''Dead Man Walking'' is a soundtrack album to the film of the same name, released in 1996 on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. The album contains twelve tracks by major artists, including a title track by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

, which was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

but lost to "

Colors of the Wind "Colors of the Wind" is a song written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz for Walt Disney Pictures' 33rd animated feature film, '' Pocahontas'' (1995). The film's theme song, "Colors of the Wind" was originally recorded by ...

" from the Walt Disney film ''

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...

''.

Overview

The album is a collection of music thematically linked to the 1995 film '' Dead Man Walking''. Although all the songs were inspired by the storyline, only four of them were featured in their entirety in the movie. A separate album of the film's instrumental score, composed by David Robbins, was released by Columbia Records in April 1996. The film's executive producers, brothers Tim and David Robbins, personally solicited a number of their favorite musicians for contributions to the project. "We contacted artists we particularly admired," said David. The contributors were provided with scripts,

rough cut In filmmaking, the rough cut (also known as the first cut or editor's cut) is the second of three stages of offline editing. The term originates from the early days of filmmaking when film stock was physically cut and reassembled, but is still ...

s, and other materials to help inspire their work. Many of the resulting pieces have lyrical content based on particular characters –

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter of Folk music, folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s she released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the ...

wrote her song from the perspective of the nun, Sister Helen Prejean;

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American country, rock, and folk singer-songwriter. He began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Earle's breakthrough album was his 1986 debut album '' ...

took the point of view of a prison guard; and

, in the film's title track, spoke as the convict himself.

Critical reception

Springsteen performed his song "Dead Man Walkin'" at the

68th Academy Awards The 68th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1995 in the United States and took place on March 25, 1996, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beg ...

, where it was nominated for

Best Original Song The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best ...

. In a review for the album's tenth anniversary, critic

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

called it "one of those rare soundtracks that is as compelling as the film itself".

Track listing

Charts

Release history

References

External links

Dead Man Walking
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

URLon.me
{{Authority control Drama film soundtracks 1996 soundtrack albums Columbia Records soundtracks