The McVie Show Season 4

Back in the glory days of disco circa 1970s it became vogue for musicians to get a slow song (for example, a ballad) or an instrumental (for example, a classical piece by Tchaikovsky or Beethoven) and put a disco beat under. They called their release “the disco version”. Thus there was “Star Wars Theme (disco version)” by Meco Menardo, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind (disco version)” by Meco Menardo, and “Superman Theme (disco version)” by, you guessed it right, Meco Menardo. (Thank god it took George Lucas years to start work on Star Wars Episode 1; by that time Meco had retired. Today he works as a commodities broker in South Florida.)

Jump-cut to last night: Saturday night in Bed and the whole place is jumping. Suddenly DJ Toi plays this new dance track. I’m bopping to the beat when the guitar part comes in. It takes me a few beats to recognize the piece. Oh. My. God. It’s the main theme from the movie Brokeback Mountain—the disco version! I don’t think many in the crowd recognized the tune; I looked around for anyone else who had the same “I know this tune!” smile like the one plastered on my face, but there was none. It was weird hearing the plaintive, even mournful guitar plucking of Gustavo Santaolalla playing over an insistent, aggressive house beat. I had images of gay cowboys doing a square dance to a disco beat—how bizarre.