Oh me, Oh my... Over the Rainbow still rocks / File
Posted on 06/23/2004 7:33:12 AM PDT by yankeedame
Over the Rainbow top song
By David Germain in Los Angeles
June 23, 2004
THERE'S no song like Over the Rainbow - the wistful ditty sung by Kansas farm girl Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz has a topped the American Film Institute's list of 100 best movie songs.
In second place on the list, released today, is the song that sparked a thousand clichés, As Time Goes By from Casablanca. In third place was the title tune from Singin' in the Rain.
Over the Rainbow, sung by Judy Garland in the 1939 musical fantasy, was picked as the top song in US cinema by about 1,500 actors, filmmakers, writers, critics and others in Hollywood.
"It deserves it. It's one of the great, great songs. Judy Garland, the emotion in that song. It gives me chills whenever I hear it," said songwriter Burt Bacharach.
Mr Bacharach was represented on the list for co-writing Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (No 23) from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) (No 79) from Arthur.
In 2001, Garland's Over the Rainbow (and Bing Crosby's White Christmas ) also topped the 365 Songs of the Century selected by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recording Industry Association of America.
Two songs each from The Sound of Music (My Favourite Things at No 64 and Do Re Mi at No 88) and Singin' in the Rain (Make 'Em Laugh at No 49 and Good Morning at No 72) both made the list. West Side Story also landed three songs: Somewhere (No 20), America (No 35) and Tonight (No 59).
Chosen from 400 nominees, the list was announced in the CBS television special AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Songs, the institute's latest countdown to promote US film history.
The show's host was John Travolta, star of Saturday Night Fever and Grease, whose Summer Nights came in at No 70.
"A list like this really drives people back to rediscover or discover these movies," Jean Picker Firstenburg, the institute's director, said.
"It's about older generations revisiting them and younger generations finding them for the first time."
Past specials presented such lists as the best 100 American movies, comedies, screen legends and love stories. AFI leaders had been mulling a list of best movie songs for years.
"It's an idea we've had floating around since the beginning," said Bob Gazzale, who produces the AFI specials. "Movies and music are so obviously linked at the heart, really."
"I think this list is about music that has made its way into daily lives, rather than an assessment of what's great," said Jennifer Warnes, who sang two duets that made the list, Up Where We Belong (No 75) from An Officer and a Gentleman and (I've Had) The Time of My Life (No 86) from Dirty Dancing.
"The reason why my songs made it there is that they're used. I still hear Up Where we Belong when I'm at the store buying frozen peas, and it makes me happier to be buying frozen peas."
The earliest song to make the list was Isn't It Romantic (No 73), sung by Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in 1932's Love Me Tonight. The newest came from 2002 with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger's rendition of All That Jazz (No 98) from Chicago and Eminem's Lose Yourself (No 93) from 8 Mile.
The AFI's Top Ten Songs
1. Over the Rainbow, The Wizard of Oz, 1939. 2. As Time Goes by, Casablanca, 1942.
3. Singin' in the Rain, Singin' in the Rain, 1952.
4. Moon River, Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961.
5. White Christmas, Holiday Inn, 1942.
6. Mrs. Robinson, The Graduate, 1967.
7. When You Wish Upon a Star, Pinocchio, 1940.
8. The Way We Were, The Way We Were, 1973.
9. Stayin' Alive, Saturday Night Fever, 1977.
10. The Sound of Music, The Sound of Music, 1965.
Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me were both on the list of 100, just not in the top ten.
Ahhh.... There's a sentimental, wistful, pensive lass somewhere under all that medeival leather.
Where's "Eye of The Tiger?" "Danger Zone?"
One something is perfected with such people it can't be done again. ..
I forgot about that one. The song was better than the movie.
Both were on the list, just not in the top ten.
Jailhouse Rock was on the top 100 list.
Don't hold back, tell me what you really think!!
Yeah, too many. Makes one wonder who was doing the voting. (As if we don't know!)
I thought "Oompa Loompa" (from Wilie Wonka) would win it.
That's just not right.
John F'n Kerry and his base must be F'n upset.
Where "The Pusher" and "Born to be Wild" from Easy Rider?
"Born To Be Wild" did make the list.
This appears to be a list of top movie pop songs. To get the real good music you have to include scores, such as Last of the Mohicans, Saving Private Ryan, The Gladiator, etc.
Over the Rainbow was deleted from the print of The Wizard of Oz three times! After each deletion Arthur Freed would storm into the front office and argue it back into the film. Further opposition came from the publisher, who objected to the "difficult-to-sing" octave leap in the melody on the word "some-where," and also to the simple middle. But Freed and Arlen stood up to the powers-that-be and the song remained, ironically to later receive the Academy Award as the best film song of the year!
Oh by the way AFI, The Sound of Music is at best only the 4th best song from that particular movie, behind Edelweiss, My Favorite Things, and Do Re Me.
What, Madonna's "Die Another Day" from the latest James Bond film, didn't make the list? (!)
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