"Two-Lane Blacktop" soundtrack

Some of these projects are fairly easy to compile. And then there are ones like this one. At some point in the not-too-distant past, I read that the cult 1971 film “Two-Lane Blacktop” never had a soundtrack album. This was likely due to the fact that there were licensing issues involved. The rights to use one of the songs in the film, The Doors’ “Moonlight Drive,” prevented the movie from coming out on video for a while.

To determine which songs appeared in the film, I went to the Independent Movie Database (IMDB). While that website is usually a good source for such things, this time around, it was less so. Some information turned out to be incorrect or incomplete.

As a result, I decided to sit down and watch the film and pick out the songs. I hadn’t seen the movie in years, so seeing it again was at first kind of fun. However, sometimes, only tiny snippets of songs are used. And despite a couple of easily recognizable tunes, several were unfamiliar to my ears. Using SoundHound and Shazam music apps was only helpful some of the time.

One odd thing about this film is that it stars two musicians -- James Taylor and Dennis Wilson -- yet neither one sings or plays a lick in the entire movie.

SIDE A

1. Hit the Road Jack – Jerry Lee Lewis (from The Locust Years…)

2. Moonlight Drive – The Doors (from Strange Days)

3. Gee – Eliza Gilkyson (from Eliza [out of print, good luck!])

4. John Henry – Kentucky Colonels (from Kentucky Colonels featuring Roland and Clarence White)

5. Truckload of Art – Terry Allen (from Lubbock (on everything))

6. Cattle Call – Eddy Arnold (from Cattle Call)

SIDE B

1. Me and Bobby McGee – Kris Kristofferson (from Kristofferson)

2. Maybelline – John Hammond (from John Hammond)

3. Peace in the Valley – Red Foley (from Old Shep)

4. Stealin' – Arlo Guthrie (from Running Down the Road)

5. No Money Down – John Hammond (from Big City Blues)

6. Girl of My Dreams – James Clarke (from KPM 1000 Series: Gentle Sounds, Volume 3)

A short snippet of "Cattle Call" is played at one point, but I couldn't identify which version it was, even after listening to about a dozen versions. It may be the Eddy Arnold version, but it's definitely not Tex Owens or Slim Whitman or a gaggle of other yodelers that I listened to on YouTube. It could be just some friend of the director singing and strumming a guitar. I went ahead and included the Eddy Arnold version, but note that it may not be correct.

There's some mariachi music played early in the film that I couldn't figure out either. Plus, IMDB lists songs "Early Cocktail" and "Taylor Made" as being in the film, but I never noticed them, even though I went through the film twice.

But even the identified songs aren’t all easy to find. This is especially true for the song “Gee” by Eliza Gikyson. Her album has been out of print for years. If you can track down all the songs, you'll end up with an interesting and rather unique collection that flows together nicely, I think.

For a cover for this soundtrack, I used existing poster artwork and made some alterations.