Tag: Music

Rincon

CHRISTOPHER: [sighs] Why does your dad have more faith in me than you?
LORELAI: My father hit his head surfing Rincon a couple of years ago. His judgement’s a little off.

Rincon Beach is a surf spot in California, between Malibu and Santa Barbara, and closer to the latter. It’s one of the most famous surf beaches in California, and is well known around the world. It hosts the Rincon Classic surf event each January, and is mentioned in The Beach Boys’ song Surfing Safari.

Obviously Lorelai is joking – surfing Rincon is one of the last things Richard Gilmore would ever do. The real reason for his misplaced faith in Christopher is explained later in the episode.

Johnny Angel

This is the song which plays while Rory and Dean are eating their home-made dinner together at Babette’s.

Johnny Angel is a 1962 teen pop song by Shelley Fabares, the actress who played Mary Stone on The Donna Reed Show. It was a cover version of a song written by Lyn Duddy and Lee Pockriss, and had been earlier recorded with little success. The song was the first single released from Fabares’ debut album Shelley!, and premiered on The Donna Reed Show. It went to #1 on the charts, and sold over one million copies.

The song tells of a girl’s great love for boy, as if to say that Rory is making such a big effort for Dean because she really loves him and wants his approval. The link with Donna Reed makes it an apt choice.

Flower Girl of Bordeaux

This instrumental piece by Mexican band leader and composer Juan García Esquivel, often known by his surname only, is the “interesting music” which is playing when Dean first arrives at Babette’s and finds Rory in costume. It is from the CD that Rory got from Lane’s “miscellaneous” section, and which she described as “the weird one”.

Esquivel is considered to be the king of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop, or lounge music – Rory’s choice of his music shows that while she has tried to be faithful to period, she is doing so with her own idiosyncratic style, and subverting conventional expectations.

Esquivel’s music was released on a series of CDs in the 1990s; Flower Girl of Bordeaux is from the 1995 compilation album Music From a Sparkling Planet.

Notice how this is a slight callback to the “kick ass” Bordeaux wine drunk earlier in the episode; perhaps an allusion to how intoxicating Rory appears to Dean.

William Shatner

RORY: William Shatner. Is this the one where he sings Tambourine Man?
LANE: And Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
RORY: Remind me to get this for my mom for her birthday.

William Shatner (born 1931) is a Canadian actor, author, producer, and director, best known for playing James T. Kirk, the Captain of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek.

He also has a musical career, which began in 1968 with the spoken-word album The Transformed Man, giving recitations of songs such as Mr. Tambourine Man and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, interspersed with dramatic readings from Shakespeare.

This is the album which Lane has, and it was widely mocked and parodied for its unique style, becoming a camp classic. Rory plans to buy it for Lorelai’s 33rd birthday, which is perhaps a month or so away at this point.

Although he did other albums, after 2004 William Shatner began collaborating with some big musical stars, and even brought out an album that was critically acclaimed.

Sinatra – the Capitol Years

Lane has an entire section of her CD filing system taken up with Sinatra – the Capitol Years.

Francis “Frank” Sinatra (1915-1998) was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the twentieth century. Beginning his career in the big band era, he found success as a solo artist in the 1940s. One of the biggest performers at Las Vegas in the 1950s, he also forged a successful career as a Hollywood actor. Sinatra won eleven Grammy Awards, including the Legend and Lifetime Awards, and continued recording and touring until shortly before his death.

In 1953, Sinatra made a career revival by signing a contract with Capitol Records. Between 1954 and 1962 he brought out 22 albums which contain some of his best known songs, such as I Get a Kick Out of You, My Funny Valentine, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Young at Heart, The Lady is a Tramp, and Come Fly With Me. These would all become concert standards for him.

Pretty Boy Rock

Lane classifies some music as “pretty boy rock” in her CD filing system, including Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, The Wallflowers, and Bush.

Bon Jovi [pictured] is an American rock formed in 1983, with its lead singer and songwriter being John Bon Jovi. Their 1986 album Slippery When Wet gained them international recognition. They will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Duran Duran are an English rock band, earlier discussed as one of Lorelai’s favourite bands as a teenager. Maybe she contributed to Lane’s music collection, or introduced Lane to their music.

The Wallflowers are an American rock band formed in 1989 by Jakob Dylan and Tobi Miller. Their self-titled debut album came out in 1992, and their most successful album was the 1996 Bringing Down the Horse.

Bush are a British rock band formed in 1992, founded by Gavin Rossdale and Nigel Pulsford. They found immediate success in 1994 with the release of their debut album Sixteen Stone, and went on to become one of the most commercially successful bands of the 1990s. They were always far more popular in the US than in their home country.

The glimpse into Lane’s music collection in this episode is fascinating, and demonstrates the eclectic nature of her musical tastes and interests.

Foo Fighters and Siouxsie and the Banshees

RORY: Well I guess that just leaves bass player for the Foo Fighters.
LANE: I also wouldn’t rule out keyboardist in the Siouxsie and the Banshees reunion tour.

The Foo Fighters are an American rock band, earlier mentioned as one of Lane’s favourites. Their bass player is Nate Mendel.

Siouxsie and the Banshees [pictured] were an English rock band, formed in 1976 by singer Siouxsie Sioux (the stage name of Susan Ballion) and bassist Steven Severin (the stage name of Steven Bailey). Their 1978 debut album The Scream was critically acclaimed, and the band were highly influential in the punk, post-punk, and Gothic rock music scenes. They disbanded in 1996. The band have been compared to The Velvet Underground, another of Lane’s favourites. The keyboardist for Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1987 to 1995 was Martin McCarrick.

Sunday Best

Troubadour Bus

This is the song that the town troubadour is singing when Rory gets off the bus and is met by Dean. It is the first appearance of the troubadour in the show, played by indie rock singer Grant Lee Phillips, and named Grant in the credits.

It is ambiguous whether the troubadour is actually meant to be the real Grant Lee Phillips who (like many other other celebrities) also exists in the Gilmore Girls universe, or whether Phillips is playing a fictional character who just happens to have the same first name. Perhaps he is a sort of parallel universe version of himself.

Sunday Best was a bonus track on the Australian release of Phillips’ 2001 album Mobilize, however that was months after this episode aired.

Village Vanguard

BABETTE: Well, see, Morey just got a call to play a gig at the Village Vanguard tonight so we got to go to New York.

Village Vanguard is a jazz club on Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village. It opened in 1935 and at first featured many forms of music, such as folk and beat poetry. It became focused solely on jazz in 1957. Some of the big stars who have played at the Village Vanguard include Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, and Sonny Rollins.

It’s an internationally renowned club, so it’s a demonstration of Morey’s recognised talent that he was chosen to play here (even though it seems a bit last minute).