Hello and welcome to this week's installment of Cue by Cue.
Today we're going to be looking at John Williams' original rejected attempt at scoring the famous binary sunset scene, the cue 3m2 Rev. Lost R2. I don't know if this is common knowledge or not, but Williams' original vision for the scene was completely rejected by George Lucas after recording, and a replacement 3m2 New Lost R2 was hastily written to replace it.
When most people think of "binary sunset", they almost certainly think of the latter. In fact the cue became so associated with with the scene that "binary sunset" is sometimes used as a synonym for "the Force theme" by more casual fans. So it might come as a shock that this original attempt has zero Force theme in it whatsoever. But more on that in a moment.
As implied by the name, 3m2 Rev. Lost R2 is itself a revision of the original cue 3m2 Lost R2, which was never recorded. Both the original and revised versions were orchestrated by Herbert Spencer, the former being 48 bars long, and the latter being 42 bars long.
Here's the top of the conductor's scores for the original and revised versions:
The primary difference between the two versions is that the revision drops the last 8 bars, replacing them with a shorter ending of just 2 bars. I believe that the original bars likely scored the quick Owen/Beru kitchen scene after Luke runs off. Unfortunately, as I said it was never recorded so there's no easy way to listen to it.
Now, without further ado, let's listen to the recorded revision:
At 0:00 we get a 3 note sting that's repeated a couple times throughout this cue. Technically a higher octave version also begins the replacement cue, but we'll cover that next week.
Variations of the 3 notes are repeated as Owen and Beru talk until 0:22, when we see the sunset. Then begins a repeating version of the dies irae Fate motif with an orchestral swell that grows stronger as Luke stares at the sunset, and then fades away at 0:56.
Then at 0:58 we get that 3 note sting again, with a couple variations as Luke looks for the droids.
At 1:08 3PO's appearance is accentuated, and then there's some soft material as he explains how R2 has run off.
Then at 1:21 as Luke runs outside, the repeating dies irae fate motif returns, and we also get a set of 9 transitionary notes, which will appear once more later in the score.
There's then some soft strings and woodwinds as 3PO and Luke discuss having to search for R2 in the morning. This fades out by 2:02.
Then at 2:02 we get one final string note for Owen stepping outside looking for Luke in the morning. Thus the cue ends....
This original cue was rejected by George Lucas shortly after it was recorded. Williams actually talks about this in the liner notes on the original 1977 vinyl:
I'm not actually sure what he means here by Luke's theme, because there is no Luke theme in this cue. But regardless, it would appear that George Lucas rejected this cue and asked for a complete rewrite using Ben's theme, because it would better serve the emotions of the scene.
I heartily agree. As interesting as this original version is, I'm very glad that the piece was replaced, and I think George's instincts were right here. I'm actually curious if this score and film would have been nearly as successful if the original piece had been used. The replacement cue is often considered to be the highlight from this score, and it's among the most popular film music of all time. I don't know that the binary sunset scene would've been nearly as memorable with this original piece.
This cue was recorded on March 8, 1977, the second day of the recording sessions. It was the fifth and last cue recorded that day.
Two takes were recorded, 54-55. The 1997 take documentation doesn't cover this piece as all since it was completely rejected. As a result I'm actually unsure which of the two takes the set presents.
This cue has been officially released on just one album:
3) In 1997 on RCA Victor's 2-CD Special Edition set
More specifically, 3m2 Rev Lost R2 can be heard:
From 0:00-2:19 of disc 1 track 13 "Binary Sunset (Alternate)" on the 1997 album.
The 1997 release has a clean opening and ending.
That's all I've got for today, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or questions.
Next week we'll be listening to the replacement cue, 3m2 New Lost R2.
