(Caution: Lost spoilers!)
Lost, with its many mysteries, with its cliffhangers, with its strong characters, with its strange twists and its clever humour… is obviously the perfect material for a song.
It makes sense. After all, music is one of our most primal and ancient artforms; how else could we express our deep and complex feelings about Lost? No, nothing is quite as appropriate as music.
So here are some examples of how Lost has inspired musical works or adaptations of true genius. Or something like that.
This was possibly the first Lost music video we ever saw, and it remains beautiful. Set to Weird Al’s “Bohemian Polka”, it retells the story of the first season and suggests a possible ending that is very, very delightful. It’s not as perfectly animated as similar videos, but that just adds to the charm and manic energy. (There’s a sequel, which is technically well-done, but simply isn’t very funny.)
If you’ve never seen/heard the Llama Song, you’re missing out on a truly mind-bending experience. Once you’ve heard it – let it play at least three times for a more profound understanding, or threat to your sanity – you will be able to appreciate the silliness that is the Sawyer Song.
In retrospect, the last line almost seems to explain who sings this song. Think about it.
Well-sung, well-produced and rather obnoxious, this song takes a poke at the many unanswered questions and apparent plot holes in Lost. It’s a good and fair topic, but the song is something of a failure. Many of the questions it demands answers to aren’t really relevant, and others had already been answered when this song came out. And, as unbelievable as it may have seemed back in the fifth season (and it did), Lost has managed to pull together quite a few of its threads, and has actually made sense of a lot of its plot.
There are still holes, and these are fertile ground for a funny song, but this one sounds more hostile than funny. Also, guys – “hypocracies” is not a word.
Now this, this is genius. Nestor Carbonell, like Michael Emerson, simply has screen presence by the bucketful. Richard Alpert is one of the most fascinating characters in a show that has no lack of such, and his every appearance is a moment of wonder – even in otherwise unsuccessful episodes. The recent Richard-centric episode “Ab Aeterno”, while flawed, was an ambitious and captivating story that really added to our understanding of the character, while answering several questions. (The Island is Sunnydale!)
This love song about the seemingly ageless character is not only hilarious, it also mentions that Nestor Carbonell’s eyelashes are real and not make-up, an important fact that too many people make uninformed jokes about. Thank you.
OK, so this isn’t an actual music video. It’s just a collage of images from Keamy’s Paradise, the fansite devoted to Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand), Lost‘s most unpleasant and vicious character next to Claire.
But we recently showed this to a friend who hadn’t even gotten to the point where Keamy appears in Lost, and he laughed so hard that afterwards he was in actual pain. That’s how funny the combination of the music and the pictures is. It’s a masterpiece.
So, what are your favourite Lost songs? Any other great songs or music videos about TV shows?
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