80. European Vacation Soundtrack

February 19, 2004

Q: I’m looking to find the soundtrack to “European Vacation” but with no joy as yet. The one song I’m looking for is the one when the credits come up called “Back in America” which I think is by a group called Network.

A: Apparently, there was never a soundtrack recording issued for that movie, but see the Comments link below for some discussion.

Comments

Does anyone know of anywhere I can get/rip/copy the french rock song that is the theme for Nat'l lampoon's european vaction? Any leads would help greatly. Emperor Bob

—Emperor Bob

August 1, 2005 1:01 pm

Strangely, apart from the first "Vacation" movie, there were no other movie soundtrack albums issued for that series of movies.

—Mark Arnold

September 2, 2005 6:27 pm

I gave up and bought the DVD. You can get the DVD used on Amazon or other venues pretty cheaply. Ripped 'Back In America' from the 'End Credits' section. Developed WAV and MP3 versions. Classic good rock sound ! Many thanks to the writers Jim Odom and Terry Brock and all the other collaborator musicians. It doesn't hardly get better than this song in my humble opinion. You can get a little history by Googling with the phrase, "back in america" network "european vacation" The IMDB database has Jim Odom listed as 'Jim Doom' for the song which is obviously a typo error. Many thanks also to this site, 'Mark's Very Large National Lampoon Site', for providing a convenient place to share this info. Regards - lwm

—Larry Martin

September 3, 2005 8:57 am

Has anyone out there located a version of Dr. John's "New Looks" which is not taken from the Home Video (not married to the dialogue and FX track)?

—Bryce Michaels

September 5, 2005 4:07 pm

I have found doing further research that 'Back In America' was recorded as a bonus song on the LaRoux Millenium edition (circa 1999 - 2000) of their (LaRoux's) original album 'So Fired Up' (circa 1983). Here is a URL that may point you further. http://heavyharmonies.com/cgi-bin/glamcd.cgi?BandNum=1736&CDName=So+Fired+Up 'Back In America' was NOT on the original album ! lwm

—Larry Martin

September 8, 2005 9:06 am

I misspelled LeRoux in the comment above. (LaRoux should be LeRoux).

—Larry Martin

September 14, 2005 7:11 am

I was wondering if anyone knew how to find the French music that was playing during the scene when the Griswolds were in the Louvre?

—Jordan

October 24, 2005 9:52 pm

The French rock song in "National Lampoons European Vacation" which they played when the Griswolds were touring the Louvre was "Ca Plane Pour Moi" (This Life For Me) by Plastic Bertrand; ref.: http://club977.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=1336&forum_id=1

—Rob

November 12, 2005 2:10 am

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