The Outsiders Soundtrack
Lynda Tsang, Period 3
Coldplay "Major Minus"
They got one eye watching you
One eye, what you do?
"I knew it wasn't any use though--- the fast walking, I mean---" (Hinton, Chapter 1)
In beginning of the story the Socs are tailing Ponyboy, so to say, they have one eye on him. Ponyboy knows this and knows that he can do nothing to get away from the Socs which relates to the question in the song, "What you do?". Because of the Socs and Greasers long standing rivalry, both parties much be careful around each other and the line of the song stating:
So be careful who it is you’re talking to
Could even relate to later in the story where Cherry Valentine becomes the Greaser's spy.
They got one eye watching you
One eye, what you do?
So be careful what it is you’re tryin’ to do
And be careful when you’re walking into view
Just be careful when you’re walking into view
Whatever the Greasers or Socs do, they must be careful being around Socs or Greasers, otherwise they risk turning out like Johnny or Ponyboy, beat up and left on the streets in agony.
Bu-but don’t believe a word
It’s just us against the world
The Greasers are infamous to the town's population. Most think of Greasers as rude liars who steal and murder but as we learn in the story, not everyone in both gangs follows by the stereotypes placed upon them. The Greasers can only trust each other and for them it is them against everyone else.
Neon Trees "Everybody Talks"
The song's lyrics play into the story by in the story Dally tries to flirt with Cherry, " "Oh, my, my"--- Dally looked bored--- "you've got me scared to death. You ought to see my record sometime, baby." He grinned slyly. "Guess what I've been in for?" " (Hinton, Chapter 2), the song states,
Hey baby won't you look my way?
I can be your new addiction
Dally tries to flirt with Cherry although unsuccessfully and like the songs states,
Everybody talks… back
All you're giving me is friction
Cherry tells him off several times until Dally decides to get a coke. Also in the song it states,
All this trash talk make me itching,
And this describes how Dally is feeling during all this. All the trash talk by Cherry only seems to make Dally like her more and he even grins stating, "Dally grinned roguishly. "I'm never nice. Want a Coke?" " (Hinton, Chapter 2).
OneRepublic "Come Home"
Come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
Darry misses Ponyboy sorely after he hits him and realizes he has done something wrong after he hit him. Darry wants Ponyboy to 'come home' and not knowing where Ponyboy is, is killing Darry. In the letter Sodapop writes to Darry it states, "Darry hasn't got the slightest notion where you're at and it is nearly killing him," (Hinton, Chapter 5). Ponyboy truly realizes Darry cares about him later in the story when it states, "Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me," (Hinton, Chapter 6).
Right now there's a war between the vanities
But all I see is you and me
The fight for you is all I’ve ever known
Currently the Socs and Greasers are in long known rivalry and it only gets worse when Johnny kills the Soc, but all Darry currently wants is for Ponyboy to get home and be safe.
Jeff Williams "Red LIke Roses Part 2" ft. Casey Lee Williams & Sandy Casey
Couldn't bear another day without you in it
All of the joy that I had known for all my life
Was stripped away from me the minute that you died
The books states right after Johnny, Dally's actions in the story was, "Whirling suddenly, he slammed back against the wall. His face contracted in agony, and sweat streamed down his face" (Hinton, Chapter 9). In Dally's life the only person he ever truly cared about was Johnny and as soon as he died Dally couldn't handle it and proceeded to rob somewhere and act like he was going to shoot the police that were after to him so they would shoot him down and Dally got his wish, death.
I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone
I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong
In the story, Ponyboy was there was Johnny died and tries to tell himself that it never happened, he denied Johnny's death, thinking that it was 'wrong'. " "Johnny is not dead." My voice was shaking. "Johnny is not dead." " (Hinton Chapter 11).
I tried so hard just to protect you, but I failed to
And in a prison of abandonment I’ve jailed you
This is see can also describe Johnny protecting Ponyboy from the Soc and in the end Johnny's death probably leaves Ponyboy worse off.
The Temper Trap "Down River"
Finally we have seen some things
Some awfully nice
Some dreadfully bad
In the story Ponyboy states, "Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the sights you want to see," (Hinton, Chapter 8). Throughout their lives, they've seen so many sights, but not anything they want to see.
Cause our love breaks through rough seas our ship will sail
And I don't understand how this world would work
Cause time will tell us nothing
I'll take a chance on something
After Johnny's death Ponyboy's 'love breaks' but continues on despite it. Ponyboy isn't comprehending Johnny's death and tries to tell himself that he is alive. Ponyboy starts to think that his schoolwork is no big deal, "What's the sweat about my schoolwork?" I finally shouted. "I'll have to get a job as soon as I get out of school anyway. Look at Soda. He's doing okay, and he dropped out. You can just lay off!," and that Darry should lay off of him. He's taking a chance on something that he won't know.
Put bells in your hallways
Don't move you in the right place
So we will sing, cast our hopes out to sea
Feeling old, feelings this time take you
Down river, down river, down river, down
Walk these stairs, put the pieces back together
Go don't stop, go don't stop, go don't stop
Go don't stop now, go…
I feel that this describes how Ponyboy finally accepts Johnny and Dally's deaths at the end of the story. He starts to pick up the pieces of the mess of himself that he made in the time that passed and decides to write his English theme, "I sat down and picked up my pen and thought for a minute-- And I finally began like this: When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.…" Ponyboy, after accepting their deaths, "Remembering a handsome, dark boy with a reckless grin and a hot temper. A tough, tow- headed boy with a cigarette in his mouth and a bitter grin on his hard face. Remembering- -- and this time it didn't hurt--- a quiet, defeated-looking sixteen-year-old whose hair needed cutting badly and who had black eyes with a frightened expression to them. One week had taken all three of them," doesn't give up, you can infer at the end of the story that Ponyboy will not give up now and that he's determined to now do what he knows will make good of himself.