Movie fans probably picture Jurassic Park as a dangerous, frightening place, marred as it is by all those dinosaur-related fatalities. But think about that passage in the original 1993 Steven Spielberg film when Sam Neill and Laura Dern first arrive at the proposed theme park and see the dinos romping gaily in the bright sunlight. Wasn’t that nice? Imagine further that the unfortunate mishaps in the script had been avoided, largely thanks to a better screening of employees and more thorough contingency planning, and that the park had become the family attraction that Richard Attenborough always intended it to be. The place would need upbeat music and entertainment, just like Disneyland or Six Flags. But does that mean scrapping John Williams’ iconic score? Not at all. All that is required here is a more laid back arrangement. And that’s just what New Zealand musician Thomas Oliver supplies with his acoustic rendition of the Jurassic Park theme. It’s just the thing for lazing in the shade on another idyllic Sunday among the velociraptors.
Oliver, who also fronts an eponymous rock combo, plays the deathless Williams melody on a German lap slide guitar called a Weissenborn. The net effect is that the Jurassic Park theme now sounds a lot like a 1930s blues tune, which is not a bad thing to sound like at all. If Attenborough’s overreaching John Hammond had stuck to cute, animatronic creatures instead and needed a soundtrack for a Country Dinosaur Jamboree, he could start right here. Oliver’s rendition is instrumental, so viewers who choose to sing along can do so with lyrics devised by Jurassic Park veteran Jeff Goldblum himself.
[via The Daily Dot]