Music from John Woo movies?

January 7, 2006 7:53 PM

Can anyone help me identify and locate (either to buy or download) any of the music from John Woo's The Killer, Hard Boiled, or any other John Woo / Chow Yun Fat movies? Particularly the haunting theme song to The Killer. Thanks!
posted by ac to media & arts (7 comments total)

the killer's song should be by sally yeh
posted by suni at 8:34 PM on January 7, 2006

The theme song from The Killer was sampled extensively in Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.
posted by alidarbac at 12:02 AM on January 8, 2006

Your best bet to find songs from these movies is to search YesAsia for the albums. However, the tracks are all listed in Chinese, so unless you know the Chinese name for the track it might be difficult to find. I came up with a ton of Sally Yeh albums, though. The three main songs she had on The Killer are "Theme Song", "Once In A Lifetime" and "It's Been Written."

Much to my surprise, there was a soundtrack released for Hard Boiled released in the UK in 1993. (HK movies from that time rarely ever had soundtracks released.) There are a few WAV samples from that site, but Amazon appears to have it in stock for $24.99 (or $11.99 used, evidently). That looks to be your best bet.
posted by armage at 3:01 PM on January 8, 2006

The characters for the song "Once in a Lifetime" are (I believe): 一生一次. Source.
posted by armage at 3:54 PM on January 8, 2006

Thankyou guys for all your answers. I unfortunately do not know Chinese and therefore was not able to make any sense of Sally's site. The one I am REALLY desperate for is the main theme from The Killer. If anyone can help me find it I would greatly appreciate it.
posted by ac at 4:47 PM on January 8, 2006

You are in luck -- I have an MP3 of the main theme from The Killer. Because of the somewhat dubious legality of the file, email me if you'd like a copy.

(I also have a few WAV files from Hard Boiled, if you're interested.)
posted by armage at 10:35 PM on January 8, 2006

Metafilter is the best. The best!
posted by ac at 1:31 PM on January 12, 2006