Soundtracks - My Bloody Valentine (1981)

I figure since I am on the topic of “My Bloody Valentine” I might as well talk about the song that was in the original movie. The song is entitled The Ballad of Harry Warden, which was composed by Paul Zaza and it was song by popular Canadian singer/songwriter John McDermott. This was a song that I actually enjoyed and it was very different from most theme songs for horror movies; this one is a lot more mellow and calm. But why is this? We have to take a look into the movie’s setting.

The movie takes place in a small mining town of Valentine Bluffs (Harmony in the 2009 remake), in which everybody knows everybody, where everything is rural and rustic looking and where true American and Main Street USA can be found. This is a town that is average and very homey until the Henniger murders. This song reflects this. Every town has it’s folklore and legends and that’s what this song’s lyrics are about… the legend and curse of Harry Warden.  Like a ballad, the song is sung soft and its played in acoustics. It sounds just like a folk song and in a way it sounds just like the kind of song sung while visiting the Heartland.

This is something that I think that the remake lacked, this feeling of having a small quiet innocent town become sour after a horrific tragedy. Hell, the lyrics can be considered as a stand-alone poem about a legendary killer.

That’s what I love about the original movie.