30 VIDEOS OF OSCAR WINNING SONGS!

Maybe it’s me, but there doesn’t seem to be as many memorable Oscar winning songs as there once was. I remember the first music clip I ever saw was when I was 5 years old, “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Walt Disney’s “Song Of The South”, which is now considered politically incorrect. When I located the long banned clip, my hands were sweating and my throat was dry as I clicked on the URL. But instead of seeing “Tar Babies” shuffling at the “Massa’s feet”, I saw a grandfathery African-American who was telling a story to a bunch of cartoon characters. I know the rest of the film is racist, filled with stereotypical embarrassing characters, but I’m willing to open my mind up and enjoy this great clip anyway.             

“ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH” 1947 original clip from “Song Of The South” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxYwwIL5zQ

NOW HERE ARE 29 MORE VIDEOS OF OSCAR WINNING SONGS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER …

“OVER THE RAINBOW” 1939 by Judy Garland from “The Wizard Of Oz” http://video.aol.com/video-detail/judy-garland-over-the-rainbow-extrait-du-magicien-doz/288230387787502145/?icid=VIDURVENT08

 “TIME OF MY LIFE” 1987 by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes from, “Dirty Dancing” Clip of final scene http://video.aol.com/video-detail/dirty-dancing-final-dance-scene/354628236  

One of the advantages of being a member of NARAS is being able to rub shoulders with the greatest writers and composers in the world. One of the greatest thrills of my career is to have been on several committees with Henry Mancini. He was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20. Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four. He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys. Here’s one of his best, “MOON RIVER” 1961 from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

Although Andy Williams and Jerry Butler had the hit singles, out of the hundreds of covers my favorite is by Jeannie Thomas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_hQyYbh3aI

“FOR ALL WE KNOW” 1970 by the Carpenters from “Bless the Beasts and Children” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH-xF1A9PS0

“Theme from “SHAFT” by Isaac Hayes 1971 (Opening scene with song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDyRdhSIqlo&feature=related

“BEAUTY AND THE BEAST” 1991 by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson http://vodpod.com/watch/1105361-dailymotion-celine-dion-beauty-and-the-beast-un-v%C3%ADdeo-de-stella78-celine-dion-beauty-and-beast

“TAKE MY BREATH AWAY” 1986 by Berlin (with clips from “Top Gun”)                      http://seductiveye.com/berlin-take-my-breath-away-official-video-top-gun

 

“UP WHERE WE BELONG” by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes from “Officer and a Gentleman” (with clips from the film) http://www.imeem.com/people/4Nvmmj8/video/bgjJGYJj/joe_cocker_and_jennifer_warnes_up_where_we_belong_an_office/

I was happy for my friend Paul Williams when he won the Oscar for this next song, I was happy for myself when my longtime friend and sometime songwriting partner Art Munson, gave me the acoustic guitar he played on Barbra Streisand’s record.  “EVERGREEN” 1976 by Barbra Streisand from “A Star Is Born” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmxCPkvaszs&feature=related

“THE WAY WE WERE” 1973 Barbra Streisand (with Film clips) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-KPGh3wysw

 I’ve known lyricist Tim Rice since he worked at EMI in London as an assistant to producer Bob Barrett. When I met him again it was to celebrate the success of “Jesus Christ Superstar”, which he wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber that Don Williams, Allan Rinde and I broke in the US.Here is one of Tim’s best collaborations, with Elton John. “CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?” 1994 by Elton John http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkGDrV_2ehI

“HIGH HOPES” 1959 Here’s my Spectropop pal, Eddie Hodges (Featuring Frank Sinatra) from “Hole In The Head” http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1910692123619089668

“SECRET LOVE” 1953 by Doris Day from “Calamity Jane” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Ar9Q0Eru4

“BUTTONS AND BOWS” 1948 by Bob Hope and Jane Russell in “Paleface” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvqRMEdU8Kk  

I’ll never forget the Thanksgiving I spent with Patti Dahlstrom and Maureen McGovern, both 20^th Century Records artists, over at promotion head Paul Lovelace’s house. Paul cooked dinner for us, as we also celebrated Maureen’s record going to #1, which was written by my long time friend Al Kasha and his partner Joel Hirschorn.

“THE MORNING AFTER” 1972 by Maureen McGovern from ‘Poseidon Adventure” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH2hWwD5Qfg&feature=related

I’m Proud to say that I once signed lyricist Will Jennings to an exclusive songwriting contract when I was running Irving/Almo Music. Here’s Celine Dion, and the biggest song of all time…“MY HEART WILL GO ON” 1997 from “TITANIC” http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/titanic/video/xziua_celine-diontitanic-my-heart-will-go_music  

In the early ‘60s my partner Kelli Ross and I ran Lesley Gore’s (“It’s My Party”, “You Don’t Own Me”) publishing company. Her 15 year old brother, Michael showed a lot of promise as a songwriter and composer. He didn’t come into his own, however, until 20 years later. “FAME” 1980 by Irene Cara http://au.truveo.com/Irene-Cara-Fame/id/2628494433

“TRUE LOVE” Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly from “High Society”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4awCZr7GwY

“YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE” 1977 by Debbie Boone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn4Kfvxczs0

 

When my ex-wife Jeanette, who was film producer Don Simpson’s personal assistant, asked me if I’d like to hear the soundtrack to the latest Bruckheimer/Simpson film, I was beside myself! Don and I worked together when he was Joe Boyd’s assistant in the film department at Warner Brothers. We used to talk about the similarities between “hooks” in hit songs and “hooks” in movies, which put its entire premise in the title itself. Without question Don Simpson was the king of high concept movie titles! And here’s one of his greatest triumphs. “FLASHDANCE” 1983 by Irene Cara http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZ5R3C5bzs

Just before I moved to California, Richard Baskin, who was starring on Broadway in “Hair”, brings his fellow cast mate Keith Carradine over to my house to meet me. During the course of the evening Keith plays a song he’s just written that I keep asking to hear over and over again. A few years down the line when Richard becomes musical director on Robert Altman’s “Nashville” he has Keith sing it in the film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KZ8PRWChb8   

I became friendly with Stephen Schwartz (“Godspell”, “Pippin”) when I was  trying to make a publishing deal with him at Warner Brothers Music. Both of us were rebels, who once tried to get into New York’s posh “21” without a tie! This rejection made us stronger, and might even had prompted Stephen to write “Colors Of The Wind’ 2005 from Disney’s  “Pocahantas  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x57ymf_disney-pocahontas-colors-of-the-win_music  in French

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDTMIwPfUyM  multi-language

http://reneelau.multiply.com/video/item/20/20  In Cantonese

One day while I was loading my car with groceries at the Mayfair Market in Hollywood, my pal, Gary LeMel who was running the Warner Brothers Film Department, came over to me barely able to contain himself! He said he just got Lionel Ritchie (“Dancing’ On The Ceiling”, “Hello”) to write and record the main song for the film “White Knights” starring Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Lionel was at the top of his game as well at the top of the charts, and when Gary played me the cassette of the record that was about to be released, I could see why he was so excited!

“SAY YOU, SAY ME” by Lionel Ritchie from “White Knights” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCCONFXdib0

“I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU” by Stevie Wonder in “Lady In Red” http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb31m_stevie-wonder

I once asked Carol Bayer Sager why there were so many writers on “Arthur’s Theme” and she explained that she been carrying a line our pal Peter Allen had once told her “Caught between the moon and New York City”. She told the line to her partner Burt Bacharach who was writing the score for the Dudley Moore movie, “Arthur”, then Christopher Cross (“Sailing”) put the icing on the cake when he recorded it.

“Arthur’s Theme” by Christopher Cross http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/clip+80%27s/video/x6oh9_christopher-cross-arthurs-theme_music

“LOSE YOURSELF” 2002 by Eminem from “Eight Mile” http://beta.dailymotion.com/video/xrp3k_lose-yourself-eminem-sur-fontaine-t_music

I remember my friend, Stanley Greenberg at Scepter records playing me a demo that Burt Bacharach made for the film, “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid” with B.J. Thomas, who wasn’t in the best voice the day he recorded. That “demo” was ultimately used in the film.

“RAINDROPS KEEP FALLIN’ ON MY HEAD” 1969 from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/bj/video/x24b5w_bj-thomas-raindrops-keep-falling-on_music

When I was an artist recording for Casablanca I was hoping to get in the film that Neil Bogart was producing, “Thank God, It’s Friday”, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I did get one of the songs I sub-publish, “El Bimbo”, onto the soundtrack that featured Donna Summers’ Oscar winning song.

“LAST DANCE” 1979 by Donna Summer (with clips from the film) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx3g3y64kEw 

 

 

Now here’s THE OSCAR WINNING SONG FOR 2009 “JAI HO” from “SLUMLORD MILLIONAIRE!”

Copyright 2009 by Artie Wayne https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/about-artie-wayne

To get a complete list of writer and composer credits for the Oscar winning songs  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Original_Song

To reach Art Munson  http://over50music.com