Livin' Man Song From "Owl Creek"

Excerpts of the tune "Livin' Man" and a couple of instrumentals from the French-made 1962 short film An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Adapted from a 1890 Ambrose Bierce short story, the film won the award for best short subject at both the Cannes film festival and the Academy Awards, and also appeared as an episode on the original Twilight Zone TV series. For the Twilight Zone version, the tune Livin' Man was inexplicably added twice to the episode (it appears just once in the original). The end credits of the Twilight Zone version list only Henri Lanoë as the source of the music. In the end credits of the original film, Henri Lanoë received top-billing for the music, with the names of five musicians who contributed listed below his name. According to imdb.com, Lanoë has been a busy man within the film industry, contributing not only to composing, but also editing, acting, writing and directing. See http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0487030/

To confuse matters a bit, another post at imdb.com claims the song Livin' Man was actually composed and performed by "Kenny Clarke, a jazzman who lived most of his life in France." See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056300/board/nest/60105?d=60105&p=1#60105

The French title for An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is La rivière du hibou. Under that title imdb.com lists the names Kenny Clarke and Henri Lanoë for the category "Original Music by." A separate listing for "Music Department" lists the names Cley Douglas, Robert Escuras, Jimmy Gourley, Jean-Marie Imgrand and Kenny Klarke (the latter likely a misspelling of Kenny Clarke). See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056300/fullcredits This is the same list of names that appear below Lanoë's name in the original film's end credits. Both Gourley and Escuras were jazz guitarists. I haven't been able to find any information about Douglas or Imgrand.

As for Clarke, there was indeed an American jazz musician named Kenny Clarke who resided -- and eventually died -- in France. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Clarke for more information about him. Videos of Clarke performing can be found here on YouTube. He was an outstanding drummer, so it's likely he may have provided the film's rapid snare work that accompanied scenes of a condemned soldier fleeing through the woods. Clarke was also a composer, writing a number of jazz tunes, and also the score for at least one other French-made film besides Occurrence. Whether he wrote and possibly sang Livin' Man is unknown. If he did, then it remains a question what Henri Lanoë contributed to the soundtrack.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• an
• occurrence
• occurence
• at
• owl
• creek
• bridge
• incident
• livin'
• living
• man
• henri
• lanoe
• robert
• enrico
• kenny
• clarke
• klarke
• klook
• liaqat
• ali
• salaam
• twilight
• zone
• la
• rivière
• du
• hibou
• cley
• douglas
• escuras
• jimmy
• gourley
• jean-marie
• imgrand
• roger
• jacquet

[tissuebox89]

I WATCHED THIS IN SCHOOL AND PEED MY PANTS IN CLASS

[WelshGreen8225]

omg the anticipation of him running, it kills me.

[WelshGreen8225]

LMAO i love this song, its hilarious

[awhislyle]

Awesome, after we watched this in English class years ago I got a copy and cut the audio out for this song and put it on myspace, though it seems the file is no longer downloadable like it used to be, its at myspace(.com)/owlcreek if anyone knows how to get an mp3 off there

[josh0liva]

@GrizeldaGrundle me too... ive been searching all day

[sebulia1]

Haunting music. Love it!

[edavsaa]

2:47 my favorite part.

Found this song from Twilight Zone episode.

[edavsaa]

2:47

[XEvolutionist]

I saw this film decades ago, but I still remember this song. I hope to find an mp3 of it. x

[glennraytutor]

does anyone know where sheet music for this song can be acquired?