Shadow Puppet Storyteller

Slave Children Theme or Slave One Scoundrel Mystery

The Soundtrack of my Life

I used to regale all the adults in my sphere of influence while having a pre-teen/teen existence (circa Summer of 1977 through 1978, then 1980, then 1983...) with my vast knowledge and enjoyment of all things Star Wars. That includes the 1978 Star Wars Christmas Special, my friends...you realize it was to my child eyes what MTV's Liquid Television would be to my college-weary eyes). Evidence that I am a media glutton, but have reached (possibly) a moderated appetite, presented itself to me in 2019 as the Star Wars movie arc concluded, and I firmly waved off on the offering of The Mandalorian as obligatory after-dinner mint. But, also growing up in the age of Spielberg and John Williams collaborations, my love of film composers is great, and I'm always willing to hear what other composers create in that broad sea for recorded media.

I must also tell of the many hours I spent in a 7-11 convenience store that for several key years had an arcade console housing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom video game. For hours, whether someone was playing in that corner or not, it would chirp out the quite jaunty, Slave Theme by John Williams. It worked quite well for priming the player, or potential player of the game, as the main task was climbing ladders, evading Thugee guards, and freeing multitudinous slave children from individual cages within an underground cavern in India. I shouldn't complain, I could leave the store at my leisure, it was my then-boyfriend who had to hear it beckoning in the background for eight straight hours, since he worked the night shift. It's easy to identify -- the brain needs no greasing to pull that diddy to the forefront.

Come to the recent day I decide to at least peek into the world of The Madalorian. Already aware the composer for the theme is a young, slightly electronica-influenced composer named Ludwig Göransson, so I don't expect John Williams. And yet, as the theme begins to swell, I am drawn back to that endless staccato video game loop version that John Williams, himself, probably has never heard play. Now, I'm not creating that actual sense of it for you, except to counter with a cello cover of The Mandalorian agaist John Williams' own Boston Pops rendition. Let me know if you detect what I do? Or maybe I just primed myself to be a hater in this instance. (And don't get me wrong, the music is fantastic, just what it cues in my brain is disorienting).


Main Theme, The Mandalorian composed by Ludwig Göransson performed here by Nicholas Yee et al


Slave Theme by John Williams