I Hate Copyrights

Dawson's Creek Music Guide -- Season 5 DVD Music Notes

I guess I should get this out of the way first: "Dawson's Creek" is one of my favorite shows ever. No, I'm not joking. No, I'm not gay. I loved the show from season 1 to season 4. After that the show started going to hell. But before the show went to hell, there was one last truly great "Dawson’s Creek" episode that revolved around Dawson's dad being killed in a car accident. One of the most chilling things about this episode was the fact that he died so suddenly, much in the way some people die in real life. The following episode that dealt with his funeral opened with a piano version of Paula Coles "I Don't Want To Wait," which was chilling, sad, and made you feel pretty crappy. It worked beautifully with the episode.

Since Paula Cole wants more money from the producers of the "Dawson's Creek" DVD's for the use of her song (more so then it's actually worth since these DVD's aren't selling like hot cakes), the DVD's have been theme song-less since the third season and onward. Apparently this piano version of the song falls under the "we can't use" blacklist that has plagued the show since the second season was released, and so the song has been replaced with a new, happier song instead. You have no idea how much this bums me out. It's pretty frustrating that I have to deal with these song changes. I do because I understand the economic reality of the situation. Oh sure it screws several scene's up (when Dawson is watching "Risky Business" the song "Old Time Rock & Roll" is replaced), but I tolerate them.

The fifth season set has the most problem since a few scene's of characters singing copyrighted songs have had to be cut (making the versions of these episodes on this DVD edited), but this is the one thing I wish they could have left intact. Or at least pick a more fitting song. For pete's sake people, the song that is now there is completely wrong for this episode. COMPLETELY wrong! For pete's sake the episode is about the characters saying goodbye to someone was just killed in a car crash. There is no reason a happy song should be playing here. I have been taping the TBS re-runs of this show in addition to buying the DVD sets because of the music changes, and I'm sure when the sixth season comes out on DVD I'll buy that too (despite hating that particular season), but this is one thing that truly disappoints me, and hopefully one day someone will be able to preserve this episode with the correct music one day.