LoC #63: Top 50 Songs from Movies

[wurwolf]

Hello, and welcome to the sixty-third List of Crap -- the Top 50 Songs from Movies! Thanks to everyone who sent in a list; it was fun seeing what placed where and I hope my write-ups do these great songs justice. If anyone wants to add a video, or more information, or an anecdote about what you were doing or how you felt when you first heard the song, have at it! The LoC has always been a list of the people.

Over the next several days we'll be counting them down, from #50 to #1. For the first four days I'll post five entries per day and then I think next Monday through Wednesday I will do ten per day. That is my plan, anyway, we'll see if I stick to it.

Also, please PM me with any ideas for the next LoC and I'll make a poll.

So here we go!

[wurwolf]

#50: Blue Danube
28 Points (On 2 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #11 by Compound

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/SpvOUnz4T7Q?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/SpvOUnz4T7Q?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

Featured In: 2001: A Space Odyssey
 
Composer: Johann Strauss II
 
 
Description:
Music plays a crucial part in 2001, and not only because of the relatively sparse dialogue. From very early on in production, Kubrick decided that he wanted the film to be a primarily non-verbal experience, one that did not rely on the traditional techniques of narrative cinema, and in which music would play a vital role in evoking particular moods. About half the music in the film appears either before the first line of dialogue or after the final line. Almost no music is heard during any scenes with dialogue.

2001 is particularly remembered for using pieces of Johann Strauss II's best-known waltz, "An der schönen blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube)", during the extended space-station docking and lunar landing sequences, and the use of the opening from the Richard Strauss tone poem "Also sprach Zarathustra". Gayane's Adagio from Aram Khatchaturian's Gayane ballet suite is heard during the sections that introduce Bowman and Poole aboard the Discovery conveying a somewhat lonely and mournful quality.

Written by Johann Strauss II to celebrate the River Danube that flows through Vienna, "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" was premiered as a choral piece on February 13, 1867 at a concert of the Vienna Men's Choral Association. Its initial performance only got a lukewarm response and Strauss is reputed to have said "The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!"

The piece's popularity was bolstered after its prominent use in 2001. It was used to accompany the scene in which a spaceplane is seen docking with a space station after Kubrick made an association between the spinning motion of the satellites and the dancers of waltzes. The waltz was also used to accompany the film's closing credits.

The piece was also used as the gastrointestinal bypass surgery music in the 2003 film Super Size Me.

[wurwolf]

Also a heads up -- there is not a whole lot of information on a lot of these songs so some entries are going to be pretty damn short. I am pulling whatever information I can, though.

[Johnny Unusual]

Not upset about the choice, but personally, I prefer either pieces that originated in movies or are some sort of a cover of a pre-existing song.  But that is a great piece of film making.

[wurwolf]

That reminds me, let me know if there's a problem with the video I post (like there's no sound) or if there's a better video out there. I am writing this up while I'm at work and I don't have speakers so I can't hear the videos. I'm basically just crossing my fingers and hoping I'm picking the right one until I can check it when I can get on my home computer.

[Johnny Unusual]

Not upset about the choice, but personally, I prefer either pieces that originated in movies or are some sort of a cover of a pre-existing song.  But that is a great piece of film making.

Why? Isn't this about how the songs work with the movies they're in?

I think it was a great choice. I'd probably have put it in if I'd remembered it.

Largely because I think about "Songs from Movies" as great songs that originated in movies.  Again, not a big deal to me, but that's how I'm approaching it.  'Sides, while I like that scene, I don't instantly put that piece of music with that scene when I hear it independently.  It might come later, but the first thing that would come to mind is probably Looney Tunes.

[wurwolf]

Just about every list I got had at least a few songs that originated somewhere besides the movie in which they're listed. I think what's more important than the origination is the impact a song had on a scene or on the movie as a whole.

[wurwolf]

#49: Storybook Love
28 Points (On 2 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #8 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8ifSUhwmIMU?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/8ifSUhwmIMU?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

 
Featured In: The Princess Bride

Composers: Mark Knopfler/Willy DeVille

Performer: Willy DeVille

 
Description:
“Storybook Love” was the theme of the movie The Princess Bride and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1987 for Best Original Song. DeVille performed it at that year’s Academy Award ceremony and relates the following story: "Knopfler heard 'Storybook Love' and asked if I knew about this movie he was doing. It was a Rob Reiner film about a princess and a prince. The song was about the same subject matter as the film, so we submitted it to Reiner and he loved it. About six or seven months later, I was half asleep when the phone rang. It was the Academy of Arts and Sciences with the whole spiel. I hung up on them! They called back and my wife answered the phone. She came in to tell me that I was nominated for 'Storybook Love.' It's pretty wild. It's not the Grammys — it's the Academy Awards, which is different for a musician. Before I knew it, I was performing on the awards show with Little Richard. It was the year of Dirty Dancing, and they won."

[Johnny Unusual]

I considered this song, but for the most part, it just didn't do it for me.  I do like the instrumental version used throughout the film, but I find the song version a bit shmaltzy.  And I'm all about shmaltz.

And...Looney Tunes? Really?

"What?  Classical music in a cartoon?  Outrageous!"

[Tripe]

I only watch that film for the fencing, oh and Peter Cook (hopefully, more from him later).

[Johnny Unusual]

I assume you mean Princess Bride, but I wish you meant 2001.

Dave: "En garde"

HAL: "I'm afraid I can't parry that Dave."

[wurwolf]

#48: Edelweiss
28 Points (On 2 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #2 by CJones

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/zuQkZD3F2EQ?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/zuQkZD3F2EQ?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

 
Featured In: The Sound of Music

Composers: Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II

Performers: Christopher Plummer & cast

 
Description:
"Edelweiss" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. It is named after the edelweiss, a white flower found high in the Alps. It is sung by Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp and his family during the concert as a defiant statement of Austrian patriotism in the face of the pressure put upon him to join the navy of Nazi Germany. In the 1965 film adaptation, the song is also sung by the Captain earlier in the film as he rediscovers music and a love for his children.

"Edelweiss" is not an Austrian or German song. The only thing "German" about "Edelweiss" is its title and the Alpine flower itself. The song was written and composed by two Americans (Rodgers and Hammerstein). Hammerstein did have a German heritage, but the song is strictly American. (Hammerstein's grandfather, Oscar Hammerstein I, was born in Sceczin, Pommerania in 1848, the eldest son of a German-speaking, Jewish family.) In the film version, Captain von Trapp sings an emotional version of the song, which may have contributed to the false idea that it is the Austrian national anthem.

"Edelweiss" is virtually unknown in Austria, as is The Sound of Music. Although Salzburg makes a good living by exploiting the film, the Austrian city's tourist customers for "The Sound of Music" tours include very few Austrians or Germans.

Personal Note: I once went to a German-American heritage festival (full disclosure, I am like 75% German) and they sang "Edelweiss" as though it was the national anthem of Germany. They were all arm in arm and raising their beer steins like the goddamned Irish. It was ridiculous.

[Tripe]

Always wanted to hear it sung in Klingon...

[wurwolf]

#47: Time Warp
29 Points (On 2 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #3 by CJones

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/V0SqS2QJdj8?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/V0SqS2QJdj8?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

 
Featured In: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Composer: Richard O'Brien

Performers: Cast

 
Description:
"The Time Warp" is a song featured in the 1973 rock musical The Rocky Horror Show and in the 1975 film adaption The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as a dance performed during the chorus of the song of the same name. The song is both an example and a parody of the dance song genre in which much of the content of the song is given over to dance step instructions. The dance is one of the major audience-participation activities during screenings of the film and performances of the show. It has become a popular song beyond the reaches of the film and show, and is often played at dances and weddings.

The song consists of verses sung by alternating characters, serving as the introduction to two of them, and choruses sung by the chorus of "Transylvanians" (Movie) or "Phantoms" (Musical), and the Criminologist/Narrator (played by Charles Gray in the movie). The characters that sing the verses are, in order, Riff-Raff (Richard O'Brien in the movie), Magenta (Patricia Quinn in the movie), and Columbia (Little Nell Campbell in the movie). After the second full chorus, Columbia often launches into her tap dance.

The order of the solos varies in certain albums. In the movie and Roxy cast album, Columbia's solo is right after Magenta's, then Columbia does her tap dance after a second chorus. The version that has been in stage shows more recently is similar to the movie and Roxy cast, with Columbia singing her solo right after Magenta's, but then she does her tap dance right after her solo, leaving only two choruses. Occasionally, Columbia's solo and tap dance come after the chorus after Magenta's solo.

Step by step instructions for the dance:

[a pretty girl is like]

I figured Time Warp would make the list but I'm reallly glad it didn't place higher.  Good going, Forum!