Editor’s Note: The following contains Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 spoilers. It’s time for Peter QuillChris Pratt) caught up with Earth’s music scene, and it finally happened in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Whenever Marvel’s most badass heroes are on screen, great music usually follows, and this time we’ve heard hits from many other decades, not just the 60s and 70s. James Gunnthe curatorship never fails, and the songs he chooses are usually directly related to what happens in the story, as it’s impossible to separate the music and the film. IN Volume. 3his mix is ​​once again superb, but one song in particular will be remembered as the perfect one to top and close the entire film: Florence + Car”Dog days are over.”

Creating the perfect needle throw can’t be easy, we believe anyone who’s ever put together a playlist for anyone else knows at least a little bit of how to wrestle. Now imagine that the song must be in sync with the entire scene and context of the movie. Not so easy, right? That’s why we’re leaving it to the professionals, and James Gunn has proven to us over and over that it’s his business. In the last sequence Volume. 3we see the former Guardians go on with their lives to the sound of “Dog Days Are Over”, a song that says a lot about the team’s moment… Or former team?

“Dog days are over”… But raccoon days are just beginning

Anyone who came of age in the early 2010s knows the lyrics to “Dog Days Are Over” by heart. Written and performed Florence Welch and her band, this song was just inevitable back then. Any radio you tuned into (remember the radio, by the way?), any party you went to, any simple social gathering… It was everywhere, and we sang it at the top of our lungs - though maybe not as much. and certainly not as in harmony as Florence herself.

The song plays in the very last sequence guardians of the galaxy Volume. 3 after the Guardians decided to partially disband. Quill returns to Earth to be with his elderly grandfather, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) sets off with his Abilisks on a journey of self-discovery, Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Drax (Dave Batista) stay on Knowhere in charge of this place, and Gamora (Zoe Saldanha) comes back to life as the Ravager. A new version of the Guardians of the Galaxy is born, led by Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (VIN diesel), but this is a matter for the future. What matters now is the catharsis that the classic formation experiences, knowing that their adventure together is over.

Rocket opens his Zune, Quill’s parting gift, and “Dog Days Are Over” starts playing on the Knowhere sound system. It begins with a harp, which is joined by the voice of Florence a few seconds later. This soft start almost sounds like the harbinger of a new era for the classic Guardians as they set out across the galaxy in search of their truth. However, this is not a sad moment, it is as happy as it can be, and that is what Florence sings about - the main character of the song suddenly encounters happiness by a fluke. The Guardians have lived through their last adventure together, so this is a moment to celebrate.

The lyrics are also completely in sync with the current emotional state of many of the team members. Quill, for example, takes Mantis’s advice and realizes it’s time to “learn how to swim” rather than jump from adventure to adventure, so he returns to his grandfather on Earth. “Run fast to your mother, run fast to your mother / Run to your children, to your sisters and brothers / Leave all your love and longing behind / You can’t carry this with you if you want to survive,” Florence sings. and that’s what it does. Mantis too, but in his own way. they do not work from everything except To grow like people. Here, running is a metaphor for freedom and self-realization.

Of course, “dog days” give the impression that the time the Guardians spent together may have been bad, but in fact it was just the opposite. What they’ve all been through together is the hustle and bustle of growing up, and that’s what the lyrics are about. They all started out as reckless petty thieves or assassins working for supervillains and only began to mature when they formed the Guardians. They all became mercenaries, traveling from planet to planet, doing dangerous work to protect people, and even saving the universe a couple of times for free along the way. The “dog days” are definitely over for them, but since Rocket is the leader of the new Guardians, the days of the raccoons are just beginning.

“Amazing Mix from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Vol. 3 fits perfectly with the plot of the movie

Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.  3
Image via Marvel Studios

At the end Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2Kraglin (Sean Gunn) gives the Quill Zune, Earth’s high-tech music device that allows the user to download thousands of songs into its memory. Today we know the Zune was a commercial failure, but for Quill it was a huge step up from the tapes his mother left him. Plus, having been to Earth a few times, he’s of course stumbled upon new music, so Florence + The Machine probably ended up on his MP3 player - however, we can’t wait for him to discover streaming.

But this new combination of awesomeness created by James Gunn for Volume. 3 also fully corresponds to the moments of the characters. “Dog Days Are Over”, for example, is an interesting counterpoint to the very first song we hear in Volume. 3which is “Creep” from radiohead. It’s a pretty sad moment, as we just saw a baby raccoon being experimented on and immediately made the connection that this was actually Rocket’s origin story. He always felt like a freak, an eccentric who did not understand what he was doing, and felt like a stranger. In the very first Guardians movie, he even says that he “didn’t ask to be forced” after an argument with Drax.

How Volume. 3 however, the songs begin to reflect his growth and acceptance of his own fortune. He is special, and what makes him so is not the experiments of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) performed on him to make him super smart or something. These are literally the friends he made along the way, especially the two groups of misfits he was a part of: his friends in the villain’s lab and the Guardians themselves. As he, Quill, and Groot leave Bowie to storm the High Evolutionary’s ship, “This Is The Day” plays. IN, and the lyrics are just about how the singer returned to old memories, came to terms with his past and allowed himself to live freely. This is literally the day Rocket’s life has definitely changed.

The end credits are accompanied by a final surprise and perhaps even advice in the form of Bruce Springsteen”Badlands” (your humble servant The Boss’s favorite song, by the way). Most of us don’t have a cathartic moment of self-acceptance and we can’t go on the journey of self-discovery as we wanted to, so we have to follow a different path to know ourselves better, the usual path we take every day when we get up in the morning and go to bed in the evening. . “You have to live it every day,” and although it may be difficult, it really should be. “Keep pushing until this is understood and these badlands begin to treat us well.” We really can’t do much more, and this song might even be about James Gunn’s own trajectory after going through hell and rising to the top now. He continued to insist, as the song says. For us, it’s exactly the same.