Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends [Bande originale, Import]

How many times will we have to listen to Sia Furler's "Breathe Me" before the end sequence of the haunting series finale of "Six Feet Under" is exorcised from our minds? At least listening to it on the "Six Feet Under, Volume 2: Everything Ends" soundtrack allows me to get away from being in front of the television and replaying the last five minutes of the final episode over and over again. Even though I fully appreciate the irony of having the final track being Imogen Heap's short and to the point, "I'm a Lonely Little Petunia In An Onion Patch," I feel like "Breathe Me" should be the final track on the album since it was the final song of the final episode. But then "Breathe Me" was also the music for the fifth and final season's trailer, so it does have a larger meaning.

This soundtrack album begins with Nina Simone's "Feelin' Good," which was the music for the fourth season trailer while Coldplay's "A Rush of Blood to the Head" was not only the music for the third season trailer (and the one song that specifically has the phrase "six feet under" in it), but also was featured prominently in episode 27, "Perfect Circles," first in the scene where Nate sees himself with Lisa and Maya in the pastoral room and then the song is reprised at the end when he and Lisa discuss the randomness of human existence and continues into the end credits. Besides the Simone track, the only other one here that I do not think was ever in an actual episode of "Six Feet Under" is the Caesar's cover of "Don't Fear the Reaper," although of course the original by Blue Oyster Cult was way back in Episode 21, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" at the biker funeral when they were holding up the cigarette lighters and beers, and again at the end of the episode when Nate was given the keys to Jessie's motorcycle and took off down the coast on his new chopper.

It is amazing how music brings back memories of specific scenes on your favorite television shows. Even when series like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The O.C.," and "Gilmore Girls" come out with soundtracks they always seem to miss some key songs, which is why one of the great advancements of technology in the 21st century is the CD burner that allows us to correct these defaults. But this second "Six Feet Under" soundtrack is a solid cornerstone to any such effort, covering songs from the third, fourth, and fifth season. "Amazing Life" by Jem is from Episode 53, "Dancing For Me," when Billy and Claire are in bed together and his medication starts to stop working. Phoenix's "Everything is Everything" is when Claire, Edie, Anita and Jimmy are discussing their art project at the start of Episode 47, "Coming and Going." Of course "Breathe Me" by Sia ends the series in Episode 63, "Everybody's Waiting," as Claire drives off into the future and we find out how and when everybody dies (I expected to see the birth-death dates for the principles, so I was really moved by how Allan Ball ended the episode).

"Lucky" by Radiohead was from the end of Episode 42, "Parallel Play," when the Fishers made a bonfire out of all the things they did not sell at their yard sale, with Claire playing the song from her bedroom window on a boom box. The ironic "Time Is On My Side" sung by Irma Thomas is from Episode 27, "Perfect Circles," when Nathaniel and Nate are having their heavy discussion on parallel universes existing simultaneously (heavy topic, dudes). From the scene in Episode 52, "A Coat of White Paint," when everybody arrives at Nate and Brenda's house for dinner, it was Babel Gilberto's "Aganjou" that was playing. Interpol's "Direction" is from Episode 62, "Static," when Claire was driving to visit Nate's grave. "Transatlanticism" by Death Cab for Cutie is the song Claire and her friends were singing along to in Episode 45, "Terror Starts at Home." The Arcade Fire's "Cold Wind" is also from "Static," coming at the end of the episode as Claire heads home on the bus and Brenda is in labor at the hospital. Finally, Heap's "I'm a Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch" is from Episode 46, "The Dare," where it plays over the end credits, which explains why it has the last position here.

Sure, it would be nice if you threw in Lauren Ambrose singing "You Ride Up My Thigh," Michael C. Hall's "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" or "The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring," or even Peter Krause and Lily Taylor singing, "Maya Row The Boat Ashore," but sound clips do not really take the place of complete songs. I was also thinking that there must be an album by someone comparable to the Gay Men's Chorus out there as well. Anyhow, I suppose this would be a solid collection of songs even without their associations to the late and mostly lamented HBO television series, but those exist and that is what makes it worth having. We now return you to the song of the day...

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small
I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me