10 Songs That Became More Famous Than Their Movies

4. Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid

Bob Dylan's death bed lament has been covered by artists as diverse as Eric Clapton, Anthony and the Johnsons, Guns N' Roses, Avril Lavigne, Wyclef Jean, The Grateful Dead and U2. It has been used in movie soundtracks from Lethal Weapon 2 to Disney's Treasure Planet. Its status as a global hit and influence on movies is apparent in how there are at least two foreign language movies that have taken their titles from Dylan's song: 90s German crime comedy Knockin' On Heaven's Door and anime space western Cowboy Bebop, whose movie was titled Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door in Japan. Dylan was originally hired just to write the theme song for Sam Peckinpah's western Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid, but was soon bumped up to writing the entire score, despite having never written one before, and appearing in the film in a small Dylan-esque role as "Alias". Despite Knockin' On Heaven's Door becoming a hit, the rest of the film's production was extremely troublesome. Peckinpah's alcoholism was proving more of an issue than ever before, while he clashed frequently with studio MGM (he is rumoured to have been unhappy enough with the production that he urinated on the screen when watching dailies with Dylan). Finishing weeks behind schedule and well over budget, Peckinpah's two hour cut was re-edited by the studio along with Dylan's music, to something little over 100 minutes. The film flopped even while Dylan's single became acclaimed as a classic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gazW7MOqHzQ Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid has enjoyed a revival in recent years, in its critical stature if not in gaining a broader audience, but it is unlikely ever to be so remembered as the song that it spawned.
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Loves ghost stories, mysteries and giant ape movies