Professor Bradly
English 102
March 31, 2015
The Streetcar Named Desire Sound Track
I feel honored that I have been chosen to compose the soundtrack for the remake of “A
Streetcar Named Desire” originally written by Tennessee Williams. Even though this play was written decades ago it is still a wonderful example of the human condition, and is truly a timeless
classic. My composition will consist of artists Rihanna, The Weeknd, Beyoncé, Babyface, and
Alicia Keys. By using modern day artists and music it will demonstrates how this play is still
relevant in today’s time. Although I will not cover ever scene in the play I shall correspond the
music with some of the most important sections in the production.
and Blanche have their first confrontation. The music would start during Blanche’s short but
moving, emotional breakdown. The song that would be playing is Nobody Knows It but Me by
Babyface. The music would start playing after Blanche states to Stanley “I keep my papers
mostly in this tin box” (Williams 37) because this is right before she gets lost in her thoughts.
The lyrics in the beginning of the song states “I pretend that I'm glad you went away, these four
walls close in more everyday, and I'm dying inside, and nobody knows it but me.” In this scene
Blanche mentions her ex-husband for the first time and the lyrics of the song foreshadow the
pain that she will reveal later in the play. The song goes on to say “Like a clown I put on a show,
the pain is real even if nobody knows…” The song is showing how she truly feels inside, even
though on the outside she tries to perceive that she is alright, on the inside she is feeling a lot of
pain. The song would fade away and end after Blanche states “I'm sorry, I must have lost my
head for a moment […]” (Williams 38) because this is where her emotional breakdown ends.
The next scene this modern music would play in is Scene Three after the poker scene and
Stanley finds himself alone without Stella because he abused her. The music would start playing
when Stanley says “Stella! My baby doll's left me!” (Williams 59) The song playing would be
Tell Me Something by “Alicia Keys. Some may wonder why I would use such a calm song when
Stanley is acting almost animalistic, the reason is for the mindset behind his animalistic behavior.
He is screaming Stella’s name and banging on his chest to get her attention, so he would be able
to apologize. In the song at the end of the first verse and the beginning of the chorus states
“Imagine there was no tomorrow, imagine that I couldn't see your face, there'd be no limit to my
sorrow, so all I can say, I wanna tell you something, give you something, show you in so many
ways, cause it would all mean nothing, if I don't say something, before it all blows away.” This is
how Stanley feels, he doesn’t want to lose Stella, and couldn’t imagine being without her. He
doesn’t want to wait until it’s too late, so once he realized she was gone he went after her. The
music would end at the end of the scene, although Stella and Stanley have left the scene, Mitch
takes the opportunity to make his first move on Blanche.
Skipping over Scene Four, Scene Five is the next scene the modern music will play in. It
will be during Stella and Blanche’s conversation. The music will start when Blanche states “Yes,
honey. Watch how you pour--that fizzy stuff foams over!” (Williams 84) The reason is some of
the foam spills on Blanche’s skirt and causes her to scream. This shows that Blanche is partly
superficial and cares about what happens to her positions. Within the song Pretty Hurts by
Beyoncé, which is the song that will be playing in this scene, it talks about how society effects
people negatively causing them to want and try to be perfect. The chorus of the song states
“Pretty hurts, shine the light on whatever's worse, perfection is the disease of a nation, pretty
hurts […] tryna fix something, but you can't fix what you can't see, It's the soul that needs the
surgery.” I would have the chorus play in the background of when Blanche states “Mitch--Mitch
is coming at seven. I guess I am just feeling nervous about our relations […]” (Williams 84) The
reason is when she explains to Stella her fears she talks about age, a thing that she is quit
sensitive about, and to her one of her main flaws. Just like the song she is pointing out
“whatever’s worse.” The song would end when Stella states “It will, honey, it will.... But don't
take another drink!” because that’s the end of the conversation.
The next scene I would put a modern song in is Scene Six. In this scene Blanche and
Mitch are having an intimate moment, Blanch finally relieves what truly happened to her ex-
husband. The song that will play in the background is Love the Way You Lie Part Two by
Rihanna. The song will start playing at the line when Blanche states “I loved someone, too, and
the person I loved I lost” (Williams 103) because this is right before she begins the description of
her past, and the first verse will play in sync with her description. The scene will be play as a
flash back. The beginning of the first verse says “On the first page of our story, the future
seemed so bright, then this thing turned out so evil, I don’t know why I’m still surprised […]”
This was true for Blanche and her ex-husbands relationship, it started off loving and beautiful but
by the end it became so messed up that it still haunts her. Within the flash back Blanche is
having she states “Afterwards we pretended that nothing had been discovered” (Williams 103).
Part of the chorus of the song states “[…] I love the way you lie […]” This became the reality for
Blanche, she knew the truth about her husband, but she loved the way they pretended nothing
happened and how their lives went on.
I would use another song with the artist Rihanna for the next scene, Scene 10. I would
use the song Monster by Eminem ft. Rihanna but with a special mix of only the Rihanna part, for
the confrontation occurring between Blanche and Stanley. The music would start playing after
Stanly says “As a matter of fact there wasn't no wire at all!” (Williams 137). The reason is
because this is the part where Stanley tries to expose Blanche for her lies. The chorus of the song
states “I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed, get along with the voices inside of my
head, you're trying to save me, stop holding your breath, and you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think
I'm crazy, but that’s not fair.” Stanley is trying so hard to destroy Blanche’s illusion and bring
her into reality but Blanche is comfortable where she is within her illusion. In other words
Blanche “get[s] along with the voices insider of my [her] head.” Stanley defiantly thinks Blanche
is crazy, which to others may seem unfair. This is why this song fits so perfectly with this part of
the scene The song would end when Stanley says “You left th' phone off th' hook” (William 139)
because this is the end of the verbal confrontation and the beginning of the physical one.
I would have a different song play for the second half of Scene Ten, the physical
confrontation. The song would be Enemy by the Weeknd. I would have the music or the
instrumental playing in the background after the line when Blanche says to Stanley “Let me--let
me get by you!” (Williams 139) because this is when the physical tension really begins to build.
The lyrics would start not to long after that, but wouldn’t start at the beginning of the song. The
song would begin at the lyric “Girl I been drinking all day, it's been long week, can’t you tell by
my face […]” This fits the situation because Stanley has been drinking, and with the tension
rising between Blanche and him, it probably caused the weeks to drag on. I would have the song
lyrics “I want to lose myself between your legs” play in sync with when Stanley states “Come to
think of it--maybe you wouldn't be bad to--interfere with [...]” because unintentionally this is
what he is saying. Basically he is stating that it wouldn’t be bad for them to have sex. I choose
this song for this situation in this scene because it perfectly interplays with the way Stanley feels
about Blanche. Like the song states “I’d rather be your enemy than any friend you think I could
be.” Even though Stanly didn’t exactly say those words we know this is how he feels.
Although “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams was written decades ago it
is still a wonderful example of the human condition, even for today’s period. By using modern
music for a classic play, it not only modernizes the play but shows that the play is still relevant in
today’s time. The fact that the lyrics of these modern songs can correlate with the scenes of the
play shows that the same emotions being portrayed in the play are still being felt in today’s time.
So often people want to forget about the past but so often the past can be the guidance for our
future.
Work Cited
Babyface Nobody Knows It but Me, 2007. MP3
Beyoncé Pretty Hurts. Beyoncé Knowles, 2013. MP3
Rihanna. Monster, 2014, MP3
Rihanna. Love the Way You Lie. Alex Da Kid, Kuk Harrell, 2010. MP3.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire
The Weeknd Enemy 2012. MP3
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