Musical Wednesdays: Anachronistic Soundtracks

I've been re-watching the second season of Mad Men, and I saw that in one episode, they use "The Infanta" by the Decemberists. It's a really great use of the song, because the sequence is a montage of several female characters getting dressed up, and the song is about a young princess and all of her servants and over-the-top entourage ("Here she comes, on her palanquin, on the back of an elephant"), but I couldn't help but think about the fact that the song was written 40 years after the show takes place. I've been wondering what they're going for with that--is it that the Decemberists tend to reference a past that probably never existed? It's a past of powerful women, of bandit queens astride their steeds and of chinese trapeze artists smuggling bombs for the underground. It's anachronistic, but it takes place in a time when there weren't songs about strong women, because it was threatening. It would still be a few years (the show takes place in the early 1960s) before really powerful female statements would be acceptable. The show is moving toward this--the 1950s are fading quickly and a new woman is emerging. But why this song in particular? Here's what I think: the song is about a girl, a royal girl, but she is still an object: "we all come praise her," the song says, but it's certainly not for her brains or talent.

But this whole thing got me thinking: what other movies or television shows have anachronistic soundtracks? The first one I found was a movie I didn't really see: Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. I'm sure this movie was watched in my college dorm room at some point, but I'm equally sure I didn't see anything of it. I think I came in late, watched a montage over "I Want Candy," and decided I didn't want to waste my time. There weren't many others I could find--There Will be Blood is said to have one, but I don't count a score as anachronistic. It's an issue that's only brought up when it's a criticism, it seems. Other than in Moulin Rouge, which is so over-the-top pastiche and self-consciously anachronistic that it almost needs the modern music for its insane, really enjoyable aesthetic.

So to sum up: I don't know why Mad Men used The Decemberists, but I like it. It was inspired, and surprising, and really smart. And maybe that's reason enough.