Work Is A Four Letter Word
Work Is A Four Letter Word is Peter Hall's first feature film, made in 1967 by Calvacade Films[1], released in the UK on 7th June 1968[2] and distributed by Universal Pictures.[1]
I also did the music for Peter Hall's first feature film, Work is a Four Letter Word. I did the electronic part of the music... the bloopy bits when they'd taken the magic mushrooms.
--Delia, in the Surface interview
She subsequently reworked these themes to make the "Delia's..." tracks on the ESL104 album.
Contents
- 1 Credits
- 2 Excerpts
- 2.1 1. First theme: "I love you, Betty" (0:15)
- 2.2 2. Second theme; semitone chord theme: "Mrs Murray? You're beautiful" (0:38)
- 2.3 3. Delia's theme; first theme reprise: "Val, oh Val, you have such lovely ears" (0:15)
- 2.4 4. Climbing theme; second theme: "They had been climbing, it seemed, for hours" (0:59)
- 2.5 5. Spangles; Delia's theme (0:08)
- 2.6 6. Second theme reprise (0:39)
- 2.7 7. Second theme slow: "I'm just gonna see to me mushrooms, Betty" (0:15)
- 2.8 8. Acciaccatura theme (0:13)
- 2.9 9. Semitone cheeps and mushroom-eating finale (3:20)
- 3 Papers
- 4 Tapes
- 5 Copyright
- 6 Availability
- 7 References
Credits
From the opening titles:
- Stars: David Warner, Cilla Black
- Written by: Jeremy Brooks, adapted from the play "EH?" by Henry Livings
- Director of Photography: Gilbert Taylor
- Editor: Jack Harris
- Art Director: Philip Harrison
- Production Manager: Donald Toms
- Assistent Director: Claude Watson
- Sound recordists: Robert MacPhee, Gordon K. McDallum
- Music Composed and Conducted by: Guy Woolfenden
- Associate Producer: Ham Haysom
- Production Controller: Tom White
- Producer: Thomas Clyde
- Director: Peter Hall
From the closing titles:
- Electronic music by Delia Derbyshire
Excerpts
Spectrograms are from A(55Hz) to A(3520Hz) at 200 pixels per second except 9) at 100pps.
1. First theme: "I love you, Betty" (0:15)
2. Second theme; semitone chord theme: "Mrs Murray? You're beautiful" (0:38)
3. Delia's theme; first theme reprise: "Val, oh Val, you have such lovely ears" (0:15)
4. Climbing theme; second theme: "They had been climbing, it seemed, for hours" (0:59)
5. Spangles; Delia's theme (0:08)
6. Second theme reprise (0:39)
7. Second theme slow: "I'm just gonna see to me mushrooms, Betty" (0:15)
8. Acciaccatura theme (0:13)
9. Semitone cheeps and mushroom-eating finale (3:20)
Papers
Preparatory notes
Cue sheets
Notes and sound diagrams
Manuscript scores
DD092445: Side 1 of 3: OK, B/W Waltz
DD092511: Side 2 of 3: Tune 1
DD092522: Side 3 of 3
DD092350: Tune 3, Tune 2A, Tune 2Z
DD092413: Tune 3
DD092425: Tune 4
Correspondence
DD080404: Letter dated 1st Jan 1968 saying that Kaleidophon lost money on this job
Tapes
- DD129: Tape loops
- DD199: Rough mix of cue 10M1, sent for approval
- DD239: "Work is a 4 letter word: Master tape 3"
- DD240: "Work is a 4 letter word: Master tape 2"
- DD241: "Work is a 4 letter word: Master tape 1"
Copyright
The Performing Right Society's list of works by Delia Ann Derbyshire has:
Title: Work Is A Four Letter Word Writer(s): Derbyshire Delia Ann Creation date: 19 November 1996
Availability
- You can buy it on DVD or VHS from The Video beat
