TWO OF THE LUCKY ONES (Alt. Version) - Bonus Link
A fresh take on that song from Zombieland!
It’s the new moon and that means new music.
Today, paid subscribers can stream or download “Two of the Lucky Ones (Alternate Version)”—in hi-res if that’s your thing— by visiting the link beyond the paywall at the bottom of this post.
Everyone else will have to wait until Volume Three is released on Black Friday, 11/24/23.
In my post from 10/18/23, I pointed out how often I’ve shared “ones that got away” here on Love Songs Etc. Today, I share the story of a fish that did not get away.
Even before The Droge & Summers Blend Volume One was released in 2009, sync agent Michael Friedman passed along an advance copy of the EP to Lia Vollack. (Thanks, Michael!) Lia was the head of music for Sony Pictures and was working on a film called Zombieland.
There was a scene where they were looking to replace the music cue. I’ve always assumed they could not afford the licensing fee Sly & the Family Stone required, but it could have been that their track just wasn’t working. In any event, Lia passed our song “Two of the Lucky Ones” along to the film’s music editor, Carl Kaller. (Thank you, Lia!)
Small world alert: Carl had music edited one of my songs before. We both worked on Cameron Crowe’s masterwork, Almost Famous.
Carl was critical in landing our song in Zombieland. Of many options he was presented with, he masterfully laid our track into the scene. (Thank you, Carl!) If you watch the film, note how the music transitions from Hank Williams’ steel guitar into the opening cries of lap steel in our song. The transition is seamless.
The music editor choosing your song is far from a done deal. Other members of the film’s team have a say in what music makes it into the final locked picture. Some of the powers that be were in favor of “Two of the Lucky Ones.” Others were not. Lia informed us that a test screening helped tip things in our favor. (Thank you, test audience!)
We learned our song was to be included in the film on the very day our EP was released. It doesn’t get much better than that! Even better, the film was a smash! It grossed $102 million at the box office and is a staple on cable TV. I don’t usually go for zombie flicks, but I loved Zombieland—great performances from a great cast. Bill Murray even makes a cameo!
“Two of the Lucky Ones” was obviously not written with zombies in mind. Like other songs I’ve written about on Love Songs Etc, it began as an instrumental score. This time, it was created for a film called Touching Tiny Lives. The short documentary highlighted the work of the Touching Tiny Lives Foundation, an organization serving the most in-need children by providing access to health care, offering health education, and combating malnutrition.
A few years later, I repurposed the cue while working as composer on the feature-length documentary A Lot Like You. Here is that version titled “One of the Lucky Ones” from the film’s soundtrack album.
Eventually, Elaine Summers and I turned it into the song we now call “Two of the Lucky Ones.” And the rest is history. It’s the most streamed title in my catalog—even more than that song from Dumb & Dumber.
After the EP was out, I experimented with a version of the song based around acoustic guitar but lost interest in that track in favor of new, unrecorded material. Now that we’ve gathered all things Blend, this version can finally see the light of day.
I’m sharing “Two of the Lucky Ones (Alternate Version)” with my paid subscribers today. Everyone else will have to wait for The Droge & Summers Blend Volume Three to be released on Black Friday, 11/24/23.
Here comes the paywall in 3… 2… 1… PAYWALL!