According to this opinion piece from the Guardian, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performed the “defining song” of 2018 – “Shallow” from the movie “A Star is Born”. The author of the article, Jenny Stevens, said, “It is a song that not only speaks for those to whom life has not always been fair or kind, but those who may not be all that good inside either.” I’ll agree with Stevens on the fact that the song is relatable to many people, but as for it being the “defining song”, we’ll see.
As someone who loves music almost as much as I love film, I know how powerful music can be in a movie and have seen my fair share of musicals (or maybe enough musicals for everyone I’ve ever met, but I digress.) With that being said, it’s not uncommon for music to spill over from movie soundtracks into the top 40 hits. Here’s a couple of my favorite songs that outlived the movie they were in.
- “Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland (“The Wizard of Oz”)
After all of the covers of this iconic song, it might be hard to conjure up the original in your mind. In fact, even with how popular and iconic “The Wizard of Oz” is by itself, I’m positive more people have heard this song than have ever seen the movie. In the original film, the song paints Dorothy as the dreamer she is and foreshadows the world she’ll find when she ends up in Oz.
- “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Pink and Lil’ Kim (“Moulin Rouge!”)
Maybe it’s not as classic as “Over the Rainbow,” but this song is iconic in its own right. After all, Xtina meets Pink meets Baz Luhrman is probably the most 2001 thing I can think of. Originally recorded by girl group Labelle in 1974, the song is famous for its sexual undertones (or, overtones rather). In the film, it helped establish the Moulin Rouge as a home for debauchery to the protagonist Christian, played by Ewan McGregor.
- “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion (“Titanic”)
If this song wasn’t on my list, I would just be wrong. It’s the perfect example of a song that can be famous in its own right, but always remind you of its film roots; it’s impossible to hear the beginning flute notes and not picture Jack holding Rose on the nose of the infamous ship. It’s the “love theme” of the film and probably one of the most romantic songs of all time.
- “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon & Garfunkel (“The Graduate”)
Mike Nichols asked musical duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel for original music to go in the movie he had been directing because he knew with their music, his film would have a hit soundtrack. He was right. The soundtrack for “The Graduate” quickly flew to number one after it was released and it’s not hard to see why with songs like “The Sound of Silence” and “Mrs. Robinson.” An awesome cover by Lemonheads was in “The Wolf of Wallstreet,” and even though the more punk rock inspired version reminds me of the DiCaprio film, Dustin Hoffman outlined by Mrs. Robinson’s leg in the original movie still comes creeping into my mind every time. It just goes to show how iconic the film really is (and how lucrative it might be to include a characters name in the title of your song.)
- “Let It Go” by Idina Menzel (“Frozen”)
If we’re talking music in movies, it’s obvious that Disney was going to show up somewhere. As a big musical nerd myself, this one is probably my favorite considering it’s sung by a modern Broadway legend and from a musical film where the characters actually sing the song. And yeah, it’s probably hard to see past the fact that it was overplayed and the parents of any child who was under 10 in 2014 probably have war-style flashbacks when they hear it – that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s just a great song.
The beauty of a song doesn’t always have to stop with the film it originated from. I’d hardly say that any of these songs “defined” the year they came out in, but they defined the aesthetics of the movie they were in and in many cases they outlived the movie that gave them life (and that’s not always a bad thing, especially if you’ve actually seen “Moulin Rouge.” It’s something else.)
Are there any songs from a soundtrack you liked better than the movie?
Samantha Foxx 