Dexter: Music from the Showtime Original Series
Encyclopedia
Dexter: Music from the Showtime Original Series is a soundtrack album
featuring music from the American
television series Dexter
. The album was released on August 28, 2007, on CD
and download
from the iTunes Store
.
. Tracks 2 through 11 are mostly Cuban and Latin music used during the show, with tracks 2, 6 and 9 containing narration by Michael C. Hall
. Tracks 12 through 24 were written by Daniel Licht
, who composed all of the show's other themes. Bonus track 25 is track 24, "Blood Theme", with Jon Licht singing over. Kent's widely praised opening theme utilises an eclectic selection of European and Asian instruments, including ukulele
, piano
, bouzouki
, trumpet
s, pizzicato
strings, electric piano
, saz
, and tambour
, set to an Afro-Cuban beat. Licht's original themes are based around a mixture of Latin and electronic music, reflecting Dexter's warm and cold elements.
The well-known "Blood Theme", played during the credits on every episode, uses a combinition of piano
and bassoon
and bowed string instruments such as violin
, viola
and cello
. The first measures of the "Blood Theme" were first heard in the soundtrack for the American
anthology
horror film
H.P. Lovecraft's: Necronomicon (in "The Library, part 1" segment), also composed by Daniel Licht
, before being later enriched and expanded for use in the TV Show "Dexter". Most composings of the original soundtrack have a similar intention and instrumentation, features a common use of harp
, strings
, piano
and a bright variety of percussion sounds.
.
Dexter Main Title was also used by American rock band Guns N' Roses
as an intro song for their Chinese Democracy tour
.
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
featuring music from the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television series Dexter
Dexter (TV series)
Dexter is an American television drama series, which debuted on Showtime on October 1, 2006. The sixth season premiered on October 2, 2011. The series centers on Dexter Morgan , a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer...
. The album was released on August 28, 2007, on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
from the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
.
Production and musical content
The album contains 25 tracks over 1 hour and 4 minutes. Track 1 is the opening theme by Rolfe KentRolfe Kent
Rolfe R. Kent is a British film score composer.Kent was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. He attended St Albans School, then graduated in Psychology from the University of Leeds in 1986...
. Tracks 2 through 11 are mostly Cuban and Latin music used during the show, with tracks 2, 6 and 9 containing narration by Michael C. Hall
Michael C. Hall
Michael Carlyle Hall is an American actor whose television roles include David Fisher on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and Dexter Morgan on the Showtime series Dexter. In 2009, Hall won a Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in Dexter.-Early life:Hall was born in...
. Tracks 12 through 24 were written by Daniel Licht
Daniel Licht
Daniel Licht is an American film composer and musician, best known for composing the score for Showtime TV drama series, Dexter.-Biography:...
, who composed all of the show's other themes. Bonus track 25 is track 24, "Blood Theme", with Jon Licht singing over. Kent's widely praised opening theme utilises an eclectic selection of European and Asian instruments, including ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, bouzouki
Bouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, pizzicato
Pizzicato
Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of stringed instrument....
strings, electric piano
Electric piano
An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, saz
Baglama
thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
, and tambour
Tambour
In classical architecture, a tambour is the inverted bell of the Corinthian capital around which are carved acanthus leaves for decoration....
, set to an Afro-Cuban beat. Licht's original themes are based around a mixture of Latin and electronic music, reflecting Dexter's warm and cold elements.
The well-known "Blood Theme", played during the credits on every episode, uses a combinition of piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
and bowed string instruments such as violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
. The first measures of the "Blood Theme" were first heard in the soundtrack for the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
anthology
Anthology film
An anthology film is a feature film consisting of several different short films, often tied together by only a single theme, premise, or brief interlocking event . Sometimes each one is directed by a different director...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
H.P. Lovecraft's: Necronomicon (in "The Library, part 1" segment), also composed by Daniel Licht
Daniel Licht
Daniel Licht is an American film composer and musician, best known for composing the score for Showtime TV drama series, Dexter.-Biography:...
, before being later enriched and expanded for use in the TV Show "Dexter". Most composings of the original soundtrack have a similar intention and instrumentation, features a common use of harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and a bright variety of percussion sounds.
Track listing
- "Dexter Main Title" (Rolfe KentRolfe KentRolfe R. Kent is a British film score composer.Kent was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. He attended St Albans School, then graduated in Psychology from the University of Leeds in 1986...
) – 1:40 - "Tonight’s the Night" (Michael C. HallMichael C. HallMichael Carlyle Hall is an American actor whose television roles include David Fisher on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and Dexter Morgan on the Showtime series Dexter. In 2009, Hall won a Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in Dexter.-Early life:Hall was born in...
, Daniel LichtDaniel LichtDaniel Licht is an American film composer and musician, best known for composing the score for Showtime TV drama series, Dexter.-Biography:...
) – 1:07 - "Conoci La Paz" (Beny Moré) – 3:03
- "Uruapan Breaks" (KinkyKinky (band)Kinky is a five-member band from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, formed in 1998 as part of the Avanzada Regia musical movement and consisting of Gilberto Cerezo, Ulises Lozano, Carlos Chairez, Omar Góngora, and Cesar Pliego. The band's music is heavily influenced by Latin music, rock, dance, and...
) – 2:21 - "Flores Para Ti" (Raw Artistic Soul featuring Rafael CortezRafael CortezRafael de Faria Cortez is a Brazilian journalist, actor and comedian. He graduated in journalism from PUC-SP and since 2008 is a reporter the program Custe o Que Custar....
) – 5:16 - "Blood" (Hall, Licht) – 0:59
- "Con Mi Guaguanco" (Ray Armando) – 7:12
- "PerfidiaPerfidia"Perfidia" is a popular song written by Alberto Domínguez , a Mexican composer and arranger born in the state of Chiapas, about love and betrayal. Aside from the original Spanish, other renditions exist, including English and instrumental versions. The English lyrics are by Milton Leeds...
" (Mambo All-Stars) – 2:37 - "Sometimes I Wonder" (Hall, D.Licht) – 0:29
- "Born FreeBorn Free (song)"Born Free" is a popular song with music by John Barry, and lyrics by Don Black. It was written for the 1966 film of the same name and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song....
" (Andy WilliamsAndy WilliamsHoward Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
) – 2:25 - "Dexter Main Title" (Kinky) – 1:41
- "Escalation" (D.Licht) – 2:09
- "Shipyard" (D.Licht) – 2:03
- "Deborah Loves Rudy/The House" (D.Licht) – 3:12
- "I Can’t Kill" (D.Licht) – 2:21
- "Voodoo Jailtime" (D.Licht) – 2:58
- "New Legs" (D.Licht) – 2:01
- "Photo Albums" (D.Licht) – 3:22
- "Courting the Night" (D.Licht) – 1:22
- "Hide Your Tears" (D.Licht) – 1:36
- "Wink" (D.Licht) – 2:08
- "Astor’s Birthday Party" (D.Licht) – 2:00
- "Epilogue/Bloodroom" (D.Licht) – 3:44
- "Blood Theme" (D.Licht) – 2:25
- "Die This Way" (D.Licht, Jon Licht) – 3:55
- "Fight or Flight" (D.Licht) - 1:41 (ITunes Bonus)
- "Nowhere to Hide" (D.Licht) - 1:43 (ITunes Bonus)
- "The Ice Truck Killer" (D.Licht) - 2:56 (ITunes Bonus)
- "The Fortune" (D.Licht) - 1:17 (ITunes Bonus)
- "Second Season Suite" (D.Licht) - 2:01 (ITunes Bonus)
Songs in other media
Blood Theme was also used by Finnish band HIM as an intro song for their recent Venus Doom tour. The song also features on their CD/DVD, Digital Versatile DoomDigital Versatile Doom
Digital Versatile Doom is HIM's first commercially released live album and live DVD, as opposed to the bootlegged Live and Undercover which was not official. The DVD was directed by Meiert Avis in Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theater between 14 and 15 November 2007...
.
Dexter Main Title was also used by American rock band Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
as an intro song for their Chinese Democracy tour
Chinese Democracy Tour
The Chinese Democracy Tour is a current worldwide concert tour by hard rock band Guns N' Roses to promote the group's long-delayed album Chinese Democracy....
.