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John's Movie Magic Playlist

Sometimes all you need is a beat to keep you running. But sometimes you need a dream, a story, a triumph you can latch onto and make your own. That's where the Movie Magic Playlist comes in. My friend John has been curating it for years now, switching songs in and out as movies and tracks inspire him. Let these tunes turn you into Jason Bourne or John Dillinger. They don't quit, and neither do you. John's full liner notes after the jump.

1. "All These Things I've Done," The Killers. From the ESPYs, featuring highlights of Vince Young's leading the University of Texas to National Championship over USC. Am not even a "Hook 'em Horns" fan, but something about the images of Young basically single-handedly carrying that team through the season and to victory over the USC Trojans (a team i do despise) in the final game stuck with me. So now I'm running, tired, with heavy legs, and on come the Killers with that slow start building in pace to where the song breaks into the back-up singers in unison belting out "I got soul but I'm not a soldier." The adrenalin is flowing. I am Vince Young. Beating would-be tacklers. End-zone in sight. Nothing can stop me. Crowd in rapture. World at my feet. Great bloody song!
2. "Extreme Ways," Moby. Theme song form The Bourne Identity. Despite having been tortured, shot, hunted and robbed of his beloved, the brooding, bad ass Jason Bourne (aka Matt Damon) just keeps going, defeating all in his way, out-maneuvering his pursuers. Bourne's a lone-survivor who overcomes all the odds - compared to what he's come through, finishing this run is nothing!!
3. "Jesus Walks," Kanye West. Soundtrack from Jarhead the anti-war marine movie with Jake Gyllenhall and his mates thrust into the shite that was the Gulf War/Iraq Part 1. Kaye's praying that his "feet don't fail" him now and so am I. This song helps!
4. "Lust for Life," Iggy Pop. From the opening scene of Train Spotting with the smack head character Ewan McGregor and his mate running form the Scottish cops after robbing from some old lady to feed their drug habit. Okay, the imagery is not inspiring, but the song is catchy, and the "screw the man" attitude in it is somehow useful if you think of the man as the fatigue in your legs and you're gonna beat him and show that son of a bitch you can keep going!
5. "White Riot" The Clash. Actually very similar to Iggy's Lust for Life - the anarchical, in your face, head-banging of punks somehow translates into helping me keep running! Another classic in this veing is Stiff Little Finger's "Alternative Ulster," and indeed, The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go."
6. "Shipping Up To Boston" (Dropkick Murphys). From The Departed when the gang are headed out of Boston to a warehouse with the cops in pursuit. Tension is fierce with Leonardo's character on verge of being busted in his undercover role. Actually the movie scene is not exactly inspiring but again, the punkish and irreverent tones are transferred into the legs to keep 'em going against the bastard called tiredness!
7. "Magic Bus," The Who. From the Texas highschool football movie Friday Night Lights. Conjures up hard-hitting training in sweltering Texas heat. Hit, knocked down, but up again. Drives you on. Funny thing about the song, it's actually from the part of the movie where the high school guy proclaims how far he'd go to be with this high school girl he's in love with, who happens to share the same school bus. But that kinds drives you on in your run as well — we've all been there!
8. "Paper Planes," M.I.A. The hit from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack that has a great beat and that excellent chorus "all i wanna do is...[bang, bang, bang and cash register cha-ching]" that for whatever reason pumps energy in the legs in that "outta my way sucka...i'm finishing this run, just try stop me!" sort of way.
9. "Ten Million Slaves," Otis Taylor. Comes from the Johnny Depp movie Public Enemies. The particular scene is where the FBI Agent Christian Bale is calmy pursuing a fleeing gangster who is running across an open field for all his life. Bale's calm character is a couple of hundred meters behind through thick and brush but takes a knee with long range rifle and cuts the fleeing target down with one shot. Something about the constancy of the electric guitar and rapid banjo play combine here to make this a good running song. The lyrics are about a group of slaves surviving in a slave holding ship making its way across high seas. Something inspiring in and of itself.