Music Pertaining to Dune

Page Contents:

[ Movie Soundtrack ] | [ Iron Maiden ] | [ "Dune" by David Matthews ]
[ Dune I software soundtrack ] | [ Dune (techno) ] | [ Links ]

Written, composed, and performed mostly by Toto (with the exception of the "Prophecy Theme" on the original release), the official motion picture soundtrack for Dune is a very hot item. The new release, known as the David Paitch version, became available late in 1997. It has nearly 13 previously unreleased tracks, but it also purely instrumental. (Any dialog from the movie, such as in "Prologue", has been removed.) According to many people, including myself, this new release was a bit of a disappointment.

On the original release, nearly all of the songs on the disk are instrumental, with the exception of the first track, which is the introduction by Irulan, and the sixth track, in which the Baron says, "The Duke will die before these eyes..." Also, on this release there was an additional track called "Prophecy Theme", produced by Brian Eno. Since it hasn't been printed for several years, this version can be difficult to find and sometimes a little expensive (exceeding $20).

This was Iron Maiden's first of several songs based either on quality literature or history. The song was released on their Piece of Mind album and predated David Lynch's motion picture by little more than a year.

"To Tame a Land" Copyright ?1983 by Zomba Music written by Steve Harris

Lyrics: He is the King of all the land In the Kingdom of the sands Of a time tomorrow. He rules the sandworms and the Fremen In a land amongst the stars Of an age tomorrow. He is destined to be a King He rules over everything On the land called planet Dune. Bodywater is your life And without it you would die On the desert the planet Dune. Without a stillsuit you would fry On the sands so hot and dry In a world called Arrakis. It is a land that's rich in spice The sandriders and the 'mice' That they call the 'Muad'Dib.' He is the Kwizatz Haderach. He is born on Caladan And will take the Gom Jabbar. He has the Power to forsee Or to look into the past He is the ruler of the stars. The time will come for him to lay claim his crown, And then the foe yes they'll be cut down, You'll see he'll be the best that there's been, Messiah supreme true leader of men, And when the time for judgement's at hand, Don't fret he's strong and he'll make a stand, Against evil the fire That spreads through the land, He has the power to make it all end.

by Iron Maiden from Piece of Mind ?1983

This is a concept album release in 1977 and is a German import from CTI Records. The music can be categorized by as disco-jazz and has several co-stars, such as Grover Washington, Jr.

This is the highly sought soundtrack to the Dune computer game from Cryo Software. It's really good music, which is kind of "futuristic ambient electro madness" with a lot of Dune vibe. The album is no longer licensed, and consequently is very difficult to find. Maybe if enough people hassle Virgin Records, they'll rerun it.

This group was inspired by the movie, and consequently named themselves after it. Most of their music on both Dune (their self-entitled album) and Expedicion has nothing to do with Frank Herbert's Dune.

Links

• Dune by Toto -- This site contains a plethora of information about the two versions of the motion picture soundtrack.
• Forever Dune -- Dune is a German techno-band that was inspired by the movie.