''Once Upon a Time in the West: The Original Soundtrack Recording'' is a soundtrack composed by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

, from the 1968 western film of the same name directed by

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style ...

, released in 1972. The film score sold about 10 million copies worldwide. The soundtrack features

leitmotif A leitmotif or () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is a partial angliciz ...

s that relate to each of the main characters of the film (each with their own theme music), as well as to the spirit of the American West. The theme music for Jill McBain,

Claudia Cardinale Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938), known as Claudia Cardinale (), is an Italian actress. Born and raised in La Goulette, a neighbourhood of Tunis, Cardinale won the "Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia" competition ...

's character, has wordless vocals by Italian singer

Edda Dell'Orso Edda Sabatini (born February 16, 1935), known as Edda Dell'Orso, is an Italian singer known for her collaboration with composer Ennio Morricone, for whom she provided wordless vocals to a large number of his film scores. A soprano with a three-o ...

. It was Leone's desire to have the music available and played during filming. Leone had Morricone compose the score before shooting started and would play the music in the background for the actors on set. In 2018, for the 50th anniversary of the film, the Italian records company "Beat Records" released a limited 500 copies edition. In 2020, in a retrospective on '' CineAction'', Mark Lager wrote that "Morricone’s music in ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' and '' The Great Silence'' is magnificent in its melodic splendor and its revolutionary textures."

Track listing

Original release

#"Once Upon a Time in the West" – 3:46 #"As a Judgment" – 3:08 #"Farewell to Cheyenne" – 2:40 #"The Transgression" – 4:43 #"The First Tavern" – 1:41 #"The Second Tavern" - 1:34 #"Man with a Harmonica" – 3:31 #"A Dimly Lit Room" – 5:09 #"Bad Orchestra" – 2:25 #"The Man" – 1:03 #"Jill's America" – 2:48 #"Death Rattle" – 1:45 #"Finale" – 4:13

Expanded edition

An expanded and remastered album was released in Italy in November 2005. #"Once Upon a Time in the West" - 3:43 #"The Man" - 1:03 #"The Grand Massacre" - 2:40 #"Arrival at the Station" - 0:55 #"Bad Orchestra" - 2:25 #"Jill's America" - 2:47 #"Harmonica" - 2:27 #"The First Tavern" - 1:39 #"A Bed Too Large" - 1:32 #"Jill" - 1:47 #"Frank" - 1:52 #"Cheyenne" - 1:16 #"The Second Tavern" - 1:33 #"The Third Tavern" - 1:19 #"Epilogue" - 1:14 #"On the Roof of the Train" - 1:19 #"Man with a Harmonica" - 3:30 #"A Dimly Lit Room" - 5:08 #"The Transgression" - 4:41 #"Return to the Train" - 0:40 #"Morton" - 1:36 #"As a Judgment" - 3:08 #"Final Duel" - 3:35 #"Death Rattle" - 1:44 #"Birth of a City" - 4:25 #"Farewell to Cheyenne" - 2:38 #"Finale" - 4:08

Sampling

The track "Man with a Harmonica" was sampled by

Beats International Beats International were a British dance music band and hip-hop collective, formed in the late 1980s by Norman Cook (later in his career known as Fatboy Slim) based in Brighton, East Sussex, England, after his departure from the Housemartins. ...

for their record

Dub Be Good to Me "Dub Be Good to Me" is a song by British dub group Beats International featuring singer Lindy Layton, released on 24 January 1990 by Go! Beat Records as the first single from their debut album, '' Let Them Eat Bingo'' (1990). It was written b ...

(released in January 1990) and by

The Orb The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential ...

for their record

Little Fluffy Clouds "Little Fluffy Clouds" is a single released by the British ambient house group the Orb. It was originally released in November 1990 on the record label Big Life and peaked at number 87 on the UK Singles Chart. The Orb also included it on thei ...

(released in November 1990).

Claude Challe Claude Challe (born Claude Chalom in 1945 in Tunisia) is a French DJ and club owner, the co-creator of the Buddha Bar restaurant/clubs and music compilations. Challe moved to France at age three. He attended Rabbinical school as a young man. At ...

in his album Sun played a remix of "Man with a Harmonica" in CD 2 Lovely Sunset (released in 2001). The track "Man with a Harmonica" as well as quotes from the film was sampled by

Colourbox Colourbox were an English electronic musical group on the 4AD label, releasing a number of records between 1982 and 1987. The band was formed by brothers Martyn and Steve Young, Ian Robbins, and vocalist Debbion Currie. Currie and Robbins left ...

in their song "Looks Like We're Shy One Horse" from their

album. The German punk band

Die Toten Hosen Die Toten Hosen are a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. The name is taken from the German slang idiom ''tote Hose'' (literally "dead trousers"), which means "nothing happening"; "boring". The band has had an important success through th ...

covered "Man with a Harmonica" under the title "Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod" on their 1984 album Unter falscher Flagge.

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Once Upon A Time In The West Ennio Morricone soundtracks 1972 soundtrack albums RCA Records soundtracks