Celebrating Oscar’s Songs
The Academy Award for Best Song was first awarded in 1934, seven years after the Hollywood festival of self-congratulations first began. Reading over a list of the winner for the first several decades is a tour of some of the enduring classics of popular music. Almost every one became a standard, one of those songs that is always fresh and open to new performers and interpretations. Even in years when another song may have been, in retrospect, more deserving it was only because of the depth and strength of cinematic tunes.
Since 1989 the award, for better or worse has been dominated by animated films, which were often virtually the only musicals being made. Some of those songs were fine, others as interchangeable as black socks. Some years the Academy, whose musical tastes were suspected of being “square” would suddenly embrace something daring, again with mixed results. Some of these songs were also so deeply tied to the content of the movie that they could have no independent life, no real chance to become a standard. Who is going to be covering It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp in 20 years.
This year Randy Newman, the always-the-bridesmaid, almost-never-the-bride of the Oscars walked away with the statuette for We Belong Together from Toy Story 3. The twenty time nominee had previously brought home only one award. This year’s song sounded exactly like a Randy Newman song-almost any Randy Newman song. But the competition was even less memorable. The audience at home was more apt to be humming the bump music for the commercials than any of the nominees.
Too bad. Here is hoping the movie songs can regain their former glory.
Here are all of the previous award winners.
· 1934 - The Continental -THE GAY DIVORCEE - Herb Magidson, Con Conrad
· 1935 - Lullaby of Broadway - GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 - Harry Warren, Al Dubin
· 1936 - The Way You Look Tonight - SWING TIME - Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern
· 1937 - Sweet Leilani -WAIKIKI WEDDING - Harry Owens
· 1938 - Thanks for the Memory - THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938 - Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin
· 1939 - Over the Rainbow -THE WIZARD OF OZ - E. Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen
· 1940 - When You Wish upon a Star - PINOCCHIO - Ned Washington, Leigh Harline
· 1941 - The Last Time I Saw Paris - LADY BE GOOD - Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern
· 1942 - White Christmas - HOLIDAY INN - Irving Berlin
· 1943 - You'll Never Know - HELLO, FRISCO, HELLO - Harry Warren, Mack Gordon
· 1944 - Swinging on a Star - GOING MY WAY - Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen
· 1945 - It Might As Well Be Spring - STATE FAIR - Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II
· 1946 - On The Atchison, Topeka & The Santa Fe - THE HARVEY GIRLS - Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer
· 1947 - Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - SONG OF THE SOUTH - Ray Gilbert, Allie Wrubel
· 1948 - Buttons and Bows - THE PALEFACE - Ray Evans, Jay Livingston
· 1949 - Baby, It's Cold Outside - NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER - Frank Loesser
· 1950 - Mona Lisa - CAPTAIN CAREY, U.S.A. - Ray Evans, Jay Livingston
· 1951 - In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening - HERE COMES THE GROOM - Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael
· 1952 - High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin') - HIGH NOON - Ned Washington, Dimitri Tiomkin
· 1953 - Secret Love - CALAMITY JANE - Paul Francis Webster, Sammy Fain
· 1954 - Three Coins in the Fountain - THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN - Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn
· 1955 - Love is a Many-Splendored Thing - LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING - Paul Francis Webster, Sammy Fain
· 1956 - Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera) - THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH - Jay Livingston, Ray Evans
· 1957 - All The Way - THE JOKER IS WILD - Sammy Cahn, James Van Heusen
· 1958 - Gigi - GIGI - Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner
· 1959 - High Hopes - A HOLE IN THE HEAD - Sammy Cahn, James Van Heusen
· 1960 - Never On Sunday - NEVER ON SUNDAY - Manos Hadjidakis
· 1961 - Moon River - BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S - Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini
· 1962 - Days of Wine and Roses - DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES - Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini
· 1963 - Call Me Irresponsible - PAPA'S DELICATE CONDITION - Sammy Cahn, James Van Heusen
· 1964 - Chim Chim Cher-ee - MARY POPPINS - Robert B. Sherman, Richard M. Sherman
· 1965 - The Shadow of Your Smile - THE SANDPIPER - Johnny Mandel, Paul Francis Webster
· 1966 - Born Free - BORN FREE - Don Black, John Barry
· 1967 - Talk to the Animals - DOCTOR DOLITTLE - Leslie Bricusse
· 1968 - The Windmills Of Your Mind - THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR - Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand
· 1969 - Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head - BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID - Burt Bacharach, Hal David
· 1970 - For All We Know - LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS - Robb Royer [aka: Robb Wilson], Fred Karlin, James Griffin [aka Arthur James]
· 1971 - Theme from Shaft - SHAFT - Isaac Hayes
· 1972 - The Morning After - THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE - Joel Hirschhorn, Al Kasha
· 1973 - The Way We Were - THE WAY WE WERE - Alan Bergman, Marvin Hamlisch, Marilyn Bergman
· 1974 - We May Never Love Like This Again - THE TOWERING INFERNO - Joel Hirschhorn, Al Kasha
· 1975 - I'm Easy - NASHVILLE - Keith Carradine
· 1976 - Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born) - A STAR IS BORN- Barbra Streisand, Paul Williams
· 1977 - You Light Up My Life - YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE - Joseph Brooks
· 1978 - Last Dance - THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY - Paul Jabara
· 1979 - It Goes Like It Goes - NORMA RAE - Norman Gimbel, David Shire
· 1980 - Fame - FAME - Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford
· 1981 - Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) - ARTHUR - Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, Christopher Cross, Carole Bayer Sager
· 1982 - Up Where We Belong - AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN - Will Jennings, Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie
· 1983 - Flashdance...What A Feeling - FLASHDANCE - Irene Cara, Keith Forsey, Giorgio Moroder
· 1984 - I Just Called to Say I Love You - THE WOMAN IN RED - Stevie Wonder
· 1985 - Say You, Say Me - WHITE NIGHTS - Lionel Richie
· 1986 - Take My Breath Away - TOP GUN - Giorgio Moroder, Tom Whitlock
· 1987 - (I've Had) The Time of My Life - DIRTY DANCING - John DeNicola, Donald Markowitz, Franke Previte
· 1988 - Let the River Run - WORKING GIRL - Carly Simon
· 1989 - Under the Sea - THE LITTLE MERMAID - Howard Ashman, Alan Menken
· 1990 - Sooner Or Later (I Always Get My Man) - DICK TRACY - Stephen Sondheim
· 1991 - Beauty and the Beast - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - Howard Ashman, Alan Menken
· 1992 - A Whole New World - ALADDIN - Alan Menken, Tim Rice
· 1993 - Streets of Philadelphia - PHILADELPHIA - Bruce Springsteen
· 1994 - Can You Feel The Love Tonight - THE LION KING - Elton John, Tim Rice
· 1995 - Colors of the Wind - POCAHONTAS - Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz
· 1996 - You Must Love Me - EVITA - Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice
· 1997 - My Heart Will Go On - TITANIC - James Horner, Will Jennings
· 1998 - When You Believe - THE PRINCE OF EGYPT - Stephen Schwartz
· 1999 - You'll Be In My Heart - TARZAN - Phil Collins
· 2000 - Things Have Changed - WONDER BOYS - Bob Dylan
· 2001 - If I Don't Have You - MONSTERS INC - Randy Newman
· 2002 - Lose Yourself - 8 MILE - Eminem, Jeff Bass, Luis Resto
· 2003 - Into the West - LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING - Fran Walsh, Howard Shore, Annie Lennox
· 2004 - Al Otro Lado Del Río - THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES - Jorge Drexler
· 2005 - It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp - HUSTLE AND FLOW - Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman, Paul Beauregard
· 2006 - I Need to Wake Up - AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH - Melissa Etheridge
· 2007 - Falling Slowly - ONCE - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
· 2008 - Jai Ho - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - Ar Rachman, Gulzar
· 2009 - The Weary Kind - CRAZY HEART - Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett