Songs (the short ones)

[HarryGoldfarb]

End title songs are a bit trickier. If only they could all be in a class with Springsteen's mournful coda to Philadephia, called simply Streets of Philadelphia. Most have little or nothing to do with what went on in the film.

I haven't seen the film in a long time but wasn't Streets of Philadelphia an opening title song? I guess the mournful coda was Young's aching "Philadelphia"

[99-1100896887]

It must have gone very quickly to DVD. I hope that does not bode ill for the song--a very good one. AND used properly---thoughout.

[Big Magilla]

Music and Lyrics was released on Valentine's Day this year.

[99-1100896887]

Even though The Look Of Love was not a hit at the time the Oscars were voted upon, it is still a far better tune and lyrics that the ghastly winner of that year, Talk To The Animals.

Wasn't Music and Lyrics last year? The song was a good one-and intregral to the movie( which is important), which despite its bad reviews,for the most part, was a supremely enjoyable film.

[Mister Tee]

I remember sitting with my fellow Oscar-geeks in high school, all of us agreeing we'd never heard of Banning.

Other hit tunes that might have been nominated were The Happening -- a hit by The Supremes -- and Theme from Valley of the Dolls, the usual Warwick/Bacharach collaboration. Both those, two, were crappy movies -- do we see a pattern emerging?

Agreed, The Look of Love is a thoroughly decent song, but not nearly as well-known at the time as the omit-ees. the Sergio Mendes hit recording didn't emerge till a bit after the Oscars.

[Big Magilla]

Well, yeah, now that you mention it, the Casino Royale soundtrack did have a life of its own and The Look of Love is a good song, but so is This Is My Song and they're both from crappy movies, movies that at least people heard of. How many people even heard of Banning, let alone went to see it?

[Sonic Youth]

At the time, the Casino Royale soundtrack was considered a technological marvel, and original vinyl pressings are collector's items, worth many thousands of dollars. Professional audiophiles will tell you it's one of the greatest recordings ever made. I can imagine the music branch of AMPAS sitting at home with their expensive state-of-the-art hi-fi systems and being blown away from the aural experience.

FWIW, I wasn't even born at the time, and even I can hum The Look of Love. And, again FWIW, the Casino Royale theme song is one of the few Bacharach songs I actively enjoy.

[Big Magilla]

A Countess from Hong Kong was absolute dreck, the nadir of Chaplin's career, but This Is My Song was a lovely ballad and a huge hit by Petula Clark so, yeah, its exlcusion was puzzling, especially since they had no problem nominating The Look of Love from the godawful Casino Royale.

This Is My Song and To Sir, With Love should have nominated instead of The Eyes of Love from the little seen and long fogotten Banning and the title tune from Thoroughly Modern Millie. There was nothing wrong with the latter, but three jaunty tunes in one year was a bit much. The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book and the winning Talk to the Animals from Doctor Dolittle were the others.

[Mister Tee]

Magilla, I completely agree, the Kander/Ebb exclusion was more glaring, given the fuddy-duddy make-up of the music branch at the time -- though for those looking strictly from the standpoint of posterity, overlooking the top selling single and album of the year may seem odder.

I felt the same in 1967: To Sir With Love had been the number one record of the year, but the bigger shock was no nomination for This Is My Song from A Countess from Hong Kong, which seemed right up the branch's Tin Pan Alley. Was that based on lingering animosity toward Chaplin, do you think?

Beautiful Stranger was another barely-in-the-picture song, wasn't it? I didn't catch the film till home video, after the song had been Globe-nominated, and I was shocked at how little screen time it got. Songs like that get their nomination-expectation out of the top 40 versions, which are generally more elaborate.

[HarryGoldfarb]

(this group had still not really come to terms with rock and roll)

... and if you don't believe it, ask Alanis Morissette (Uninvited), Pearl Jam (Man of the Hour), Nine Inch Nails (The Perfect Drug) and Beck (Deadweight) anytime. The first two specially should have been nominated.

Other songs that amazed me didn't managed to grab a nod are:
- "Love Song for a Vamipire" from Bram Stoker's Dracula.
- "A love that will never grow old" (I know, the "new rules")
- "Gollum's Song": Does the song have to do something with the film? Mmm... This is actually a good example of a song well related to the film that is simply overdue...
- "Lullaby for Cain" from The Talented Mr. Ripley (by far, the best song of 1999 compared to the actual nominees, with the exception, maybe of "When she loved me" and the haunting "Save Me"). The song was poignant to the film, with strong lyrics that resembles the subtext of the film. The perspective of the song is both mesmerizing and terrible, poetic but disturbing... it's amazing. It's not a closing credits song!
- "Beautiful Stranger" would have been a delight the same year. I still don't know how Music of the Heart and You'll be in my heart got a nod.

Blame Canada, though it was a final good and smart choice, shouldn't have been taken seriously over the likes of Minghella.

[Big Magilla]

All of that is true, Tee, but the composers' branch reluctance to nominate anything from Saturday Night Fever probably had more to do with their general disdain for pop music as opposed to genuine film music. Though wrongheaded, that's more understandable than their ignoring New York, New York. Certainly the members were familiar with Kander & Ebb's score, the best thing about the film.

Personally I hate the Sinatra version, which muffs the lyrics. I'll take Liza's version any day.

[Mister Tee]

I meant to address BJ's puzzlement over the omission of New York, New York from the 1977 best song slate.

1977 was a rare year from the 70s: there were actually several solid contenders in the category -- not only New York, New York and the abyssmal but too-big-to-ignore You Light Up My Life, but also Carly Simon's hit recording of Nobody Does It Better, and, biggest of all, the batch of smashes from Saturday Night Fever. It was strange, in such a year, to find dismal Disney efforts domnating the ballot.

But in the case of New York, New York, the fact is, at the end of 1977, the song wasn't near the standard it now is. The movie was considered an over-budget disappointment that even many critics didn't like (Canby at the Times HATED it). And the song didn't really register outside of the limited audience who'd seen the picture. The song's later popularity was mainly due to the Sinatra recording, which didn't emerge until 1980, and became ubiquitous -- particularly (in my small corner of the universe) for being played at the finish of every single Yankee game. Had voting been held that year, the song would likely not only have been nominated, but won.

The Saturday Night Fever songs also suffered from timing. The film opened at Christmas, and took a few weeks to really break out. The studio initially was promoting How Deep is Your Love, a decent enough ballad, as the Oscar hopeful. By late January, however, it was clear that Stayin' Alive was a breakout hit (followed soon by Night Fever -- the two songs held down the number one spot for 3-4 months, a feat that recalled the Beatles of '64). Some combination of too-late-in-the-season confusion, vote splitting, and, definitely a factor, significant music branch resistance to the demon Disco (this group had still not really come to terms with rock and roll) kept the Gibb brothers from making the Oscar ballot that year. The gazillion records they sold (and the Grammys they won the following year) no doubt served as some consolation.

[Big Magilla]

(Speaking of the 60s, The Shadow of Your Smile now occurs to me as an example of both questions that began this thread: a pretty short song -- though the music had been used throughout -- and a crappy movie)

Ah, yes, I knew there was something worse than Papa's Delicae Conditon out there - The Sandpiper, what a vile movie! At least the lame Papa had a great, or near great, song in Call Me Irresponsible. The Sandpiper had that sappy Shadow of Your Smile which was almost as nauseating as the film itself.

[kaytodd]

Sometimes snippets of the melody can be used to good effect during the body of the film, even if the song itself is not heard until the closing credits. One example is Up Where We Belong from An Officer And A Gentleman. Not a great song and the snippets used during the film are not examples of great music art. But it was effective for the film. The tender snippets played during Gere and Winger's sex scene worked well for me as did the loud powerful synthesizer notes when Gere swept Winger up in his arms and carried her out of her workplace.

[Big Magilla]

No, but they can make somebody rich when they are copied and sold in stores.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1184951761