Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Okay, the top 5 Golden Age composers? Well, looks like there's a lot of unanimousness there: Rozsa, Herrmann, Newman, Waxman, Steiner, Korngold, Friedhofer... the usual suspects battling it out neck and neck. So here's a different challenge, probably one whose answers will be considerably less homogeneous.

We are all film score oddballs, that's why we're here, but:

What is your favorite movie song?

That's right, song, not songs. Not a list, just one song. You gotta pick one.

Rules:

Which songs are eligible? All songs that were actually written for a movie, whether they were title songs (like the James Bond songs), musical songs (e.g. "Somewhere over the Rainbow"), end title songs ("It's a long Road"), background songs, dramatic pop songs ("Streets of Philadelphia"), ballads ("Do not forsake me"), disco songs ("What a feeling"), it doesn't matter as long as the song was specifically composed for a movie (or its trailer or its soundtrack). Tie in songs, that were not actually in the movie but were written for the soundtrack album and bear a significant thematic relation to the actual film music (e.g. "The Piper Dreams") qualify, songs that are not in the movie but merely appear on a so called a "soundtrack album" for commercial reasons or for the heck of it do not qualify.

Not eligible are songs that were merely used in or covered for a movie, but were not actually written for a movie or with the movie in mind. That includes but is not limited to musical songs that were actually written for the stage, such as many perennial musical favorites such as "Maria" from West Side Story or "Singing in the Rain" or "Unchained Melody"*; as good as these songs may be, they were not actually written for a movie, so they are disqualified.


* (Small correction: "Unchained Melody" qualifies; see further down this thread for details.)

But you may pick your favorite song based on how well you like versions other than the one actually heard in the movie. In other words, if your favorite movie song is a cover version of the song (say, you love Eric Clapton's "Somewhere over the rainbow"), but you can't stand the song the way it is sung in the movie (the Judy Garland version), that's alright, it still qualifies.

Some rules, eh? Well, this is my thread and here I get to call the shots.


So, now that the rules are clear, your entries, please, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Oh, yes, lest I forget, my own pick:

Henry Mancini & Johnny Mercer: "Moon River"

I wont even hold back here.

Hands down it's got to be BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, by The Coupe De Villes.

Totally cheesy and it sucks, but that's why it's so great!!!

- Oz

Ruby Dawn.

I just listened to "Once" from "Brotherhood of the Wolf" written by Joe LoDuca and someone else - I've always rather liked that one.

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Karl Morton IV

"Enjoy every sandwich."
-- Warren Zevon

Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor from Rocky III

It was the first Rocky I saw. It was also one of the first Dolby Stereo movies I experienced.
In the early eighties, there weren’t that many theatres that could reproduce a stereo soundtrack. Now every theatre has Dolby Digital. We’re spoiled...
There are some songs or movies from your ‘childhood’ (in your life) that you did find the max at the time. Some of them you reject today. But there are others you keep find ‘intresting’. So, this is one ‘strong’ song from 1982.
‘I’m getting old...’

I throw out "Moon River" by default but if there's any other movie song I'm really a sucker for it's the warm and fuzzy "Bright Eyes" from WATERSHIP DOWN.
--Doug

One song? That's tough.

I'll go with Born Free.

Music by John Barry
Lyrics by Don Black
Vocals by Matt Monro

Unchained Melody-Alex North, Hy Zaret

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Robert M Eastman

Hands down , Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland.


sd

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Jerry Goldsmith, Joel Goldsmith, John Williams, Elmer Bernstein,Michael Giacchino,Scott Glasgow,Alan Silvestri, Bernard Herrmann, Christopher Young, Bruce Broughton,Ennio Morricone and a host of others.

Though I just see that it was actually nominated for an Academy Award as "Best Original Song". Strange, I always thought that "Unchained Melody" was composed even before the movie Unchained. But okay, if it's good enough for the Academy, it's good enough for this thread. "Unchained Melody" is in the race.

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WE HAVE COME TO VISIT YOU IN PEACE AND WITH GOOD WILL.