Top 10 Songs composed specifically for a movie - Music

Charicature

Age: 50

Location: Vermont

Mind you, this is for songs, not music in general, so no John Williams votes, okay? And when I say songs specifically composed for a movie, I mean they actually were written for the movie, not simply taken from some album or previously unreleased track and became synonymous with the movie. You don't need to list original composers, as the final performace is what matters.

Here's my first crack at a list, with soundtracks for Disney films left by the wayside because I actually don't care for those songs generally:

10) Romancing the Stone - Eddy Grant (Romancing the Stone)
9) The World Is Not Enough - Garbage (The World Is Not Enough)
8 ) Live and Let Die - Wings (Live and Let Die)
7) Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon (The Spy Who Loved Me)
6) A View To A Kill - Duran Duran (A View To a Kill)
5) Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins (Top Gun)
4) Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds (The Breakfast Club)
3) Take My Breath Away - Berlin (Top Gun)
2) Princes of the Universe - Queen (Highlander)
1) The Neverending Story - Limahl (The Neverending Story)

I know there has to be some better entries for #s 9 & 10. I already dumped Footloose from my original list, and considered and discarded Holiday Road. Looked up Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, and although Paul Simon was supposed to write 3 songs for that movie, Mrs. Robinson wasn't actually one of them. The producer was pushing Paul to give him more than the one song he'd written and so Paul played a bit of a song dedicated to Mrs. Roosevelt he'd been working on, and it became Mrs. Robinson and was used in the film. So that doesn't fit the category.

So give me your lists and maybe just your thoughts on what you think are great songs that were original works specifically for a film.
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Charicature

Age: 50

Location: Vermont

Two songs occurred to me that prompt my first revision:

x Eye of the Tiger - Survivor (Rocky III) - from Mr. Shankly
x Holiday Road - Kenny Loggins (National Lampoon's Vacation)
x Footloose - Kenny Loggins (Footloose)
x Romancing the Stone - Eddy Grant (Romancing the Stone)
x The World Is Not Enough - Garbage (The World Is Not Enough)
10) The Crying Game - Boy George (The Crying Game)
9) Live and Let Die - Wings (Live and Let Die)
8 ) Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon (The Spy Who Loved Me)
7) A View To A Kill - Duran Duran (A View To a Kill)
6) Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins (Top Gun)
5) Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds (The Breakfast Club)
4) Down to Earth - Peter Gabriel (Wall-E)
3) Take My Breath Away - Berlin (Top Gun)
2) Princes of the Universe - Queen (Highlander)
1) The Neverending Story - Limahl (The Neverending Story)
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Last edited by Charicature on 11/26/2010 20:52; edited 1 time in total

Mr. Shankly

Gender: Male

Age: 53

Location: Auburn, Washington

What about Eye of the Tiger?

Charicature

Age: 50

Location: Vermont

Mr. Shankly wrote:

What about Eye of the Tiger?

eh....I've always liked it, but it doesn't make my top 10 here. I'll add it to the also-rans Wink

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RFNAPLES

Level 8

Gender: Male

Age: 76

Location: Durham, NC, USA

(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life-Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley (Dirty Dancing, 1987)
Don't You (Forget About Me)-Simple Minds (The Breakfast Club, 1985)
Eye of the Tiger-Survivor (Rocky III, 1982)
Ghostbusters-Ray Parker Jr. (Ghostbusters, 1984)
Hero-Chad Kroeger (Spider-Man, 2000)
Kissing You-Des'ree (Romeo + Juliet, 1996)
Lose Yourself-Eminem (8 Mile, 2002)
Mrs. Robinson-Simon & Garfunkel (The Graduate, 1967)
My Heart Will Go On-Celine Dion (Titanic, 1997)
Take My Breath Away-Berlin (Top Gun, 1986)
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Charicature

Age: 50

Location: Vermont

RFNAPLES wrote:

Mrs. Robinson-Simon & Garfunkel (The Graduate, 1967)

Only problem with your list is you'll see in my first post that this song wasn't specifically written for The Graduate...it just happened to get picked up for it before Paul Simon had a chance to record it.
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RFNAPLES

Level 8

Gender: Male

Age: 76

Location: Durham, NC, USA

"Mrs. Robinson" is a song written by Paul Simon and first performed by Simon and Garfunkel. An early version of the song appeared in the motion picture The Graduate (1967) and its subsequent soundtrack, while the complete song debuted on their album Bookends (1968). When released as a single in 1968, it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, for their second chart-topping hit after "The Sounds of Silence". The song was in a development stage as are many in many composers minds. Simon originally had in mind Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio but the director got him to make the necessary changes. Since it first appeared in the movie, I hold to it being an original from the movie.
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Charicature

Age: 50

Location: Vermont

RFNAPLES wrote:

"Mrs. Robinson" is a song written by Paul Simon and first performed by Simon and Garfunkel. An early version of the song appeared in the motion picture The Graduate (1967) and its subsequent soundtrack, while the complete song debuted on their album Bookends (1968). When released as a single in 1968, it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, for their second chart-topping hit after "The Sounds of Silence". The song was in a development stage as are many in many composers minds. Simon originally had in mind Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio but the director got him to make the necessary changes. Since it first appeared in the movie, I hold to it being an original from the movie.

The topic isn't "original from a movie", it's "specifically composed for a movie" - it was already mostly finished before having any association with The Graduate. I know it's a slim shade of gray, but it's just enough to disqualify it from my intended topic. All Simon did to alter it for the film was change "Mrs. Roosevelt" to "Mrs. Robinson." Otherwise it was a composition originally written to be released by Paul Simon and had nothing to do with a film until the producer of The Graduate co-opted it. So in that way it's different from all the songs on my list and all the others on yours which were specifically written for movies (as the thread title states Wink

).
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RFNAPLES

Level 8

Gender: Male

Age: 76

Location: Durham, NC, USA

I understand what you are saying, but my point is that artists often have ideas floating around in their heads, sometimes even a rough draft. Nevertheless, Mrs. Robinson first appeared in the movie and movie soundtrack before a later version appeared on an album or single. It is not when, where or how an artist starts a song but when it is released that should be the determinant. In this case, his working idea was changed by director request and first released in the director's movie and therefore ultimately composed for the movie.
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Charicature

Age: 50

Location: Vermont

RFNAPLES wrote:

I understand what you are saying, but my point is that artists often have ideas floating around in their heads, sometimes even a rough draft. Nevertheless, Mrs. Robinson first appeared in the movie and movie soundtrack before a later version appeared on an album or single. It is not when, where or how an artist starts a song but when it is released that should be the determinant. In this case, his working idea was changed by director request and first released in the director's movie and therefore ultimately composed for the movie.

It's more a matter of what I'm going for. People's thoughts on the best songs where a producer said "hey, I'm making this movie about such and such, and here's the sort of thing that's happening and I want you to write a song that I can use at that moment to accompany the scene." Or where he just said "hey, I need you to write a song for the opening/closing credits to go with this movie about such and such." So really, who's been the most successful with a song that they wouldn't have written at all except some producer or director asked them to (or they were asked to perform a song someone else wrote for that reason).
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