Twisted Mix Tape--As Heard on the Soundtrack

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This week's Twisted Mix Tape is on a great topic, music from movie soundtracks.  Since I love movies and movie soundtracks this was a natural. I concentrated on  songs from non musical movies (otherwise this list would be miles long),but with the exception of the last song, they are all ones I heard first at the movies in question. Not surprisingly, my biggest problem was paring down the list. Here were the ones I couldn't live without:


"Bright Eyes" sung by Art Garfunkel for Watership Down.
Watership Down is one of my favorite books and the film adaptation done in the late 70's is one of my all time favorite animated movies.  The song is done in a crucial scene where the head rabbit is missing and another rabbit goes on a vision quest to find him.  The song is true to both what is going on in the movie, and the narration of the incident in the book. I also associate the song with a very special friend, who loves the song. And Art Garfunkel's vocals are superb, my favorite of his post Paul Simon work.

 

   "(I've Had) the Time of My Life"sung by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warne in Dirty Dancing.
 Confession: I just adore Patrick Swayze. When I watch him dance in this movie I feel like I am having the time of my life, and have felt so ever since the first time I saw Dirty Dancing. This song is a perfect finale, and featuring great vocals by Jennifer Warne and Mr Blue Eye Soul himself, Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers. And did I mention the awesome dancing?  (And while we are talking about Patrick Swayze and the Righteous Brothers, a big shout out for the great use of "Unchained Melody" in Ghost. )

 

 

 

 

"Somewhere Out There" sung by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram in An American Tail.
Here is where you see what a totally hopeless sentimentalist I truly am, but I have loved this little song ever since I first saw the movie.  If you've ever been separated from someone you love, bring a hankie.

  "The Show" sung by Kerris Dorsey in Moneyball. This one is for my kids. Moneyball is a movie we have enjoyed together a number of times, and the song is nice. Its actually heard twice in the movie, this scene is the second time. As Brad Pitt contemplates a career change, he listens to the recording of the song his daughter sent him, reminding him, and us, that some times it's best to sit back and enjoy the moment.

 

"Into the West" sung by Annie Lennox in
 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.    
There is no movie that get watched around this house more than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, probably the best adaptation of a classic novel ever made. Howard Shore's superb score is just one of the things that is so perfect about the films, and this song which plays under the closing credits is just beautiful.  The song perfectly captures a main character's state of mind at the end of the film, and the some of the lyrics are directly from the book. And what can I say about Annie Lennox? I get chills when I hear this song.

 

 

I can hear you all now: Wow Meg, you listen to anything but depressing ballads? So I want to end this list with some pure fun. Although it wasn't actually written for a movie, the song became a hit when it was featured in a movie. And after all those ballads up there, this is about as Roots of Rock and Roll as you can get:

 

"Rock Around the Clock" sung by Bill Haley and the Comets

in The Blackboard Jungle.

 

So that's my list.  There were a lot more I could have gone to, so I hope we do have this topic again sometime.  Now click here to see what everyone else picked....