1964's A Fistful of Dollars. Credited as Dan Savio, Morricone was asked by Leone to base the theme on Dimitri Tionkin's El Degȕello and using this objective as well as his own lullaby he'd written earlier, he created the theme song. For A Few Dollars More quickly followed before The Good, The Bad And The Ugly closed the trilogy in 1966 and made its writer a star. His music proved central to Leone's movies, but notably here because unlike with the first two films, he wrote the music alongside Leone before rather than after filming. As a result not only did it open the film, it was also used on set to capture the mood as well as match the pace of the film Leone intended to shoot. This is why so many of the action sequences are choreographed, measured and slow, in time to the music:

      Starting with an opening two-pitch melody of a slightly whiny recorder, an operatic vocal and then whistle follow, underpinned by the gentle pitta patta of drums. From there, various instruments are played, using Morricone's extensive knowledge of them and sounds sung that theatrically add layer upon layer of melody before it draws to its natural conclusion. However it is the opening great leitmotif that reoccurs through the movie and leaves the largest impression and the above performance by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra illustrates this perfectly.

Morricone went on to score further Leone classics Once Upon A Time In The West and Once Upon A Time In America as well as The Professional, The Mission, Cinema Paradiso and Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. In all he composed more than 400 film and television productions but it's the theme to The Good, The Bad And The Ugly which resonates most. It hit number 4 in American in its original release and then number 2 when covered by Hugo Montenegro shortly after and has since been an influence on The Ramones, Green Day, Radiohead, Dire Straits, New Order (Peter Hook has acknowledged he copied the opening melody for Blue Monday), Busta Rhymes and countless others.
      The evocative soundscapes he created with his music will stay with me forever, its haunting sound, the thrill of adventure it suggests, Ennio thankyou!