Best Song – 1984

Official Nominations: I Just Called To Say I Love You. Take A Look At Me Now. Footloose. Lets Hear It For The Boy. Ghostbusters.

We’re deep into the 80s now – just look at these songs, every one was a hit, every one is still played today and everyone knows them. Probably only two of them are recognisable from their respective movie today, but these are all still significant movie songs in their own right. I can’t complain about any of these being the winner – I Just Called To Say I Love You is the official choice and it’s one of my favourite Stevie Wonder songs. Most of his fans disregard this one but as I’m not a huge fan of his I don’t fall into that category. I just like good cheese. Likewise, I’m not a fan of Phil Collins, but I do like Take A Look At Me Now (or Against All Odds as it is correctly named). Footloose and Lets Hear It For The Boy I can’t say I really like but they’re both a lot of cheesy 80s fun. My winner then is the most iconic song of the bunch, at least in terms of movies. Everyone knows Ghostbusters – who ya gonna call, and all that. Even so, I’m not a massive fan of the song – I like it, who doesn’t – but I have to pick it as the winner.

My Winner: Ghostbusters

My Nominations: I Just Called To Say I Love You. Take A Look At Me Now. Footloose. Lets Hear It For The Boy. Ghostbusters. The Heat Is On. You’re The Best. Young Hearts. Feel The Night. Cruel Summer. See Me In The Mirror. Love Came For Me. Sorcerer. Nowhere Fast. Breaking Like The Wind. Stonehenge.

This is when we get into that realm of 80s movies and hit songs going hand in hand. It honestly seems like every worthwhile movie released this year, and in this era, had an accompanying hit song or songs. If they couldn’t manage a hit song, they likely had a hit piece of theme music – see Beverly Hills Cop. Not happy with having a hit theme, Beverly Hills Cop also had a hit song in The Heat Is On – you already know it, and now that I’ve made you remember it you’ll be going ‘wow ooh wow oh, wow ooh wow oh’ all day.

The Karate Kid is littered with hits and 80s monstrosities – the biggest one being ‘You’re The Best’ – another inspirational anthem that you can’t help but love. Young Hearts is pretty dreadful on its own, but once again it works well within the confines of the movie. The same goes for Feel The Night. Cruel Summer ended up being one of Bananarama’s biggest hits, debuting in The Karate Kid.

It’s fair to say Alice Cooper was a bit of a mess in the 80s, recording several bad albums that he has zero recollection of. He also popped up in a number of horror movies and contributed songs to them. He wrote two songs for the Italian cult horror movie Monster Dog, and while they are far from his best, they are stronger than most of his early 80s output. Identity Crisis is a slice of fun but See Me In The Mirror is a darker ballad of the type Cooper was an expert at writing – again far from his best, but a vital curio. Many people would say that the most important soundtrack of this year was Purple Rain. And yet, I’ve never been a Prince fan. At the time his music always seemed too 80s to me, too samey, too reliant on the same rhythms and synth sounds. My opinion hasn’t really changed over the years though I’m aware I’ve only heard a fraction of his work. As such, I’m struggling to find a song from the movie I actually enjoy. Just to annoy you further, I’ll add another slice of stinking cheese in Love Came For Me from Splash. Come at me!

Lets keep things going with the bizarre Streets Of Fire – Nowhere Fast is a decent attempt at some sort of rock/pop opera thing while Sorcerer is a more simple atmospheric ballad. Next we land on The Terminator with a few songs lurking in the background and hitting that weird mix of techno and rock that was around for a few years in the decade – Burning In The Third Degree has a crap verse but great chorus. Most of the other tracks aren’t worth mentioning. For This Is Spinal Tap, really any of the songs could make an appearance but I’m already ripping the arse out of it – my favourites being Break Like The Wind and Stonehenge, but really the entire album rips to shreds everything that was, and is, so laughable and terrible about 80s hair metal. For anyone still reading… I think we’re done here. I think we know Ghostbusters is the winner, but I’m the contrarian.

My Winner: You’re The Best

Let us know your winner in the comments!

Best Song – 1983

Official Nominations: What A Feeling. Maniac. Over You. Papa, Can You Hear Me. The Way He Makes Me Feel.

A solid list this year, though a lower number of movies represented with Flashdance getting two nominations (and the official win) and Yentl following with two. What A Feeling, as cheesy and outdated as it is, seems to have the ability to make anyone want to dance and writhe around on a chair. Possibly weld too. It has everything I love in 80s pop, the atmospheric synth combined with a yearning, insta-catchy melody. The same can be said for Maniac, except that the former is much more inspirational. Papa Can You Hear Me is a sweet, tortured ballad – I’d rather hear someone else sing it, than listen to Streisand’s lungs. Streisand belts out another one in The Way He Makes Me Feel, but it lacks the emotional power of the other entry – it has to be a truly great song with Streisand performing for me to enjoy it at all as her voice is too theatrical and leaves me cold. Our final entry is from Tender Mercies – Over You – but it may as well be Streisand again, a non-starting ballad belted out with zero emotion.

My Winner: What A Feeling

My Nominations: What A Feeling. Maniac. Easy Money. On The Dark Side. Tender Years. Every Sperm Is Sacred. Holiday Road. After The Fall. Push It To The Limit. Turn Out The Night.

Two songs make it to my list. I could pick several from Meaning Of Life but let’s go with the obvious – I think if there’s one thing The Academy needs to nominate, it’s more songs about masturbation, especially those sung in front of/performed by children. Every Sperm Is Sacres is not only funny, but a decent tune too.

Easy Money is a funky Billy Joel theme song to a Rodney Dangerfield movie. There’s not a lot to it, but it’s a lot of fun and performed with over-the-top pizzazz. On The Dark Side is from the forgotten Eddie And The Cruisers – one of those films where the soundtrack was more successful than the movie. It’s pure inspirational Springsteen, though it gets more and more cheesy as it goes on. Tender Years, from the same movie, should be the cheesier song but it’s better and the emotion feels honest.

Holiday Road from Vacation makes me think of station wagons and, for some reason, Christmas. I think it’s because it feels like a Gary Glitter song. It’s fun, but not a lot to it. After The Fall is a lower tier 80s anthem, appearing in Risky Business, good enough to deserve a nomination here. Push It To The Limit is so 80s you can taste the cocaine – fast paced guitar and synth, gruff, yet high-pitched vocals, and lyrics about limits/zones. It even seems to rip off The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. Turn Out The Night is more of the same from Scarface, this time with Amy Holland providing the vocals. Again – synth, atmosphere, melody.

My Winner: What A Feeling.

Let us know your winners in the comments!

Best Original Song – 1982

Official Nominations: Up Where We Belong. Eye Of The Tiger. How Do You Keep The Music Playing? If We Were In Love. It Might Be You

Two big hitters this year, with Up Where We Belong getting the official win. There’s no doubting its success as a standalone song or within the movie, and I do like it as a song. However, I can’t stand the original version – Joe Cocker can’t sing for shit and Jennifer Warnes gives a poor account of herself too. Even if we had two stronger vocalists performing here, there’s still only one winner for me. Eye Of The Tiger is the best movie song here, no question. Sure we can sneer at how cheesy and 80s it is, but in truth it hasn’t lost any of its punch over the decades. It’s a song that has been endlessly parodied and mocked, hell it’s even a song me and a friend from school did our own version of – ‘Rising up, back on my feet – bring my balls back to baby!’ No, I don’t get it either, but there you go. You hear that opening bass, then those chords come in, and you’re ready to go 15 rounds with Clubber Lang. You’d be beaten to death inside 8 seconds of course, but the song still gets you pumped up to believing you’re a God. In that respect, it’s perfect for the film too.

How Do You Keep The Music Playing is an overly sweet song for a Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn vehicle. It’s another duet, in keeping with the sexy stuff going on in the film, but it’s a dreary song. I always get hooked by the piano intro, but everything after it is boredom. You keep waiting for something to happen, but nothing does. Yes, Giorgo is a terrible name and it’s a film starring Pavarotti. Yes, that one. The song is almost as bad as the film. I jest, but it’s simply not a very good song. It Might Be You from Tootsie is pure 80s pop ballad material – all those twinkling synths, some guy delivering plaintive lines, and a hooky chorus. I like it, but then you know me and ballads. The vocals could be more interesting, the arrangement could do with a bit of updating, and the production is too sparse, but it does the job.

My Winner: Eye Of The Tiger

My Nominations: Up Where We Belong. Eye Of The Tiger. Cat People (Putting Out Fire). Somebody’s Baby. Raised On The Radio. It’s A Long Road. What Shall We Do Now. When The Tigers Broke Free.

The big two make it to my list. I love this category in the 80s, because so many great songs made vital appearances in movies with the bonus of there being hardly any musicals – superb stuff. Cat People sees Bowie adding his vocals and lyrics to Moroder’s music. Bowie goes for his deeper, less breathy vocals and the first part feels like a forgotten goth classic. It descends into generic 80s rock as it progresses, but it’s a hell of a lot more interesting than most of the actual nominees. Speaking of pure 80s – Somebody’s Baby from Fast Times At Ridgemont High is a glorious song which has that unspoken combination of ingredients which made those hit 80s movie songs so special – I think those main ingredients are fun, innocence, and melody – and this is one which revels in all three and instantly makes you think of the movie. You know the film will have a great soundtrack if Cameron Crowe is involved – really this category could be nothing but Fast Times songs. Raised On The Radio is another of those – the main vocal is crap and it all sounds a bit weak, but it’s essentially another version of Summer of 69, not quite as iconic or good as that, but you get the idea.

I generally don’t like songs which simply add vocals over the main instrumental theme’s melody as the come off as fake. It’s A Long Road mostly works and gives me another excuse to nominate First Blood. Needs a better vocalist to do it justice. Given that The Wall is maybe my favourite album of all time (it moves between it and two or three others) you better believe its soundtrack is getting nominated here. What Shall We Do Now was replaced on the final album by the shorter Empty Spaces – I love both, obviously. The songs start out near enough identically, but this one has different lyrics, a slightly different vocal style and backing instruments and leads into a heavier, near heavy metal second section. It’s dark and angry, but in the scope of the original album Empty Spaces was the correct choice. When The Tigers Broke Free (both parts) is another great original song made for the movie, almost starting out like a John Williams melody, or some military celebration horn piece. As this is The Wall, that sentiment couldn’t be any further from the truth – the music of course being used in an ironic manner. This is Floyd at their most soul-rending, beautiful and horribly angry.

My Winner: Eye Of The Tiger.

Let us know your winner in the comments!

Best Song – 1981

Official Nominations: Arthur’s Theme. Endless Love. The First Time It Happens. For Your Eyes Only. One More Hour.

Arthur’s Theme (from Arthur) was the official winner this year. It’s a film I randomly watched in my early teens or pre-teens for some reason, and I remember enjoying it. I can’t say I’ve ever had the desire to watch it again, but I do remember laughing quite a bit and must watch again to see why. You won’t know it by that name, but you probably know the song. Your mum definitely does. It’s the one with the line ‘when you get caught between the moon and New York City’. Know it now? It’s a song I’ve always liked, though listening again now the vocal performance is poor and it doesn’t have the best production – everything is too faint. Endless Love is one you and your mother will know – it’s another massive hit song from an 80s movie. Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross creating one of the most famous and enduring duets of all time. I don’t know what it is about ballads – every part of my psyche and self says I should hate them, being such a cynical jerk with a tendency towards the dark side, but there you go. This is pure cheese, but it feels real and honest, and so I love it. It’s not my winner though.

For Your Eyes Only gets my vote, one of my top five Bond songs, from one of my top five Bond films. I can still be critical of it – I wish it was performed by a better singer than Easton, but there’s no taking away from how much I love it. The First Time It Happens is from The Great Muppet Caper which would usually be enough for me to pick it as winner – but it’s not very good. It’s okay for a first time novelty listen, or it works within the movie, but listening to those voices by choice is a no-no. It’s also a terrible throwback to all those old movie songs I despise – choral voices – bet you didn’t think I’d talk about those again, did you? Ragtime’s One More Hour is actually quite nice too – I like the piano intro, I like the purity of the vocals, I like how it doesn’t go full ragtime style, though the strings (for a change) don’t really work for me.

My Winner: For Your Eyes Only

My Nominations: For Your Eyes Only. Arthur’s Team. Endless Love. Heavy Metal (Takin’ A Ride). Open Arms. Dream Away.

The three main ones make it to my list. I want to nominate a Disney song, but their offerings from The Fox And The Hound aren’t great. Still, I’ll add Best Of Friends for its message and charm, even if it is a dreadful vocal performance – there’s potential for a much better singer to make this great. Take your pick from the Heavy Metal soundtrack – a mixture of cheesy 80s metal songs that aren’t quite the sissy stuff that the genre would descend into later in the decade. I pick Takin A Ride over the title track and we have to add Open Arms in there too as one of the best Power Ballads ever. People forget that it started out as a (not quite) metal/rock song given its popularity with pop singers.

George Harrison gets a solo nomination for his song for Time Bandits – a strange, synthy, chanting song with Beatles-esque melodies and a catchy, nonsensical chorus.

My Winner: For Your Eyes Only

Let us know your winner in the comments!

Best Original Song – 1980

Official Nominations: Fame. 9 to 5. On The Road Again. Out Here On My Own. People Alone.

The 1980s was the decade when movie songs became monsters – every hit movie seemed to have a hit song, and those songs had a habit of standing entirely on their own, while also acting as an integral part of the movie and the time. What’s more, this is really when those songs began to stand the test of time and many are still very popular today, whether in a silly ironic sense or otherwise. In this category this year, we have three songs which are generally recognised as classics at what they do – even if you don’t like them. These are songs that everyone knows, and at lesat two of them you’ll know they’re from a movie. The official winner is the title track from Fame – if you’ve followed my posts then you know one of my biggest criticisms of movie musicals is that the songs are crap. Fame as a song, is great. I’m not a fan of the movie, but you can’t deny the energetic, fist-pumping, iconic nature of the song. It has one of the most famous pre-chorus and chorus sections of any movie song, and it obviously fits the story of the film.

You can add pretty much the same comments for 9 to 5 – it’s a song which has taken on a life of its own outside of movies – any time work is getting you down you’ll probably start singing it. The final biggie is Willie Nelson’s On The Road Again – a song I knew long before I was aware it was written specifically for a movie. In fact, I knew it from its appearances in other movies before I knew it was made for Honeysuckle Rose. There’s no point in me saying anymore about it – you already know it. Out Here On My Own is another song from the Fame soundtrack, a hit in its own right, but a much softer ballad when compared to the bombastic title track. It does feel more like a musical song though, with its lack of a chorus and big belted vocals.

The last song you probably won’t know unless you’re a big fan of the film. The Competition is a little known music-based movie (as opposed to a musical) starring Richard Dreyfuss as a gifted but disillusioned pianist who knows he will likely have to get a job as a piano teacher rather than be a star. People Alone is the main love theme of the movie, a nice enough ballad but it’s not exactly as memorable as the three front-runners in this category.

My Winner: Fame

My Nominations: Fame. 9 to 5. On The Road Again. Lead The Way. Any Way You Want It. Flash’s Theme.

The three big lads make it to my list – part of me would love to have The Blues Brothers here, but even though they are original recordings for the movie, they are still covers – no dice. I’m Alright is one of the several songs Kenny Loggins recorded for Caddyshack – if there’s any one name synonymous with 80s movie songs, then it’s Kenny Loggins. However, it is not one of his best or most recognizable so I’m picking Lead The Way instead, a forgotten ballad deserving of rediscovery. Any Way You Want It is a terrific, cheesy, Journey song – it wasn’t written specifically for Caddyshack, but I’m pretty sure that is the first film it appeared in so that’s good enough for me. If you needed any further proof of this being the start of the trend which saw  iconic movie songs outliving the movies themselves – Queen unleashed Flash upon the world. It’s a very simple song – basically a repeated chorus, a bunch of sound effects, and a little additional melodic bridge to bring it all together – yet everyone knows it today – is it possible to hear the word ‘flash’ without immediately wanting to shout ‘AH-AAAHH’?

My Winner: Fame

Let us know your winner in the comments!

Best Original Song – 1979

Official Nominations: It Goes Like It Goes. I’ll Never Say Goodbye. It’s Easy To Say. Rainbow Connection. Through The Eyes Of Love.

There’s only one winner here, surely, and it ain’t It Goes Like It Goes which picked up the official win. That song is a little odd, a ballad which starts with this strange minor key intro before dropping into a faux-Joni Mitchell dance. It’s another one of those Oscar songs that goes absolutely nowhere and is mostly forgettable. Melissa Manchester became the first person to be nominated in the same year for two songs from two films – I’ll Never Say Goodbye is belted out but terrible while Through The Eyes Of Love is much better and fits the sentimental nature of Ice Castles (which I’ve always had some fondness for). It’s Easy To Say from 10 is understated but not very interesting. The undisputed winner is of course Rainbow Connection – still not a great song, but sweet, endearing, and light years ahead of anything else in the category.

My Winner: Rainbow Connection.

My Nominations: Rainbow Connection. Moonraker. Aquarius. Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. Fantasy. Goodbye Friends. Get Out And Stay Out. Four Faces. Joker James. The Rose. In The City.

Fantasy is from Robert Altman’s forgotten A Perfect Couple – there’s a number of decent ballads and soft rock songs on its soundtrack so you can pick any from it. Goodbye Friends is from the same soundtrack, maybe the standout song as it feels like a more traditional musical number and moves through different tones and stages. Three songs are added to the soundtrack of Quadrophenia, and they’re all great. I’m biased though as I love the original album so finding these bonus extras is always a treat. Get Out And Stay Out is good but a little too repetitive to win. Four Faces is great but feels pretty different from the rest of the soundtrack, while Joker James is very old school The Who in the chorus with verses having their late 70s vibe. You can’t not include The Rose here, perhaps the most gaping miss from the Official Nominations, with Bette Middler blasting it out. Not typically my sort of thing but it works damn well. So much so that I also allowed it to be one of my Wedding songs – played while going up the aisle/completing the service etc. In The City from The Warriors was later covered by The Eagles – Joe Walsh’s original still feels like quintessential US 70s Rock.

My Winner: Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

Best Original Song – 1978

Official Nominations: Last Dance. Hopelessly Devoted To You. The Last Time I Felt Like This. Ready To Take A Chance Again. When You’re Loved.

It’s the late seventies, so that means disco and Donna Summer. She won an Oscar here for Last Dance from a film she appears in – Thank God It’s Friday. It’s like a crappy, Disco version of Slackers or Dazed And Confused. Last Dance is a simmering ballad that seems to be going nowhere until there’s a pause and the disco comes. That’s when the song really gets going, but for me it’s never more than just okay.  Hopelessly Devoted To You is the single entry for Grease – a little odd when there is at least one more obvious choice. It’s a pretty wanky ballad which starts out with that country twang I hate, then has a bit of the 50s ballad thrown in, then has a belting chorus by Newton-John – unsurprisingly it doesn’t work.

Both of the previous songs were big hits outside of the movies – our remaining options seem minor by comparison. The Last Time I Felt Like This is a nice, simple Mathis/Olivor ballad which starts promisingly but quickly becomes boring while Barry Manilow’s Ready To Take A Chance Again doesn’t start well but has a better chorus. Finally, The Magic Of Lassie is a musical about Lassie and Jimmy Stewart, with a lot of not very good songs. The Sherman Brothers know how to pen a hit, but When You’re Loved is yet another meandering, aimless ballad.

My Winner: Last Dance

My Nominations: You’re The One That I Want. Summer Nights. Greased Lightning. Copacabana. Ease On Down The Road. Caravans. Another Fine Mess. Bright Eyes.

Before we get to Grease, lets look at the other contenders – Caravans, from the movie of same name, is a much more interesting ballad than any of those officially nominated – an epic sounding folk song. Ease On Down The Road from The Wiz is a bit of a forgotten Michael Jackson song – a slice of Mowtown funk from before he truly hit it big as a solo artist. Another Fine Mess from The End is a much better ballad than those above – nice melodies, interesting shifts, good lyrics, and a good Glenn Campbell performance.

The only genuine contender here to Grease is of course Bright Eyes from Watership Down. It’s a haunting piece forever intertwined with visuals from the movie and is arguably the best song here. It’s not quite as iconic as those from Grease though, so that may have a bearing on what you select. Greased Lightning is cheesy rock’n’roll fun. Summer Nights is horny and fun, though I’ve never been keen on the actual vocal performance – it would be much better served without all the backing vocals and musical theatre crap – just do it right. What can you say about You’re The One That I Want? It was always played at school discos when I was young and it occasionally pops up in weddings I’ve been to – it’s fast, fun, changes tone nicely, its infectious, and is one of the most famous songs from the movies.

My Winner: You’re The One That I Want

Best Original Song – 1977

Official Nominations: You Light Up My Life. Candle On The Water. The Slipper And The Rose Waltz. Nobody Does It Better.

You Light Up My Life won officially, but look, we all know who the real winner here is. Nobody Does It Better is one of the best Bond songs, bringing the franchise into a new era, and it works well as a standalone too. It wins, hands down. The winner has been hugely successful too, being covered by a bunch of people. I actually like it, then I’m a sucker for big ballads as you know, at least when they feel genuine and emotional, not showy and theatrical. Candle On The Water is another ballad, but it is too theatrical, too cleanly sung, and is yet another of those floating songs with no discernible melody. The Waltz song He Danced With Me is pure musical theatre wank – I’m surprised Liza Minnelli doesn’t gyrate out of the shadow and start twerking in the middle of it.

My Winner: Nobody Does It Better

My Nominations: Nobody Does It Better. You Light Up My Life. Down Deep Inside. In Heaven. Hausa Love Theme. New York New York. Someone’s Waiting For You. Stayin Alive. Night Fever. How Deep Is Your Love. More Than A Woman. If I Can’t Have You. East Bound And Down.

There’s at least one major snub here, with New York New York arguably being one of the most famous songs ever recorded. I actually always assumed it was a much older song given that it’s from a period long gone by 1977, but nope, it was made for the Scorcese musical. I’m not a fan of musicals, of swing, of jazz, or of Minnelli, and yet you can’t discount the song. Someone’s Waiting For You from The Rescuers is a little known Disney ballad – it doesn’t hit the high notes of many of their best songs but it’s still sweet and honest.

I’ve added five Bee Gees songs from Saturday Night Fever – they’re all good but as I’m adding so many I’m not going to go through each. East Bound And Down is fast, feel-good country chase music and the love theme from Hausu is bizarrely cheery and sweet. Deep Down Inside is Donna Summer, so disco, but it has nothing to do with water or eels or Nick Noltes and it is a little monotone, but it does get going later with plenty of sex noises. Speaking of sex noises, In Heaven is not one to listen to when doing the dance of naked squelching. In fact it’s not one to listen to ever, unless you’re a weirdo like me. Actually, it’s nice, if a little offbeat – even if you know zero about Eraserhead you know there’s something not quite right about the song.

My Winner: Nobody Does It Better

Let us know in the comments which songs you would pick!

Best Music (Song) – 1976

Official Nominations: Evergreen. A World That Never Was. Ave Satani. Come To Me. Gonna Fly Now.

This year we have three (well, two) of the most highly regarded movie songs ever. Any list of top hundred songs of cinema will include them. Evergreen was the winner this year – it’s one of those aforementioned songs. It’s certainly… nice, but it’s not very good? Streisand’s vocals are too powerful, too overwrought. It’s one of those meandering songs that goes nowhere, and the fact that it’s such a simpering old school musical ballad when this version of A Star Is Born is supposed to be based in the world of Seventies rock never sat well with me. The other big song is of course Gonna Fly Now – it’s my immediate winner, and it should be your’s too. Just listen to that intro – if it doesn’t make you want to go out and punch a pile of tramps, run like the devil is chasing you, and charge up the nearest flight of steps, then I don’t know what to say to you. The only thing is that it feels more like an instrumental than a ‘song’. Either way, there’s no way this loses to Evergreen.

Ave Satani is the third great song here – it’s a fantastic one to play in the car to scare the kids or anyone crossing at the lights if you blast the volume. It’s pure metal and it will give you the shits if you listen alone at night. Oh yes, there’s two other songs here – songs no-one remembers from films no-one remembers. Fine fine, some will of course remember The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Come To Me is actually a decent song, a little bland but I’d certainly pick it over Evergreen. A World That Never Was sounds like the intro song to some cheesy one season sitcom, possibly about a friendly bin who helps a suburban white family get over their middle class problems.

My Winner: Gonna Fly Now

My Nominations: Gonna Fly Now. Ave Satani. Born To Have It All. I Never Dreamed Someone Like You. Livin’ In The Land Of Oz.

I add Born To Have It All from Carrie. If someone can explain to me why this wasn’t picked, but Evergreen was, that’d be great. This is basically the same song, except much more honest and heartbreaking. I Never Dreamed Someone Like You gets nominated too, less sad, but better melodies. Livin’ In The Land Of Oz is satirical, funny, still pertinent now, and funky as hell.

My Winner: Gonna Fly Now

Best Original Song – 1975

Official Nominations: I’m Easy. How Lucky Can You Get. Do You Know Where You’re Going To. Richard’s Window. Now That We’re In Love.

This was always going to be a winner for Nashville, although when you throw in a more traditional musical there’s always a chance it could win. It’s generally rare that a song nominated or which wins in this category to have a life outside the movie, but I’m Easy was a fairly big hit this year in the US charts. It’s lovely, and thankfully doesn’t feel like a country song, outside of Carradine’s vocals. Good lyrics, nice melodies. In my younger days I was partial to Mariah Carey’s version of Do You Know Where You’re Going To and the movie version by Diana Ross was also a substantial hit. Should it be here though, given it was actually written and recorded a couple of years earlier? These rules are muddy. How Lucky Can You Get is almost everything I despise in music. Those opening seconds make me want to swallow my ears, then the male vocals start and it somehow it gets worse. Then Streisand starts, but by that point my ears are halfway down my throat – don’t put yourself yourself through it.

The Other Side Of The Mountain is one of those movies – true story, hallmark channel style, this time about a ski champion who is paralyzed. It’s a love story, but it was ludicrously successful. The song is weird – nicely sung, incredibly dated and with all these cheesy additions, and it’s very short – just when you think it’s going somewhere it ends. It’s okay, but given the music being released in 1975, it doesn’t need to be here. Whiffs…. ahh, Whiffs. Now That We’re In Love is sappy rubbish, only here because of the songwriting talent – it’s crap.

My Winner: I’m Easy

My Nominations: I’m Easy. Love’s Dream. Camelot. O Brave Sir Robin. Time Warp. Mother And Son.

I’d love to pick something else from Nashville but almost every song has the cringworthy country guitar that I cannot abide. If I was to pick one, it would be Memphis, more for Karen Black’s performance. Love’s Dream (Lisztomania) is a showcase for how to do an interesting love song for a movie – it’s still sappy, but it has class and emotion thanks to Wakeman’s playing and Daltry’s vocals. For Holy Grail fans you can fight between my two picks here – I think the Camelot scene is funnier, but I prefer the O Brave Sir Robin song. Time Warp is Time Warp – I’m not a huge fan, but it’s everywhere and one of the most famous movie songs (even though the musical was earlier). Many of the new songs made for the Tommy soundtrack are expanded versions of the album tracks or feature twists on melodies and lyrics – Mother And Son starts out this way but ends up being its own entity. Again, not my favourite album but I had to pick something from it.

My Winner: O Brave Sir Robin

Let us know your winner in the comments!