Danny's transistor radio seems to be somewhat magical, in that it's not only playing "Somebody to Love" in the opening classroom scene and the closing whirlwind scene, but also played it for Rabbi Marshak, apparently, otherwise how would he quote from the lyrics (slightly misquote, but never mind) and also choose to name members of Jefferson Airplane for Danny? When the old principal of the Hebrew school examines the radio with a rather transcendent sort of curiosity, then slowly puts the earphone in his hairy ear and truly seems to go into a transcendent state, I couldn't tell what music was playing. Ditto for Danny's return to the classroom, when he is inserting the earphone--it's not "Somebody to Love" but could be another song on the Surrealistic Pillow LP. Two other songs from that album are used in the soundtrack.
The actual soundtrack, the musical theme of the movie, is something else I really like about it. I'm not sure of the ethereal tune's actual notes, some of which are played on harp and some on piano, but they are quite harmonious. I plan to try to pick out those notes on my piano, a recent purchase from Martin Piano Company in Pine Bluff (Rudolph Wurlitzer, refinished black spinet, $600). I've taken lessons for a year and a half from a local piano teacher named Henry Moore, who's around ten years older than I am and seems to be a good teacher (better teacher than I am a student). I was just using a cheap electronic keyboard to practice on until I bought the piano this month.
Why did Santana Abraxas and Creedence's Cosmos Factory both get mentioned in A Serious Man as Columbia Record Club selections of the month (for May and June), when they weren't released until 1970, three years after the movie's time period? Well, I just realized that that is a third instance where three years has some relevance in the movie (can you name the other two?).
The Hebrew chanting and singing in the movie, including the song Dem Milner's Trern (The Miller's Tears) are another transcendent aspect of the soundtrack.
An interesting aside on "Somebody to Love": In an interview on Fresh Air (January 2009), Bruce Springsteen mentioned something about the "subtext" of rock n' roll being that it makes you want to take your pants off (I heard that story second hand so I don't have the exact quote). A friend of mine once told me that when "Somebody to Love" started playing on her car radio, her young son in the back seat--five or six years old, I'm guessing--almost immediately started to take off his pants.
