Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (Original Soundtrack)

Where Kill Bill, Vol. 1 opened with Nancy Sinatra singing haunting lyrics that paralleled the story's murderous betrayal, Kill Bill, Vol. 2 starts with protagonist Black Mamba (Uma Thurman) laying out her motive. In this second volume, Quentin Tarantino (with help from Wu Tang’s RZA) digs into the more obscure annals of his record collection, starting with Shivaree singing the loungy “Goodnight Moon” in a smoky, sultry voice. Sticking with a spaghetti western atmosphere, Tarantino follows this with Ennio Morricone’s “Il Tramonto” before grabbing another honky-tonkin’ Charlie Feathers tune (“Can’t Hardly Stand It”) to score the sinister swagger of David Carradine’s character Bill. Johnny Cash’s “Satisfied Mind” is similarly used to illuminate Bill’s moral flaws with a deeper perspective. One of the most unpredictable selections here is also the most unsettling—Malcolm McLaren’s “About Her” is a trip-hop reworking of The Zombies’ “She’s Not There.” It’s a mash-up that plays as if His Name Is Alive and Portishead broke into The Zombies’ recording studio and pulled a heist before leaving their marks.