LoC #63: Top 50 Songs from Movies

[wurwolf]

#34: Star Spangled Man
35 Points (On 2 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #5 by wurwolf

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HSAk63gCIko?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/HSAk63gCIko?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

(Embedding for this is disabled, but this is the actual clip from the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxRKwKJI_uI )

 
Featured In: Captain America: The First Avenger

Composer/Lyricist: Alan Menken and David Zippel

Performer: USO Girls Choir

 
Description:
The song "Star Spangled Man" in the film Captain America: The First Avenger, was composed by Alan Menken, who also composed "Be Our Guest" in Beauty and the Beast.

[wurwolf]

I am not sure how many of these I'll get done today. They're really difficult to write out on the weekend. Much easier to get them done at work.

[Tripe]

Such an awesome song, and so very authentic sounding. 

[Russell]

I prefer "Gratuitously gartered girlies"... what? You mean in a movie that takes place in the 1940's there wasn't a song with sexy pin ups singing a song I made up called "gratuitously gartered girlies"? Dammit, sometimes I forget the world isn't mine... yet.

[Mrs. Dick Courier]

"Be Our Guest" was cut off my list during the last cut.  Love it though.  And "View to a Kill" is another favorite that I didn't count on my top 25

"Circle of Life" still makes me tear up.  When they hold Simba's cub up to the light with all the animals below, shit, I'm tearing up just thinking about it.

And glad to see "Blame Canada" it's hilarious.  Had a hard time chosing a South Park song.  It barely beat out "What would Brian Boitano Do" on my list

[wurwolf]

There were a lot of Trey Parker/Matt Stone songs on the list.

Ten entries coming your way today, folks.

[ScottotD]

I think 'Tiny Dancer' ranking so highly might be a bad sign for my list, I'd be shocked if much outside my top 10 made it

[wurwolf]

#33: Man of Constant Sorrow
35 Points (On 2 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #4 by Johnny Unusual

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/GDA708XlFIo?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/GDA708XlFIo?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

 
Featured In: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Composer/Lyricist: American traditional

Performer: "Soggy Bottom Boys" (Dan Tyminksi, Harley Allen & Pat Enright)

 
Description:
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Goodman, with Holly Hunter and Charles Durning in supporting roles. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey.

Much of the music used in the film is period-specific folk music, including that of Virginia bluegrass singer Ralph Stanley. The musical selection also includes religious music, including Primitive Baptist and traditional African-American gospel, most notably the Fairfield Four, an a cappella quartet with a career extending back to 1921 who appear in the soundtrack and as gravediggers towards the film's end. Selected songs in the film reflect the possible spectrum of musical styles typical of the old culture of the American South gospel, delta blues, country, swing and bluegrass.

The voices of the Soggy Bottom Boys were provided by Dan Tyminski (lead vocal on "Man of Constant Sorrow"), Nashville songwriter Harley Allen, and the Nashville Bluegrass Band's Pat Enright. The three won a CMA Award for Single of the Year and a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, both for the song "Man of Constant Sorrow".

"Man of Constant Sorrow" has five variations: two are used in the film, one in the music video, and two in the soundtrack. Two of the variations feature the verses being sung back-to-back, and the other three variations feature additional music between each verse. Though the song received little significant radio airplay, it reached #35 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 2002.

Tommy, the lead guitarist of the Soggy Bottom Boys, is an intentional reference to the legend of Delta Blues artist Tommy Johnson, who claimed to have sold his soul to the devil in return for blues fame.

[Pak-Man]

I'm smacking my head into next week for forgetting O' Brother...

[wurwolf]

#32: The Sound of Silence
36 Points (On 3 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #11 by DB Barnes

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/oLEmyeQlS5M?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/oLEmyeQlS5M?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

 
Featured In: The Graduate

Composer/Lyricist: Paul Simon

Performer: Simon & Garfunkel

 
Description:
"The Sound of Silence" is the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon & Garfunkel to popularity. It was written in February 1964 by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. An initial version preferred by the band was remixed and sweetened, and has become known as "the quintessential folk rock release".

When director Mike Nichols and Sam O'Steen were editing the feature film, The Graduate, they initially timed some scenes to this song with the intention of substituting original music for the scenes. However, they eventually concluded that the song could not be adequately substituted and decided to purchase the rights for the song for the soundtrack. This was an unusual decision for the time as the song had charted years ago and recycling established music for film was not commonly done. However, the film's executive producer, Joseph E. Levine approved of the creative decision and thus encouraged, Nichols commissioned Simon and Garfunkel to compose additional original music for the film.

The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder Willingham. The film tells the story of Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman), a recent university graduate with no well-defined aim in life, who is seduced by an older woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), and then proceeds to fall in love with her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross).

The film boosted the profile of folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Originally, Nichols and O'Steen used their existing songs like "The Sound of Silence" merely as a pacing device for the editing until Nichols decided that substituting original music would not be effective and decided to include them on the soundtrack.

According to a Variety article by Peter Bart in the 15 May 2005 issue, Lawrence Turman, his producer, then made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for the movie. By the time they had nearly finished editing the film, Simon had only written one new song. Nichols begged him for more, but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he did not have the time. He did play him a few notes of a new song he had been working on; "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past — about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt."

[wurwolf]

YouTube seems to be having a few issues this morning. I'm hoping these clips are alright because I can't listen to them; I'll check them again later.

[Tripe]

#32: The Sound of Silence
36 Points (On 3 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #11 by DB Barnes

Lovely song but, again, more importantly, used to fantastic effect in the movie, it's a lovely bit of editing work in that whole sequence.

[wurwolf]

Yeah, I remember seeing it in the movie and liking the way it was used, how it starts off with him sinking to the bottom of the pool to escape. I am probably not doing these clips justice because I either haven't seen them or it's been a while, although I've been trying to find articles beyond wiki and IMDB.

If anyone has any thoughts they'd like to share about a particular movie or song, please do!

[wurwolf]

#31: Twist and Shout
36 Points (On 3 of 19 lists)
Highest Placement: #8 by George Harrison

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/tgd46QiHz4I?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/tgd46QiHz4I?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

 
Featured In: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Composer/Lyricist: Phil Medley & Burt Russell

Performer: The Beatles

 
Description:
"Twist and Shout" was originally titled "Shake It Up, Baby" and recorded by the Top Notes and then covered by The Isley Brothers. The Beatles released the song on their first UK album, Please Please Me, the recording of which on February 11, 1963 was their first album session and is notable for eleven songs recorded in a mere ten hours. "Twist and Shout", with John Lennon on lead vocals, was the last song recorded; producer George Martin knew Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only fifteen minutes of scheduled recording time remaining.

Lennon was suffering from a cold, and was drinking milk and sucking on cough drops to soothe his throat. His coughing is audible on the album, as is the cold's effect on his voice. Even so, he produced a memorable vocal performance: a raucous, dynamic rocker. He later said his voice was not the same for a long time afterward, and that "every time [he] swallowed, it felt like sandpaper".

The Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout" was featured in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a 1986 American teen coming of age comedy film written and directed by John Hughes. The film follows high school senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick), who decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago. Accompanied by his girlfriend Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and his best friend Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck), he creatively avoids his school's Dean of Students Edward Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), his resentful sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey), and his parents. During the film, Bueller frequently breaks the fourth wall by speaking directly to the camera to explain to the audience his techniques and thoughts.

"Twist and Shout" charted again, sixteen years after the Beatles broke up, as a result of its prominent appearance in both this film and Back To School (where Rodney Dangerfield performs a cover version) which was released the same weekend as Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The re-released single reached #23 in the U.S; a US-only compilation album containing the track The Early Beatles, re-entered the album charts at #197. The version heard in the film includes brass overdubbed onto the Beatles' original recording, which did not go down well with Paul McCartney. "I liked (the) film but they overdubbed some lousy brass on the stuff! If it had needed brass, we'd had stuck it on ourselves!" Upon hearing McCartney's reaction, Hughes felt bad for "offend(ing) a Beatle. But it wasn't really part of the song. We saw a band and we needed to hear the instruments."

[Johnny Unusual]

Wow, never thought of Star Spangled Man, but that is a damned fine choice for whoever did it.  I'm not sure I would have included it, but it is probably my favourite part of Captain America.

EDIT: Oh, and O Brother has one of my favourite all-time soundtracks.  Big Rock Candy Mountain is now an all-time favourite and will be my hobo theme, after maybe tomorrow.