`LEBOWSKI' MIXES IT UP ON SOUNDTRACK.

Byline: - Fred Shuster

Ask the Coen brothers who came up with the unusual selection of music used on the soundtrack to ``The Big Lebowski,'' and they point to producer T-Bone Burnett.

But when you ask Burnett, he points you in the direction of the Coens.

In fact, the Coen siblings and Burnett deserve equal credit for one of the most wide-ranging soundtracks in memory.

``The Big Lebowski'' features eclectic contributions from Yma Sumac, the Eagles, Captain Beefheart, Tito Puente, Moondog, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Meredith Monk, Mozart, Kenny Rogers, Henry Mancini, Esquivel, and the Sons of the Pioneers, among others.

``First of all, the Coens had a lot of the music written into the script,'' Burnett said this week. ``And they had an idea for 10 songs that would be in the film, including set pieces like `Hotel California' and Townes Van Zandt singing `Dead Flowers.' They have very interesting musical taste.''

The Coens' stoned-out comedy stars Jeff Bridges as the Dude, a confused but gentle slob whose loves include bowling, pot and an Oriental rug. Joel Coen directs, Ethan Coen produces and both share writing and decision-making chores.

``T-Bone sort of understood immediately that each character had to have his own sound'' Joel said.

The soundtrack album for ``Lebowski'' offers a smaller musical selection than appears in the film, but it is also rather diverse. The record includes contributions from Bob Dylan (``The Man in Me''), Elvis Costello (``My Mood Swings''), Nina Simone (``I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good''), Gipsy Kings (``Hotel California'') and an aria from the Erich Wolfgang Korngold opera ``Die Tote Stadt.''

Joel Coen said Burnett unearthed much of the most obscure material, including the Sumac cut ``Ataypura,'' Monk's ``Walking Song'' and the Simone number. Bridges suggested something from Moondog, a former New York street musician and composer who is 82 years old and lives in Germany.

``We had to figure out just what all these characters in the movie would be listening to,'' Burnett said. ``It was a very collaborative process. I went to Jeff (Bridges) and said, `OK, what does the Dude listen to?' And we came up with a list of maybe 40 or 50 things and some of it worked.''

Burnett said Costello penned ``My Mood Swings'' in one day and finished it in the taxi on the way to cut it at a recording studio.

``He cut it in one take,'' Burnett said. ``That shows you how good Costello is.''

The Simone track happens to be one of Burnett's wife's favorite pieces of music.

``Nina Simone is one of the great artists of the century and not widely listened to these days,'' he said. ``Doing these soundtracks gives you an opportunity to mark music that's really good but not widely known. Hopefully, a lot of people will hear it.''

Burnett said he loved co-producing the ``Lebowski'' soundtrack with the Coens, but added that the workload wasn't much different from what he does everyday at home for free.

``I'm a music archivist,'' he said. ``All I do is play records for people all day at home.''

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Photo: (1--2) Songs by Moondog, left, and Yma Sumac in ``The Big Lebowski'' make the soundtrack something out of the ordinary.