Time
for my annual music article. Well not really annual but it seems that
way (and no I’m not counting those ear worm articles). Movies are filled
with music, from theme songs to melodies in important scenes to pop
songs put into spice the movie up. But when a song from a movie really
gets your attention, so much so that when you leave the movie it’s the
song you most remember, that is really something special.
Awhile back I did a list of songs I love from movies which aren’t so great. But most of those I hadn’t even heard in the movie to be honest. Today I wanted to talk about ten songs which I loved when I was literally watching the movie, so much so that I bought or downloaded the album (or recorded it off the radio, yes I’m old!).
These are in no specific order. And no animated films, that’s a different article.
10.Truman Show Main Theme
I did some checking and I really have not discussed thus movie enough. This movie is not a standard type of film, and it would be easy to hate it. But several things make it work. the premise is cool. Jim Carey is freaking awesome. And that soundtrack is fantastic, with some great piano melodies. My favorite is the main theme, which is soft and yet very effective in establishing the mood. The main scene it’s in this music literally does all the talking and very well! And yes it was not made for the movie and can be heard in other things. I will always associate it with this.
9.The Call from (Narnia:Prince Caspian)
Sometimes the perfect song comes along in a movie at the perfect time, and you can’t help but love it. That's what happened here. The movie was OK and then I heard this song and loved it- so much I went home and downloaded it.
8.It Must Have Been Love from Roxette (Pretty Woman)
I adored the Pretty Woman soundtrack after I saw the movie in 1990. And we were very happy to get the album for Easter (or whatever it was). I could do this whole list with those from Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” to Go West’s King of Wishful Thinking to but my favorite is this sad little song from Roxette. There have been more than one time in my life when I could relate to this one.
7.Change the World from Eric Clapton (Phenomenon)
This movie was really…not very good. It was a John Travolta flick about a guy who thinks he develops ESP powers. It was a decent premise but I have never seen a movie basically give up on it’s own premise so hard, using the easiest of explanations and the cop out ending to end all cop out endings. In fact, Disney re-made the flick as a TV movie and that one was a 100 times better. But the one thing I loved from the movie was the main song, by Eric Clapton
6.Interrogation Song (Muppets Most Wanted)
This movie was OK, not that great but not awful for sure. The music wasn’t quite as good as the previous movie either. With one very notable exception. I loved this song, again so much so I downloaded it when I went home. The only thing that pisses me off is why did they edit the song in the movie? Yeah there is a whole verse with Gonzo which you can hear on the soundtrack. Why edit that?? Ok it doesn’t hurt the song but it does excise Gonzo from the scene which makes no sense. Why do these movies keep diminishing his role for the more annoying Muppet’s like Pepe?
5.Oh Yeah from Yello (Ferris Bueller and Secret of My Success)
You know a lot of things make me think of the 80’s. This is for sure one of them. Released in 1985 by the Swiss band Yello, it reached #51 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s an odd mix of electronic music and manipulated voices. It became popular after appearing in two 80’s movies. Ferris Bueller of course and The Secret of My Success which is a Michael J. Fox vehicle which I am sad does not get more attention.
4.My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion (Titanic)
Has there ever been a more perfect marriage of movie and song in the history of ever? I could be wrong and I did hear this song before seeing the movie, but I still had to mention it. The song so perfectly adds to the mood of the movie that it’s, well, haunting!
3.Cell Block Tango/Press Conference Rag (Chicago)
I debated not including musicals but the truth is I had hardly heard of Chicago before I saw the movie. Oh sure I had heard “All That Jazz” but the rest? Not so much. And when I firsts saw the movie it was Ok, but nothing great, Until Cell Block Tango l came along, and got my attention. Then Press Conference Rag with it’s clever staging became the one song I never forgot. I love this musical became the director was smart. My big complain with musicals is that they’re not realistic, how many times have you seen an entire town break out into choreographed song? The solution here was the make almost all the music in Roxie’s head, which not only made the songs work in the structure of the movie but even helped to advance Roxie as a character. Man, I loved this one. And since I couldn’t decide which of the two to use, here’s both :
2.I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher (Groundhog Day)
I talked about this before with TV shows, but sometimes a movie will take a standard that’s been around forever and make it popular again. For instance, Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman was certainly not new when it appeased in the film of the same name. The same is true of this song. But give Harold Ramis credit, he knew what he was doing when he used this as the alarm that Phil must wake to every single day. And for those of us who had never watched Sonny and Cher’s variety show and was only passively aware of the song, we now loved it! Actually one of the things no one seems to mention about this flick is the cool soundtrack, which is pretty damn good.
Oh and if you’re wondering why I didn’t mention The Pennsylvania Polka, well my grandmother was Polish so let’s just say I was already very very well acquainted with that little ditty. The song reminds me of her (and Sunday’s at home as a kid) more than it does the movie.
1.Shakedown by Bob Seger (Beverly Hills Cops 2)
So one day back in 1984 my father bought a video camera. He used it one night for the first time, and told me and my brother to sing and dance for it. If you watch that video, would you like to guess what song it is I was badly belting out? Yeah this one of the best marriages of theme and movie ever, as it set the mood perfectly and I loved it. What about “The Heat is On” from the first one? It was a good one too but not as memorable, for me anyway.
Ok I got two honorable mentions for you because they’re cheats. I have never seen Cocktail. It’s a Tom Cruise movie which looks boring to me. Actually I take that back I did see some of it somewhere and yeah it was boring. But Kokomo was such an awesome song from the sound track that it was HUGE for me and my brother and sister when we were growing up.
Finally, I wanted to leave you with one more but count it as an exception. Mostly because it was a TV theme at first so it shouldn’t count. But I really did love hearing it in the theater. What movie am I referring to?
So what about you guys? Any songs that you heard in a movie that you adored the second you heard it? Comment and let me know. Is it me, or is this a pretty cool playlist?
Awhile back I did a list of songs I love from movies which aren’t so great. But most of those I hadn’t even heard in the movie to be honest. Today I wanted to talk about ten songs which I loved when I was literally watching the movie, so much so that I bought or downloaded the album (or recorded it off the radio, yes I’m old!).
These are in no specific order. And no animated films, that’s a different article.
10.Truman Show Main Theme
I did some checking and I really have not discussed thus movie enough. This movie is not a standard type of film, and it would be easy to hate it. But several things make it work. the premise is cool. Jim Carey is freaking awesome. And that soundtrack is fantastic, with some great piano melodies. My favorite is the main theme, which is soft and yet very effective in establishing the mood. The main scene it’s in this music literally does all the talking and very well! And yes it was not made for the movie and can be heard in other things. I will always associate it with this.
9.The Call from (Narnia:Prince Caspian)
Sometimes the perfect song comes along in a movie at the perfect time, and you can’t help but love it. That's what happened here. The movie was OK and then I heard this song and loved it- so much I went home and downloaded it.
8.It Must Have Been Love from Roxette (Pretty Woman)
I adored the Pretty Woman soundtrack after I saw the movie in 1990. And we were very happy to get the album for Easter (or whatever it was). I could do this whole list with those from Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” to Go West’s King of Wishful Thinking to but my favorite is this sad little song from Roxette. There have been more than one time in my life when I could relate to this one.
7.Change the World from Eric Clapton (Phenomenon)
This movie was really…not very good. It was a John Travolta flick about a guy who thinks he develops ESP powers. It was a decent premise but I have never seen a movie basically give up on it’s own premise so hard, using the easiest of explanations and the cop out ending to end all cop out endings. In fact, Disney re-made the flick as a TV movie and that one was a 100 times better. But the one thing I loved from the movie was the main song, by Eric Clapton
6.Interrogation Song (Muppets Most Wanted)
This movie was OK, not that great but not awful for sure. The music wasn’t quite as good as the previous movie either. With one very notable exception. I loved this song, again so much so I downloaded it when I went home. The only thing that pisses me off is why did they edit the song in the movie? Yeah there is a whole verse with Gonzo which you can hear on the soundtrack. Why edit that?? Ok it doesn’t hurt the song but it does excise Gonzo from the scene which makes no sense. Why do these movies keep diminishing his role for the more annoying Muppet’s like Pepe?
5.Oh Yeah from Yello (Ferris Bueller and Secret of My Success)
You know a lot of things make me think of the 80’s. This is for sure one of them. Released in 1985 by the Swiss band Yello, it reached #51 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s an odd mix of electronic music and manipulated voices. It became popular after appearing in two 80’s movies. Ferris Bueller of course and The Secret of My Success which is a Michael J. Fox vehicle which I am sad does not get more attention.
4.My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion (Titanic)
Has there ever been a more perfect marriage of movie and song in the history of ever? I could be wrong and I did hear this song before seeing the movie, but I still had to mention it. The song so perfectly adds to the mood of the movie that it’s, well, haunting!
3.Cell Block Tango/Press Conference Rag (Chicago)
I debated not including musicals but the truth is I had hardly heard of Chicago before I saw the movie. Oh sure I had heard “All That Jazz” but the rest? Not so much. And when I firsts saw the movie it was Ok, but nothing great, Until Cell Block Tango l came along, and got my attention. Then Press Conference Rag with it’s clever staging became the one song I never forgot. I love this musical became the director was smart. My big complain with musicals is that they’re not realistic, how many times have you seen an entire town break out into choreographed song? The solution here was the make almost all the music in Roxie’s head, which not only made the songs work in the structure of the movie but even helped to advance Roxie as a character. Man, I loved this one. And since I couldn’t decide which of the two to use, here’s both :
2.I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher (Groundhog Day)
I talked about this before with TV shows, but sometimes a movie will take a standard that’s been around forever and make it popular again. For instance, Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman was certainly not new when it appeased in the film of the same name. The same is true of this song. But give Harold Ramis credit, he knew what he was doing when he used this as the alarm that Phil must wake to every single day. And for those of us who had never watched Sonny and Cher’s variety show and was only passively aware of the song, we now loved it! Actually one of the things no one seems to mention about this flick is the cool soundtrack, which is pretty damn good.
Oh and if you’re wondering why I didn’t mention The Pennsylvania Polka, well my grandmother was Polish so let’s just say I was already very very well acquainted with that little ditty. The song reminds me of her (and Sunday’s at home as a kid) more than it does the movie.
1.Shakedown by Bob Seger (Beverly Hills Cops 2)
So one day back in 1984 my father bought a video camera. He used it one night for the first time, and told me and my brother to sing and dance for it. If you watch that video, would you like to guess what song it is I was badly belting out? Yeah this one of the best marriages of theme and movie ever, as it set the mood perfectly and I loved it. What about “The Heat is On” from the first one? It was a good one too but not as memorable, for me anyway.
Ok I got two honorable mentions for you because they’re cheats. I have never seen Cocktail. It’s a Tom Cruise movie which looks boring to me. Actually I take that back I did see some of it somewhere and yeah it was boring. But Kokomo was such an awesome song from the sound track that it was HUGE for me and my brother and sister when we were growing up.
Finally, I wanted to leave you with one more but count it as an exception. Mostly because it was a TV theme at first so it shouldn’t count. But I really did love hearing it in the theater. What movie am I referring to?
So what about you guys? Any songs that you heard in a movie that you adored the second you heard it? Comment and let me know. Is it me, or is this a pretty cool playlist?
