Call Me, Call Me

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Music
Genre:	Soundtracks
Artist:	Yoko Kanno

Songs specifically written as part of a soundtrack are best heard within the context of film they mean to accompany. Not that they don't have less merit in themselves; it's just that they tend to make more sense that way.

I first heard Call Me, Call Me though a compilation of various Bebop tracks I obtained from a friend. I haven't watched an episode of Cowboy Bebop then; I only know that, based on reviews, the series is kickass and the soundtrack (from that music goddess, Yoko Kanno) is a work of genius.

Ask people who know the song what they think of Call Me, Call Me and they'd say it's one of the best songs in Bebop. And they're right: the song could work its way from your ears to your heart and fill you with passionate yearning. It starts with jangly guitar that brings images of American deserts. Then Steve Conte's voice comes in, gently settling into the sonic background. By the time the song reaches the refrain, you're hooked. Steve Conte sings of passionate yearning like it was no one else's business.

And then his voice starts soaring and you feel like you're suddenly taken a hundred feet into the air.

Halfway through the song, strings would suddenly join in and you will be taken by Ms. Kanno into an exhilarating sonic joyride. Layers and layers of sound assaulting you like a storm. And then slowly it ends, and you'll feel feel empty. It's like a roller-coaster slowly coming to a stop.

It took me a while before I saw the episode where the music was used to. And when I saw it, the song became something much more than just a song. It's perfection. It's the best accompaniment to a scene that brings in a surge of emotions. It's become the ship and the anchor that kept the tension rising, moving forward, and the story coherent. It's the song that will eventually make you cry. You will cry because it's so true.

You will cry because it's more than true.