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To his credit, Gillis, despite being plucked out of that rural bar with no recording experience, wrote surprisingly good lyrics for the songs that matching the film's narrative quite well. The movie ultimately utilized three songs, two by Gillis and one headliner provided freshly by Goldsmith, and they function well as a trio that dominates the soundtrack. All three main characters ended up with song renditions that follow their exploits in the movie, with Gillis providing the performances as something of a narrator aside from one pivotal song performed on screen by leads Stella Stevens and Jason Robards. Goldsmith supplies a small orchestral ensemble with no brass and laces it with all the usual Western contributors expected for the genre, including harmonica, banjo, acoustic guitar, honky tonk piano, jaw harp, and clip-clop percussion. Wild fiddle performances accentuate the spirited moments while the guitar translates the sentimentality from the songs. The religious element represented by the corrupt preacher is provided some restrained electric organ tones that are half-hearted but get the point across. Otherwise, native flute and rattling percussion offer accents to "The Rattlesnakes," but the score is fairly straight forward in its sound. Of the three themes, Goldsmith's is for Cable Hogue, a really good, unassuming, tender identity performed well by Gillis. "Tomorrow is the Song I Sing" provides the theme with vocals against attractive ensemble backing, though a slurring downward piano effect is a bit annoying in the middle sequence. It's exuberant on harmonica over banjo and full Western stylings in "New Lodgings" but is translated into a purely silly action romp in "Hasty Exit" with a touch of The Flim-Flam Man; there is some impressive piano and harmonica work at quick paces in this cue, and the theme consolidates with excitement on strings late. A nice ensemble culmination awaits the theme in "The Flag," and it briefly opens "The Guest" in a fragment but then bubbles along on banjo with humor. The Hogue theme is frantic in "Three Hours Early" with instrumentation resembling the song's backing, leading directly into a vocal reprise of "Tomorrow is the Song I Sing" at the start of "Waiting," in which Goldsmith then moves the theme into a slightly upbeat rhythmic expression in the cue's latter half. The theme is reduced to solo guitar and harmonica remembrance in "The Eulogy," and an unused, reprised adaptation in "Tomorrow is the Song I Sing (Alternate End Title)" concludes with a satisfying harmonic string conclusion to end the score on a soothing note.

The other two themes relating to the song melodies of The Ballad of Cable Hogue aren't quite as memorable, but they serve their purposes well enough. The Joshua Sloan theme for the preacher has descending opening lines that share characteristics with the Hogue theme, performed by Gillis with soft guitar backing in "Wait for Me, Sunrise." In the score, this theme is introduced carefully on solo guitar and plucked banjo over swaying strings in "The Preacher" and is turned into a morbid organ expression throughout "A Soothing Hand" and is likely meant to be funny. This mode continues in "A Death in the Family" and is the weakest material in the score. That theme disappears until it is reprised in "Wait for Me, Sunrise (End Title)" with more force and volume to the vocals, a replacement for the Hogue song that Goldsmith had intended to be heard in that position. Meanwhile, the theme for Hildy the prostitute is an attractive but anonymous identity that doubles as something of a redemption theme for Hogue, especially with its allusions at the start of "The Water Hole" on solo guitar and then harmonica. The theme goes wild in the first minute of "Hasty Exit" against the Hogue theme's fragments and adopts its sensitive role in the middle of "The Guest" on subdued ensemble. The director considered the "Butterfly Mornin's" on-screen song performance to be the most important piece of music in the film, an original Gillis idea from which the rest of the soundtrack evolved. Performed by the actors, the only recording source for the vocals is from the film itself, hence sound effects in that song on album; the guitar was overlaid in stereo but the rest is in mono. (Incidentally, Gillis' own performance of this song is missing from the album despite being released once on a 45RPM record). The melody persists as guitar and flute solos in "Hogue and Hildy" and opens "Hildy Leaves" on plucked guitar, shifting to somber harmonica and hopeful strings at the cue's end. Strings provide some solace for the idea in "Hildy Returns." Aside from these adaptations of the songs, very little material graces the short soundtrack for The Ballad of Cable Hogue. Your impression of the score will depend completely on your acceptance of Gillis' performances in the songs. While they're fine, they aren't particularly memorable in the end, making the whole product something of a workmanlike and pedestrian reflection of Peckinpah's imagination. Rights issues plagued the soundtrack from the start (the director and producer had personally retained the rights to Gillis' performances, enraging the studio), and Varèse Sarabande's limited 2002 Club release of the score and songs remains the only available album for this decent but forgettable soundtrack.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.2 (in 146 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.22 (in 155,390 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 36:52