Best movie songs of all time: a top 12 list
Raise your hand if you know what and who were the original title and authors of “The Man I Love”, one of the most sung along tunes in the soundtrack to the 1977 film “New York, New York”? The correct answers: “The Girl I Love”, and George and Ira Gershwin – the song was originally penned in 1924 as part of the score for the stage show “Lady, Be Good”.
Ever since sound was added to the silver screen, movies and music have been a natural combination, regardless of the genre, geography and time: From comedies to drama, from action films to animation, a robust soundtrack will regularly become a pillar of the work and will contain the right song - the one which will eventually become a symbol of the movie itself adding emotion to a pivotal scene and capturing the entire message of a movie to the point where, sometimes, it will become even more influential than the movie itself.
But compiling a list of the most famous film music ever?!? That’s pretty hard work, as a selection should comb about 100 years of film history on a global scale. Still, every year around the time when the Oscars ceremony hits TV channels all over the world, media cannot but try and cover the issue. (A warning, though: The Academy cannot be trusted at all costs, since its members have sort of made a tradition of overlooking great songs – Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” just to name one). So we won’t escape it and this is our list. Just in alphabetical order, mind it.
"Lose Yourself" - Eminem
Eminem won the Best Original Song Oscar and two Grammys with this song which he wrote on the movie set – he took his life story to a film titled "8 Mile" where character B-Rabbit is drawn from the real Marshall Mathers.
"Ghostbusters" - Ray Parker Jr.
A classic film identified by a classic song, which Ray Parker Jr. originally wrote for a commercial in the film, with the music video featuring cameos by John Candy, Chevy Chase, Danny DeVito. (Parker was sued over plagiarism to Huey Lewis' "I Want a New Drug," and eventually settled out of court).
"The Power of Love" - Huey Lewis & The News
Talking about the Devil… This tune was featured in "Back To The Future," with Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly and his band performing it at the high school talent show auditions (remember Marty’s ostentatious guitar soloing…?) and Huey Lewis playing the judge that shoots them down ("just too darn loud”). The track performed by Lewis and the News was the group's first No. 1.
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" - Simple Minds
John Hughes capped "The Breakfast Club", his cult teenager flick which launched a generation of then young actors dubbed as “the Brat Pack”, with a song that had been rejected by Billy Idol, The Fixx and Bryan Ferry prior to being recorded by Simple Minds.
"9 To 5" - Dolly Parton
2 Grammys won by this title track sang by a red hot Dolly Parton making her film acting debut alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. When a film’s title actually…sounds.
"La Bamba" - Los Lobos
Lou Diamond Phillips performed as 50s young star Ritchie Valens while Los Lobos updated Valens' own 1958 hit single (originally based on a Mexican folk song) and took it to the top of the charts (soundtrack’s musical direction by Carlos Santana).
"When Doves Cry" - Prince And The Revolution
Prince played every instrument on this iconic song, which became the first single from “Purple Rain”’s soundtrack and a number one on the charts. Ironically, it had been the last song written for the film - Prince got it ready overnight to match a scene in the movie.
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" - B.J. Thomas
Featured in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," (key scene: Paul Newman performing stunts on a bicycle), penned by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, recorded by B.J. Thomas, it went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.
"Gangsta's Paradise" - Coolio feat. L.V.
To wrap up the theme song for the inner-city drama "Dangerous Minds", Coolio took more than some cues from Stevie Wonder's 1976 "Pastime Paradise" – and went as far as to having Wonder later joining live at the Grammys, where it won Best Rap Solo Performance.
"I Just Called To Say I Love You" - Stevie Wonder
Did we mention Stevie Wonder? He definitely knew how to do it – he had won Best Original Song at the Oscars and Golden Globes with this tune which became the audio signature for the comedy "The Woman In Red."
"Stayin' Alive" - Bee Gees
John Travolta suited in white on a 70’s New York dance floor in "Saturday Night Fever" would have gone nowhere without this Bee Gees’ disco classic, which dueled for the title of iconic song on the soundtrack with their own “Night fever”.
"Call Me" - Blondie
The scene: young Richard Gere cruising around California in a convertible. The voice: by Debbie Harry, who wrote the song in a few hours (under Giorgio Moroder’s direction – the producer had earlier meant to collaborate with Stevie Nicks, who declined). The film: "American Gigolo".
P.S: Also the following tunes deserve a serious mention: "Maniac" (Michael Sembello for "Flashdance"), "Footloose" (Kenny Loggins, title track), "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross for “Arthur”), "Can't Help Falling In Love" (UB40 for "Sliver"), "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" (Phil Collins for "Against All Odds"), "I Will Always Love You" (Whitney Houston for "The Bodyguard"), "Flashdance. . . What A Feeling" (Irene Cara for "Flashdance"), "Eye Of The Tiger" (Survivor for “Rocky III”), "Blaze Of Glory" (Jon Bon Jovi for "Young Guns II"), "My Heart Will Go On" (Celine Dion for “Titanic”), "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" (Bryan Adams for “Robin Hood”), "Shakedown" (Bob Seger for "Beverly Hills Cop II").