One month into the DVD release, 5 months after the theatrical release, WALK HARD looks to be a moderate failiure. Although I found the self-referential nature of it's bio-typical jokes distracting, it did not ruin the joke for me. John C. Reilly gives it his all, great performances throughout, but once the genre references are plundered, it's time to die.
My favorite moment in the film, naturally is the lampooning of the greatest moment of musical self-indulgence in rock history: Brian Wilson's recording of what became the Modern Suite "Smile". Dewey Cox enters this phase of intense self examination with "Black Sheep". This could not have been accomplished so accurately without the input of Brian Wilson's original collaborator VanDyke Parks, who teamed with Walk Hard's Musical Director in the film.
The directors cut of the film greatly expands on the recording session scenes where Cox is determined to unload the pain in his heart, but gets carried away with grandiose production values. However, the key is not in the exotic instrumentation, but in the song itself. Let's look at the words, as they tell of Dewey's guilty conscience, having accidently halved his talented brother with a machete when they were young boys.
Black Sheep, Black Sheep
Me!
I wasn't dreaming
Barely awake
Up to the grinder we stroll
Not just a fleecing
Spilling his will
Half of the kill
Vanishing memories of paradise Til
What do I care?
I'm in a field serene
Miles and Miles of solid green
Oh, to feed the flock, is a love to dream
At first, Cox identifies with the sheep, walking impassively to slaughter, but his sheep knows his fate in detail. It will not be the ritualistic bloodletting, but a cartoonish halving. Perhaps the writers had some bestial inclinations, but wisely withdrew them. Still, Cox feels a sheep's life cycle to be not such a bad one of pastoral grazing.
I just close my eyes
When I fantasize
Much to my surprise
I'm just half the size
That I used to be
Bye Bye White Brother
This Black Sheep got a role
I just open up
Like a catacomb
Though my heart is halved
I'm the half that's home
For the Life of me
Bye Bye Pastures of Plenty
I don't know where I will go
This is clearly LSD-influenced. His soul is opened up so the two halves of Cox are exposed, the white half, his departed brother. On the verge of a death trip, Dewey, the black fears Hell awaiting him.
Black Sheep, Black Sheep
The Fields are in harmony
Half is unsung
Now that the blade has been swung
Black Sheep, Black Sheep
The two were inside of me used to be
one Sheep, Black Sheep Me!
Dewey's separation from the idyllic unity of the universe is what he is sorely grasping for. He longs to be a part of the flock, but his soul is brutally separated by the ominous machete blow.
I'm losing my fleece from trying
I'm losing no sleep, I'm dying
Why shouldn't I keep from frying?
One spot in the universe
One spot on the sun
Just as the day has begun
I'm counting the clouds today
I'm starting at one sheep
Black Sheep Me!
The mania gathers steam, at first in a fruitless frantic scramble for survival and dignity. But if every sheep had a will, certainly it would object to being shaved of it's fleece, and eventually cooked in a frying pan.
In the end, we are tiny organisms on a tiny planet, marching to an unseen deity. Why shouldn't we ponder our place in the universe, knowing we will eventually vaporize? All that is left is to examine our plane of existence, count the clouds, the stars, the sheep...anything...before we succomb to sleep and pass into another dimention.
UPDATE:5/29
Although the Bonus Feature DVD has a mini-documentary dedicated to the collective songwriting effort of all contributors, there's nothing about Black Sheep. Nothing. However, there is an alternate acid trip scene, using more traditional psychedelic effects and a "Tomorrow Never Knows" style mash up of Black Sheep. Quite disappointing, just shows I'm completely weird.
