Curb Your Enthusiasm Cues Fueled By Killer Tracks Library

The last new episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm aired September 11, 2011.  On October 1, 2017, Larry (Larry David), Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) and many other members of the Curb Your Enthusiasm world will return.  So will the infectious, light-hearted theme song.

According to editor and music supervisor Steve Rasch, Curb Your Enthusiasm creator and star Larry David happened to hear the track in a bank commercial a few years before the show debuted. “Larry liked it and had his producer, Laura Streicher, track it down,” recalls Rasch. “It became the sound of the show.  It’s like something you’d hear from the pit orchestra at a circus with tubas, mandolins and clarinets.”

The song is called Frolic and was written by Italian composer Luciano Michelini and was written specifically for the 1974 Italian film La Bellissima Estate. The soundtrack for the movie was owned by RCA Italy, which, in turn, sold the rights to Killer Tracks, the go-to source for production music and a global source for pre-cleared music for film, television, advertising and interactive media.  After settling on Frolic as the show’s theme song, Rasch went back to Killer Tracks in search of similar music.  Killer Tracks presented him with a 70 CD collection of Italian cinema music from the former RCA catalog.

Rasch estimates that 70-percent of the show’s music cues during its original nine year run derived from that 70 CD block of music provided by Killer Tracks. “It’s work by Italian composers from the ‘60s and ‘70s and it all has that circus sound. It’s upbeat and goofy,” he explains. “It’s all analog, and some of it is mono, but it’s well-recorded and has the right sound.”

The episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm are unscripted. Larry David does provide detailed outlines for each episode that provide a backbone for the improvised dialogue the actors contribute. Rasch and his fellow editors review all the improvised material, then meticulously cull the best moments, ultimately arriving at a 30-minute episode. Music provides a crucial tool, aiding in smooth transitions and punctuate jokes.

“The show represents some pretty intense scenarios,” says Rasch. “There’s a lot of arguing and a lot of stress. The music functions like a laugh track. It’s a cue for the audience to view what’s happening through a comedian’s eyes. It’s a funny look at heavy topics. The music lightens the mood.”

To learn more about Killer Tracks, please visit: www.killertracks.com