Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The Movie Songs That Move You
Posted By Scott Renshaw on February 22, 2011, 11:12 AM
I have seen the list of this year's Oscar nominees for Best Song -- and while I've heard them all, I couldn't hum a single one back to you. ---
A pre-emptive note to those who think this is about to turn into an old-fart screed: It's not. While this year's batch of nominees -- "Coming Home" from Country Strong, "I See the Light" from Tangled, "If I Rise" from 127 Hours and "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 -- is hardly an inspiring bunch, recent years have seen plenty of songs that played a key part in the films where they appeared. The "When She Loved Me" sequence from Toy Story 3 is a devastatingly heartbreaking piece of filmmaking heightened by Sara McLachlan's soaring vocal; "Falling Slowly," from Once, became an anthem for a distinctive not-quite-love story. These songs resonated beyond the closing credits, because they evoked something profoundly emotional.
And, for some of us, continue to evoke it. I have my own list of movie songs that I will never be able to hear without being moved to emotional response: sheer giddy exuberance from the title song to Singin' in the Rain; a tear to the eye remembering the soaring ballroom dance sequence set to the Ashman/Menken title song for Beauty and the Beast; a laugh at the inspired satire of This Is Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom" and "Stonehenge." Will any of this year's Oscar-nominated songs have that effect on you in coming years? If not, which songs from movies are those that will instantly pull you back to the feeling you had when you first heard them? Share your thoughts with us.
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