Kill Bill Vol. 1 Original Soundtrack

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Kill Bill Vol. 1 Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the first volume of the two-part Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill. Released on September 23, 2003, it reached #45 on the Billboard 200 album chart and #1 on the soundtracks chart. It was organized, and mostly produced and orchestrated by RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan.

Soundtrack development

In a 2003 Interview, RZA spoke about the soundtrack's creation process:

It was more of a collaboration. He had an idea and a vision when he wrote the script. I think I was more of somebody that kept it in the guidelines of what he wanted. He was like, here go the eggs, the milk, the cake, the sugar, everything, and I’m going to stir it up. Put this in the oven, watch it, take it out in forty-five minutes. Now, am I going to take it out in forty five minutes or am I going to fall asleep? I made sure it got out and if I saw something wrong with it, I fixed it. So when he saw it, he was like, this is cake. There was one situation where you see, "Crane and White Lightning." That’s part of the original score, so it’s not really a song. A lot of that stuff is what I use to keep the vibe going between songs.

"Crane and White Lightning" is a piece of music that Quentin wanted on the soundtrack, but was originally set for a Metallica track. There’s only one piece of music that I didn’t feel comfortable with when we were done. We lost a sample, I made one Hip Hop beat. I was like I gotta throw one in there. Quentin loved this beat. We rocked with it and it was one of the first things we did. I could've gotten away with it. It was a sample, but so undetectable. So unnoticeable. I wanted to take a chance, but in the movie business you can’t take those kind of chances. I wouldn’t risk nobody else. If it was my movie, I would have taken a chance. But this is Quentin Tarantino’s movie.

Track listing

1. "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra – 2:40
2. "That Certain Female" by Charlie Feathers – 3:02
3. "The Grand Duel (Parte Prima)" by Luis Bacalov – 3:24
4. "Twisted Nerve" by Bernard Herrmann – 1:27
5. "Queen of the Crime Council" dialogue by Lucy Liu and Julie Dreyfus – 0:56
6. "Ode to Oren Ishii (aka 7 Notes in Black)" by Vince Tempera & Orchestra featuring The RZA – 2:05
7. "Run Fay Run" by Isaac Hayes – 2:46
8. "Green Hornet" by Al Hirt – 2:18
9. "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Tomoyasu Hotei – 2:28
10. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood / Esmeralda Suite" by Santa Esmeralda featuring Leroy Gomez – 10:29
11. "Woo Hoo" by The 5.6.7.8's – 1:59
12. "Crane / White Lightning" by The RZA / Charles Bernstein – 1:37
13. "The Flower of Carnage" (from Lady Snowblood) by Meiko Kaji – 3:52
14. "The Lonely Shepherd" by James Last & Gheorghe Zamfir – 4:20
15. "You're My Wicked Life" dialogue by David Carradine, Julie Dreyfus and Uma Thurman – 1:14
16. "Ironside" (excerpt) by Quincy Jones – 0:16
17. "Super 16" (excerpt) by Neu! – 1:06
18. "Yakuza Oren 1" by The RZA – 0:22
19. "Banister Fight" by The RZA – 0:21
20. "Flip Sting" (SFX) – 0:04
21. "Sword Swings" (SFX) – 0:05
22. "Axe Throws" (SFX) – 0:11

The last three are merely noises that occur as sound effects in the film. The vinyl record version includes only the first fifteen tracks.

Not included

Numerous tracks used in the film and to advertise it were not included in the soundtrack album:

• "Seven Notes in Black" by Vince Tempera – From Sette note in nero ("Seven Notes in Black"; AKA The Psychic). Heard when The Bride awakens and fends off her would-be rapists; background music for the RZA's "Ode to O-ren"
• "Truck Turner Theme" by Isaac Hayes – heard, appropriately enough, when The Bride tracks down Buck's truck.
• "A Long Day of Vengeance" by Armando Trovaioli – From I lunghi giorni della vendetta. Heard in the anime sequence after one of Boss Matsumoto's men murders O-Ren's father.
• "Kaifuku Suru Kizu (The Wound That Heals)" by Lily Chou-Chou – From the film All About Lily Chou-Chou. Heard when The Bride marvels at Hattori Hanzo's sword collection.
• "I'm Blue" and "I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield" – additional songs performed by the 5.6.7.8's in the House of Blue Leaves.
• "From Man to Man" from the Death Rides a Horse soundtrack by Ennio Morricone – heard in the House of Blue Leaves battle. Used prominently to advertise Kill Bill.
• Kenka Karate Kyokushin Ken Opening Theme—heard in the house of Blue Leaves when the bride fights the boss of the crazy 88s´´ (Terockman
• "Nobody but Me" by The Human Beinz – heard in the House of Blue Leaves battle.
• "Police Check Point" by Harry Betts (from the film Black Mama White Mama) – heard briefly in the House of Blue Leaves battle.
• "Yagyu Conspiracy" by Toshiaki Tsushima (from Shogun's Samurai) – background music for "You're My Wicked Life"
• "Funky Fanfare" by Keith Mansfield – heard as the logo music for the Our Feature Presentation film snipe.
• "I Giorni Dell'Ira" by Riz Ortolani (from Day of Anger) – heard when The Bride plucks an eye from one of the Crazy 88. This track would be later used in Django Unchained, where it was included in the soundtrack.
• Other brief clips are not included nor are credits as to who wrote or performed them available.

See also

• Kill Bill Vol. 2 Original Soundtrack