Hideaway from the soundtrack to Where The Wild Things Are Karen O takes a break from her band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs--a personal favorite--to offer up
January 11, 2010

Hideaway from the soundtrack to Where The Wild Things Are

Karen O takes a break from her band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs--a personal favorite--to offer up a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack to Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are.

I'm a much bigger fan of the Dave Eggers' book, based on his screenplay, than the actual movie (because your mind's eye is always more vivid than the screen), but the themes in the soundtrack (and in Jonze/Eggers' interpretation of the Maurice Sendak classic) have really struck a chord with me. There's a tendency to paint with an unnaturally rosy light the joys of childhood, but as I watch my own little wild things navigate their way into adulthood, there's no way to deny the confusion, frustration, anger, betrayal, chaos and isolation that a child feels, no matter how hard a parent tries to spare them.

I went to pick up my little one from an after school playdate this afternoon, only to find her in full rumpus mode with her friends, dancing to the soundtrack. The unadulterated joy and "presentness" of their play was just beautiful to behold.

What songs evoke that wildness of childhood to you?

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