The Academy Award For The Best Song Goes To…”Listen” From Dreamgirls”!
February 25, 2007
A last minute coat is given to the replica of the Oscar, that stands outside of the Kodak theater in Hollywood. Shouldn’t someone give it a last minute pair of pants as well?
It’s Academy Award Sunday Morning, a time I used to wake up in anticipation of the evening ceremonies. My favorite catagory has always been The Best Song In A Motion Picture, and have been right in my choices most of the time. This is one of those dismal years where there are no standouts among the nominees. Most are songs I not only don’t want to hear again, but songs I didn’t want to hear all the way through the first time!
I understand that movie songs are used to establish a time frame, a mood, to evoke a feeling that may or may not be apparent on the screen…but I expect more from an Academy Award Winning Song! Shit! Where is a “Moon River”, “Tammy” or “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”? How many songs have the sentimentality of recent winners, “Lose It” by Emenim or “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” by 36 Mafia?
Here’s a list of nominees for best original song written for a motion picture 2007
“I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth”
(Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge
“Listen” from “Dreamgirls”
(DreamWorks and Paramount)
Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler
Lyric by Anne Preven
“Love You I Do” from “Dreamgirls”
(DreamWorks and Paramount)
Music by Henry Krieger
Lyric by Siedah Garrett
“Our Town” from “Cars”
(Buena Vista)
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Patience” from “Dreamgirls”
(DreamWorks and Paramount)
Music by Henry Krieger
Lyric by Willie Reale
This year, my assistants Whoppy , Streaker and I pick Beyonce and, “Listen”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRLGz4AnFYU
We’ll all find out tonight!
Copyright 2007 by Artie Wayne
Artie Wayne On The Web 
February 25, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Hey Artie – how ya’ doin’?
The one that stood out last year for me was “In the deep” by Bird York (From “Crash”). She’s a WONDERFUL writer – if you haven’t heard “Velvet Hour” the album that “Deep” came from, you are missing out. I was highly offended when “Pimp” beat it out last year. What a piece of crap. (Don’t mince words, Mark…) 🙂
Just saw “Cars” with my kid two days ago, and I LOVED that JT track.
Nice post!
Best,
M.
February 25, 2007 at 7:26 pm
And neither of the two “Dreamgirls” nominees are from the Broadway show, right?
But who’d-a thunk it? A documentary – “An Inconvenient Truth” – being the source of a Best Song nominee? I don’t think “Mondo Cane” even managed that with “More”!
February 25, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Hey Artie,
I enjoyed your article. It made me think: if we are missing songs like “Moon River”, “Tammy” or “Raindrops Keep Fallin’”, I think we are also missing the gentler times that fostered them. Would they be hits today, or dismissed as “corny”? And what does that say about us as a society? Have we lost our American Compassion, our World Consciousness, or are we just expressing them a different way these days. In an era where Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year is “YOU”, have we lost the “us”? Personally, I think that our concern about the human race is presently fractionalized by our current political divisions, and I long for the pendulum to swing back in the direction of unity & compassion. Each of us can contribute to that, if only by seeking peace in our own daily life. Meanwhile, my friend, pardon the mini-rant. Thank God for the music that helps see us through!
February 26, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Artie,
I so agree with your accesment of better tunes from
the past…
on your oscar song prediction…well, we can’t win em all!
In the words of Chuck Berry…
“goes to show YOU NEVER CAN TELL!”
(They had a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well…)hehe
Best to you…
Steveo