The world was different in 1996. YouTube was still nine years away from being a place where folks could upload their pop culture mash-ups. And the number one movie in the country could have an inane theme song that completely spoils the entire plot of the film in between its heartfelt verses. For instance, Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire gave rise to Bruce Springsteen’s “Secret Garden,” a tender love song intercut with various plot points and monologues from the film. Have a taste:
But what if there were a better, far more quotable film to use for dialogue snippets? That was the apparent thinking behind YouTube user Anthony DeMaio’s new mash-up that replaces all of the schmaltzy speeches from Crowe’s ode to sincerity and mid-life crises with the far better known and at least funnier spoken words from the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski. It’s an odd mix of Springsteen’s earnest crooning about love and devotion juxtaposed with various rug-peeing activities and Walter’s unending fount of rage. (A note: While Springsteen’s lyrics remain the same soft sweet nothings, the words from Lebowski are certainly NSFW)