Greatest movie songs of all time

[Desdichado]

So, my wife and I just watched the AFI top 100 movie songs of all time thingie tonight. While, in general, I think they're top 10 selections were pretty good, they were a bit off on what are truly classic movie songs for a lot of the others. Julie and I bantered about what we thought the truly top 5 greatest movie songs of all time were, and we're in pretty close agreement with the following list:

1. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz
2. "The Sound of Music" from The Sound of Music (although I made a heart-felt case that maybe "Doe a Deer" or "My Favorite Things" are really the classic songs from that movie, Julie convinced me that the first song does such a wonderful job of setting up the rest of the movie that it's really the one that deserves the higher slot)
3. "Singin' in the Rain" from Singin' in the Rain
4. "Tonight" from West Side Story -- not even on their top 50, unfortunately. Although it was in the top 100.
5. "White Christmas" from Holiday Inn.

There's so many others I like -- "Knowing I'm on the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady didn't even make the list, for example -- but I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has a strange hankering for old musicals that really are before my time, and has their own version of what songs are the true classic greatest movie songs of all time.

 

[johnsemlak]

Hmm, intriging subject, I'm surprised no-one has responded yet.

A few completely random thoughts on the subject:

No Star Wars music was included. I suppose they were looking for songs with lyrics, but if 'cultural impact' was a criterion, not having SW music seems to really reduce this list's significance.

For me the best song from a Bond movie is easily 'For Your Eyes Only', which I think was by far the most popular song from a Bond movie aside from a couple fo the recent ones (e.g. Goldeneye). I'm surprised that songs from two other movies were included, but not this one.

Again, I'm sure this tune didn't meet several criteria for AFI, but the most memorable music from a film by far is the theme from Chariots of Fire. To me, only the Star Wars music comes close, save a few of the biggies at the top of the AFI's list ('Somewhere over the rainbow' and a handful of others).

It sure seemed like overall, popularity was a far bigger factor than cultural impact (despite my reservations noted above). Really, I'm not sure how large the cultural impact was of many of hte songs on the list.

 

[Desdichado]

Right, score type songs weren't on the list, so the theme from Star Wars didn't make it. We could easily do a separate list for best movie scores, and I'd have to put Star Wars probably at the top of that list, but it'd be a harder list to construct for me.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I like Stand by Me

And we know what Ghost did for Unchained Melody

 

[aliensex]

Where did Who Made Who place?

Cause if its nowhere...

 

[TracerBullet42]

Where was BLAME CANADA on the list?

Well, I didn't think they'd really put it on the list, but consulting the AFI website, it was amond the 400 songs on the list to consider for the top 100. So not too shabby.

 

[Aeolius]

- the sad theme in "The Jerk"
- the equally moving theme in "Young Frankenstein"
- the theme to "Puppet Master"
- the song featured in "Orca"
- the theme to "Day of the Dolphin"
- "War March of the Priests" in "The Abominable Dr Phibes"
- any soundtrack by Danny Elfman for a Tim Burton movie
- the songs by Philip Glass in "The Truman Show"
- "Hushabye Mountain" in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (and the rest of the movie sundtrack)
- "Beautiful Things" in the original Dr Dolittle (and the rest of the movie sundtrack)
- "I suppose we should add Hedwig's Theme" (Harry Potter) and "The Medallion Calls" (Pirates of the Caribbean) to be topical

 

[Wombat]

Musicals and I don't get along too well.

That being said, let me see what I can come up with.

#1 -- As Time Goes By from Casablanca. I have always loved that song.

#2 -- Wouldn't It Be Luverly from My Fair Lady

#3 -- Brave Sir Robin from Monty Python & the Holy Grail

#4 -- Wicked Game from Wild At Heart

#5 -- Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby from O Brother, Where Art Thou?

#6 -- Old Man River from Showboat, BUT only by Paul Robeson AND ony with his altered version of the lyrics.

I will be a very happy man, conversely, if I never have to hear anything from Rodgers & Hammerstein or Andrew Lloyd Webber ever again in my life. I find them at best syrupy and at worst they drive me to destroying electronics.

 

[Desdichado]

Ah, Wombat -- that's too bad. Some of your songs listed were in fact in the top echelon of the countdown.

But I'm a huge musicals fan. In fact, watching the show last night put me in the mood to see a few that I've not seen in many years.

 

[Pielorinho]

I'd put As Time Goes By as #2 on my list, exceeded only by

We'll Meet Again, in Dr. Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb). I don't think it was original to this movie, but the song's accompaniment to the visuals is so chilling, mournful, and hilarious that I can't ever hear the song without a shiver running down my spine.

Daniel