One reason so many people love The Big Lebowski (including me) is the music in the movie. There are countless great needle drops, from the likes of Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Captain Beefheart, Nina Simone, and, of course, Creedence. Those songs all cost money to use, of course, and one of the best in the film, Townes Van Zandt’s haunting version of The Rolling Stones’ song “Dead Flowers,” almost cost too much to use. That is, until the man holding the rights to the song just gave it to the Coen Brothers after seeing a rough cut of the movie. It was one scene, and of course an F-bomb. that convinced him.
Allen Klein Hated The Eagles, Too, Man
Music fans, especially Stones fans, may know the name Allen Klein. Klein, who died in 2009, was the manager of the Stones in the ‘60s and eventually also managed The Beatles late in their career (he is being played by Adam Pally in the upcoming Sam Mendes Beatles movies). He was also an unscrupulous businessman who controlled the publishing rights to all the Stones' songs from the era that he managed them. That meant it was up to him to decide what songs could be used in movies, TV, and commercials, including the Van Zandt cover of “Dead Flowers.”
Klein initially demanded that the producers of The Big Lebowski pay him $150,000 for the rights to use the song. That’s a lot of money for one song, but the Coens clearly wanted to use it, so they offered to show Klein an early rough cut of the movie to see if he’d like it enough to lower the price. According to T-Bone Burnett, who was the music supervisor on the movie, all it took was one scene. Burnett told Rolling Stone:
It got to the part where the Dude says, ‘I hate the fuckin’ Eagles, man!’ Klein stands up and says, ‘That’s it, you can have the song!’ That was beautiful.
It turns out that while The Dude (Jeff Bridges) loves a lot of music, like Creedence, of course, he and Klein shared the same opinion on The Eagles. Incidentally, I agree, too. Except Joe Walsh. He’s cool in my book.
Of the dozens of iconic lines in The Big Lebowski, The Dude’s feelings on The Eagles is one of the funniest moments in the movie. When he says it to the cab driver, after getting thrown out of Jackie Treehorn’s garden party and beaten up by the chief of police of Malibu (a real reactionary), he’s kicked out of the cab as the driver continues listening to “Peaceful Easy Feeling.”
Side note: I have to wonder how much using that song cost the producers.
I love the version of “Dead Flowers” in the movie, and though it only really plays over the credits at the end, it’s perfect for The Big Lebowski. It’s a peaceful, easy way to end the movie after Donny dies and we learn that there’s a little Lebowski on the way. The fact that Klein gave it to them after hating on The Eagles makes it that much sweeter.
