Everyone who thinks Kanye, Luhrman and 3D are “inappropriate” for The Great Gatsby either haven’t read it or didn’t understand it.

For those of you who need a quick recap on the story of The Great Gatsby, it is the story of three tragic couples, and how love blinds you from reality.  You have Gatsby, who is in love with Daisy Buchanan, who is in love with her husband, Tom – who has a mistress named Myrtle, who’s husband, George loves her very much.   The story is narrated by Nick Carraway, a doe eyed youth from the midwest, who is dating Jordan Baker a fast and loose girl who is Daisy’s best friend.    There’s lavish parties, lies, heartache, and in the end, the Gatsby’s love for Daisy seals his fate in a swimming pool at the hand of George, while Myrtle ends up dead on the side of the road, and Daisy and Tom – the most selfish characters in the entire novel get away and live the rest of their lives together.  These characters are timeless – and I have fallen in love with each and every one of them multiple times.  In fact, the Great Gatbsy is one of the only books I constantly read, and reread.

At any rate, Baz Luhrman is doing a remake of the greatest novel known to mankind – The Great Gatsby.  This is the guy who brought us Romeo+Juliet with Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio as well as Moulan Rouge.  He’s known for being able to pick amazing songs to be the soundtracks of his movie.

Please watch his trailer for The Great Gatsby:

Did you hear it?  You had to have heard it.  Oh yes, it’s modern music played over the craziness that is the novel of The Great Gatsby.  (Although, from the looks of the trailer, it’s going to follow pretty well, including Daisy’s famous comment, “You’re so cool” to Nick.)  The first song is No Church in the Wild by Jay-Z, The Dream, Frank Ocean and Kanye West.  The dirty beat fits perfectly into the setting of prohibition era 1920′s – people becoming rich being criminals, with all the extravagance that Gatsby produced in hopes of getting his love at the parties.  Even the lyrics seem to speak to the Nick Carraway’s view of most of the other characters throughout the novel:

Human beings in a mob.
What’s a mob to a king? What’s a king to a God?
What’s a God to a non-believer who don’t believe in anything?
Will he make it out alive? Alright, alright, no church in the wild.

Later – the song even speaks to Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy:

I live by you, desire
I stand by you, walk through the fire
Your love is my scripture
Let me into your encryption

The second song is Jack White’s cover of U2′s song – Love is Blindness from the AHK-toong_BAY-bi_Covered CD which was released last year on the 10th anniversy of Achtung Baby’s release.

First you should know, Achtung Baby is my favorite CD by U2.  There isn’t a song on there I don’t like – but in particular, Love is Blindess, which ends the CD is one of the songs that ALWAYS made me think of the Great Gatsby.  The song was written by Bono during the sessions for Rattle and Hum – but didn’t make the cut because the band didn’t believe it was ‘U2′ enough.  Later, while recording Achtung Baby – the Edge was seperating from his then wife, Aislinn O’Sullivan.  The guitar, which is hauntingly beautiful (and still to this day one of the best guitar efforts by Edge in my humble opinion) was described by Bono as Edge putting, “everything into it, all the feeling, all the hurt, all the angst, everything went into that solo. His whole life came out of him when he played… when we went for the take, one string broke and he just kept playing harder and harder. Another string broke. And he has such a light touch, ordinarily, he’s so gentle. All that left him for a kind of rage. And yet there’s not one bum note in there.”

The song itself, has lyrics that I always associated with Gatsby – and his blind love for Daisy.  You see, Daisy was not this innocent and virtuous flower that Gatsby remembered her as.  Once he met her again, she was selfish and someone manipulative, as seen by the way she treats her daughter.  Once she married Tom, who admittedly was a womanizer and beat her, she becomes just as bad as she does, and Gatsby just refuses to see it – he still remembers her as this beautiful paragon of virtue that he’s in love with.  In the end, his love for her costs him his life – and that is why I always associated the song with Gatsby.

Let’s check the lyrics:

Love is blindness
I don’t want to see
Won’t you wrap the night
Around me
Oh my heart
Love is blindness

In a parked car
In a crowded street
You see your love
Made complete
Thread is ripping
The knot is slipping
Love is blindness

Love is clockworks
And cold steel
Fingers too numb to feel
Squeeze the handle
Blow out the candle
Love is blindness

Love is blindness
I don’t want to see
Won’t you wrap the night
Around me
Oh my love
Blindness

A little death
Without mourning
No call
And no warning
Baby…a dangerous idea
That almost makes sense

Love is drowning
In a deep well
All the secrets
And no one to tell
Take the money
Honey
Blindness

Love is blindness
I don’t want to see
Won’t you wrap the night
Around me
Oh my love
Blindness

HOW IS THAT NOT GATSBY?

You can’t argue that it isn’t his theme song – because it clearly is, and I’ve always thought it.

And now – apparently Baz Lutherman agrees with me.

I’m in the wrong profession folks.