Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

You can thank/blame John Medd for today's selection. His quite literally stunning post of Elizabeth Taylor photos inspired a playlist of songs named after her movies (I attempted the same trick with Faye Dunaway last year). No clever sequencing here: I started with the earliest match - and Elizabeth Taylor's 2nd film from 1943 - through to her uncredited appearance in a 1979 political conspiracy movie starring Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins and Toshirô Mifune "as Keith". 

 

I think it mostly works, though for 1976 film The Blue Bird I was torn between equally great songs from Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Hope prevailed.

 

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was one of the set texts for my English Literature O Level (too many years ago to count) and we got to watch the 1966 film as part of the study. It's a great play and a great cast, but Elizabeth Taylor transcends all. Arguably her greatest performance, and that's saying something.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have a song named Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? but Jimmy Smith has kindly obliged with this classic from 1964, which I must get hold of.

 

1) Lassie Come Home: Alphaville (1986)

2) A Place In The Sun: Stevie Wonder (1966)

3) Rhapsody: Siouxsie & The Banshees (1988)

4) Giant (Radio Edit) (Cover of The The): DJ Food ft. Matt Johnson (2012)

5) Cleopatra (John Peel Session): Adam & The Ants (1978)

6) The Comedians: Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1984)

7) Ash Wednesday: The Psychedelic Furs (2020)

8) Blue Bird: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (2009)

9) Winter Kills (Electronic Periodic's Sub / Piano Mix): Yazoo (2008)

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (42:00)