PROFESSOR'S PICKS: 7 Best Songs Written for (Non-Musical) Film

This being a blog about film, I generally keep my observations focused on movies, but today we're going to expand the menu just a little.

Most of the stuff I write here, I write with some film music playing in the background, usually a film score or a Broadway cast recording (right now I'm on a bit of a Raul Esparza kick, everyone deserves to hear his rendition of "Come to Your Senses" from this year's Miscast concert). I've been doing this for a while, yet I only recently had the idea to actually write about some of the songs that inform my writing process. The songs I can never get out of my head.

To keep things mostly on-brand, I'm going to be writing about music that features in films, preferably songs written for their respective movies. Just to make things interesting (and to keep the door open for a future installment ... maybe) I'm choosing to restrict the songs listed here to those written for non-musical films, and I'm choosing to define "musicals" as films that have spontaneous singing within the narrative. So for the intents of this piece, I'm not counting movies like "A Star is Born" as musicals.

We'll start with probably the most famous track on this list.

1. "My Heart Will Go On" - Titanic

This song famously plays over the end credits over James Cameron's Titanic, an epic love story set against the backdrop of the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic. Like the film it crowns, the song strikes emotions that are both powerful and tender. Like most anything that reaches popular terminal velocity, the song's legacy has been somewhat sullied by the parody that inevitably follows overexposure. Just so, anytime I can get myself to look past the zeitgeist and see the song itself, I can't help but be blown away by the song's power.

Most of the parties involved were hesitant about making the song to begin with. Cameron himself couldn't imagine playing a song over the credits of such an emotionally harrowing film. "Could you imagine a pop song during the credits for Schindler's List?" But James Horner wrote the song in secret with Will Jennings providing the lyrics. Even performer Celine Dion took some convincing, as she didn't want to be known for only singing movie theme songs. Horner reportedly hid the demo from Cameron until he was sure the notoriously volatile filmmaker was in a good mood, and the rest is history. For a song that nobody wanted to make, it's hard to imagine an ending to the film that doesn't immediately sweep us into the embrace of the song's heavenly opening notes.

2. "Halfway Home" - The Earthling

This lesser-known gem of Australian cinema sees William Holden playing a loner, Patrick Foley, afflicted with terminal cancer. Hoping to live out the last of his days in peaceful solitude, he disappears into the wilderness of the Australian outback. But this plan is complicated when a husband and wife vacationing in the outback tumble from a cliff, leaving their young son, Sean, stranded in the outback. Suddenly, Foley is Sean's only chance for survival. Against his nature, Foley takes the kid under his wing. In opening his heart, Foley discovers something he hadn't known in a long time: love.

I'm deliberately showcasing this song directly after "My Heart Will Go On." We have libraries full of romantic ballads, and female friendship has "Wind Beneath My Wings." Where are the songs that give space for the love that two men can have for one another? You can probably find them if you dig (I mean ... there's the completely incidental "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters Inc), but there aren't nearly as many to go around.

3. "You Are What Love Means to Me" - Tender Mercies

The film follows Robert Duvall playing a former country singer, Mac Sledge, trying to piece his life back together after alcoholism has ruined both his career and his marriage. Mac finds love again with a widow named Rosa Lee and her young son. Despite Mac's transformation, the film almost ends on a sad note. Even after putting his life back together, Mac's daughter from his first marriage, with whom he was just starting to mend a relationship, is killed in a car accident.

After a devastating funeral, Mac confesses to his Rosa Lee that he "doesn't trust happiness." After all, finding love with her and her son didn't stop him from losing his daughter. Mac's inability to ascribe meaning to his life or suffering becomes his last word in the film. In some ways, the film is nicer for not trying to dismiss Mac's pain or confusion with some Oscar-winning dialogue.

Just so, it does offer the viewer something of an answer. The film ends with Mac playing ball with his stepson out in the field. Rosa Lee watches the scene unfold from the kitchen window, a voyeur to her own paradise. All the while, this song plays in the background. We see peace and happiness passing through Mac, even if he doesn't "believe" in it.

4. "Into the West" - The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings is one of the most epic adventure sagas in film, and yet it's strangely fitting to end the series with what I can only describe as an epic lullaby.

This is one of those songs where it works from a number of different perspectives. Maybe this is Gandalf's message to Frodo as they sail off. Maybe this is Frodo's final admonition to Sam before he says goodbye forever. (Seriously, Frodo. What a jerk move!) Or maybe the song is for us, the audience. Maybe these characters are collectively easing us back into the world offscreen with the soothing tones of a lullaby, as though this world of magic and brotherhood is the waking world, and the world off-screen the dream.

5. "The Call" - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I heard this song when I saw the movie in theaters in the waning days of my own youth, and it's only from this side of adulthood that I can appreciate how this song describes maturation.

It's sometimes easier to imagine that childhood is divided from everything that comes after by a large brick wall. Once you've made the jump, the past is a forgotten land. I've come to realize that identity doesn't work that way. Maturity doesn't work that way. The transition is gradual and quiet. If there is a single moment where any of us become adults, it's not a moment most of us can discern. Because of that, we take the jump for granted. It isn't until we're far into the country of adulthood that we realize what we've lost.

I feel like with most media surrounding the passage from childhood to adulthood, there's an impulse to implore the audience to never lose sight of childlike zest for life. This song doesn't do that. This song gives childhood its due credit. Maybe childhood outlasts our own ability to screw it up or neglect it. The song assures us that the part of us we leave behind in childhood is never really out of reach. And when we're ready to give it place in our adult existence, it all comes back to us. No need to say goodbye.

I'm not wise enough to say for certain if this is actually how growing up works, but it's certainly a more novel perspective.

6. "Stand Up" - Harriet

In addition to playing the title character in the 2019 Harriet Tubman biopic, British singer and actress Cynthia Erivo wrote and performed the film's end credits number, Stand Up. We can look forward to seeing Erivo as Elphaba in the upcoming film adaptations of Wicked (as well as the Blue Fairy in Disney's Pinocchio remake.)

The song is a rousing power anthem, and Erivo carries the song with such force. The live performance at the Oscars was my favorite performance of the evening. (And this was the same ceremony that featured a legion of Elsas singing "Into the Unknown.")

7. "Moon River" - Breakfast at Tiffany's

Audrey Hepburn reportedly fought tooth and nail to keep this song in the film when executives wanted to drop it, and the world is better off for it. The song's haunting melody and poetic lyrics make it my favorite song on this list.

The film follows the blossoming romance between eccentric call-girl, Holly Golightly, and the soft-spoken aspiring author, Paul Varjak. Holly spends the entire film hiding behind her extravagance, flaunting her free spirit in a desperate attempt to convince herself and her world that she isn't bound to anything or anyone, no matter how much she wishes she could belong with Paul.

"Moon River" captures this paradox within Holly. The song speaks to a yearning for liberation and escape, yet through its inescapable romanticness, the song confesses an even deeper longing. The desire to flow down Moon River with someone you love.

_________

In film, good songs supplement the stories in which they are told while also carrying a life of their own. In some cases, a memorable song can help guide viewers to a new favorite movie--I was listening to "My Heart Will Go On" years before I was allowed to watch Titanic.

There are obviously many more worthy songs than I can write about here. Goodness, there are many more songs than I'll ever have the capacity to discover. But let this tribute suffice for a moment.

--The Professor

Honorable Mentions

"You'll Be in My Heart" - Tarzan

"Fall On Me" - The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

"I'm Still Here" - Treasure Planet

"Falling Slowly" - Once

"Never Forget" - Murder on the Orient Express

"Is That Alright?" - A Star is Born

"I See You" - Avatar

Comments

The Earthling: Some Observations on "Natural Masculinity"

I’ve talked quite a bit about “toxic masculinity” across his blog, but I want to talk for a moment about a companion subject–“natural masculinity.” I’ve heard several other names and labels assigned to the idea, but the general concept is this idea that men are disposed to behave a certain way and that sOciETy forces them to subjugate this part of themselves. Maybe some of us were raised by someone, or currently live with someone, who buys into these attitudes. Maybe they’re perfectly fine most of the time, but once they meet up with Brian from sophomore year and go out into the mountains for a “weekend with the guys,” a sort of metamorphosis takes place. Jokes that were unacceptable to them become hilarious. Certain transgressions lose their penalty. Gentle Joe kinda mutates into a jerk. This is all propelled and reinforced by the idea that this is how men just are , and that entitles them to certain actions. And who are these women to infringe upon that God-given right? Gladiator (2...

Professor's Picks: 10 Disappearing Movies Still on My Watchlist

Let me introduce this piece by discussing one of my favorite movies, 1938's Le Quai des Brumes , "Port of Shadows." This ancestor to noir film sees a despondent military deserter drifting to the foggy banks of Le Havre. There, he comes across a 17-year-old runaway pursued by several malicious parties. Their chance meeting teases a new and brighter future for these two drifters, forcing even the most nihilistic of us to consider the meaning of love and purpose in a meaningless world. I saw the film for the first time for Media Arts History I, and I was absolutely transported. In a semester that offered some of the most dry, challenging films I had to watch for any class, this film was just a breath of fresh air. E verything you imagine when you think of a "French movie," even if you only know them by pop culture parodies, this was all of that. The moodiness, the melodrama, the romance, it's all there, and to such great eff...

An Earnest Defense of Passengers

Recall with me, if you will, the scene in Hollywood December 2016. We were less than a year away from #MeToo, and the internet was keenly aware of Hollywood’s suffocating influence on women on and off screen but not yet sure what to do about it. Enter Morten Tyldum’s film Passengers , a movie which, despite featuring the two hottest stars in Hollywood at the apex of their fame, was mangled by internet critics immediately after take-off. A key piece of Passengers ’ plot revolves around the main character, Jim Preston, a passenger onboard a spaceship, who prematurely awakens from a century-long hibernation and faces a lifetime of solitude adrift in outer space; rather than suffer through a life of loneliness, he eventually decides to deliberately awaken another passenger, Aurora Lane, condemning her to his same fate. So this is obviously a film with a moral dilemma at its center. Morten Tyldum, director of...

REVIEW: Don't Look Up

The premise of Netflix's new film, "Don't Look Up," is simple: two scientists discover a giant comet that is absolutely going to collide into earth, and the people of the world need to be warned. Telling people that the world is going to end is the easy part. The hard part is getting them to take it seriously. The media circus surrounding the end of the world is made only more hilarious seen through the eyes of our main characters: soft-spoken Professor Randall Mindy (Leonardo Dicaprio) and slightly disaffected grad student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence). It says a lot about the writing of this movie that even with the apocalypse just on the horizon, our protagonists with their complex inner lives keep us anchored in the conflict, never distracting us from it. But despite the writing and performances, t he film still can't escape the flaw inherent in its design. While most of the film's targets (politicians, clickbait editorials, ...

REVIEW: Jurassic World - Rebirth

I had a mixed reaction to Jurassic World: Rebirth, but it did make for one of the most enjoyable theater experiences I've had in recent memory. I have to imagine that a part of this is because my most common theater appointments are matinee screenings, but I had the opportunity to see this one at a fairly well-attended midnight screening. And there's nary a film more tailored for surround-sound roaring and screens wide enough to contain these de-extinct creatures. ("Objects on the screen feel closer than they appear.") It was natural for me to cap the experience by applauding as the credits stared to roll, even if, as usual, I was the only one in the auditorium to do so. Yes, I am that kind of moviegoer; yes, I enjoyed the experience that much, and I imagine I will revisit it across time. That's not to imagine the movie is beyond reproach, but I suppose it bears mentioning that, generally , this i...

My Criminal Father Surrogate: Masculinity in A Perfect World

I've been wanting to tackle the subject of "masculinity" in film for quite some time now, but I hadn't quite known how best to do that. There's a certain buzzword, "toxic masculinity," that especially elicits a lot of strong feelings from a lot of different angles. While a post-#MeToo world has exposed some very disturbing truths about the way masculinity has historically performed, I'm not here to roast 50% of the world population. Actually, I really want to talk about a man's capacity for good. Ted Lasso (2020) There’s certainly a lot of discussion to be had for newer media celebrating men for possessing attributes not historically coded as "manly." But what's even more fascinating to me are the attempts to bridge the gap between traditional masculinity and new age expectations--to reframe an older vision of manhood within our modern context. Which brings me to Clint Eastwood’s 1993 film, A Perfect World. ...

REVIEW: In The Heights

I can pinpoint the exact moment in the theater I was certain I was going to like In the Heights after all. There's a specific shot in the opening number, I believe it even features in one of the trailers, that has lead character Usnavi staring out the window of his shop observing the folks of his hometown carried away in dance. The reflection of this display of kinetic dreaming is imposed on the window over Usnavi's own yearnful expression as he admires from behind the glass plane. He's at once a part of the magic, yet totally separate from it. The effect has an oddly fantastical feel to it, yet it's achieved through the most rudimentary of filming tricks. This is but one of many instances in which director Jon M. Chu finds music and light in the most mundane of corners. The film is anchored in the life of storeowner, Usnavi, as he comes to a crossroads. For as long as he's run his bodega, Usnavi's guiding dream has been to return to his parent's co...

REVIEW: Encanto

It was around Disney's 50th animated feature, Tangled , that this critic first came into film discourse. A lot has changed within the House of Mouse in the years since, and we now find ourselves the recipient of the Disney canon's 60th feature film, Encanto , directed by Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith. What does this latest entry contribute to the library? Turns out, quite a bit. Nestled in their enchanted house, Casita, the Madrigal family dazzles their community with their fantastical gifts. Elegant Isabella makes flowers grow in her footsteps, young Antonio chats it up with the local wildlife, and Mirabel ... wishes she had a gift like the rest of her family. It's hard to feel important when you're the only one in your family without a superpower, especially with your grandmother constantly shoving you into the corner. But all is not right in paradise. The magic is fading from Casita, and Mirabel is the only one who can keep her f...

"When Did Disney Get So Woke?!" pt. 1 The Disney of Your Childhood

So, I’m going to put out a somewhat controversial idea here today: The Walt Disney Company has had a tremendous amount of influence in the pop culture landscape, both in recent times and across film history. Further controversy: a lot of people really resent Disney for this. I’ve spent a greater part of this blog’s lifetime tracking this kind of thing. I have only a dozen or so pieces deconstructing the mechanics of these arguments and exposing how baseless these claims tend to be. This sort of thing is never that far from my mind. But my general thoughts on the stigmatization of the Disney fandom have taken a very specific turn in recent times against recent headlines. The Walt Disney Company has had some rather embarrassing box office flops in the last two or three years, and a lot of voices have been eager to link Disney’s recent financial woes to certain choices. Specifically, this idea that Disney has all the sudden “gone woke.” Now,...

REVIEW: The Fantastic 4 - First Steps

I'm going on the record to say that, even with the devastation wrought upon Wanda's character in "Multiverse of Madness," WandaVision is one of the best things we've gotten from any stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And that has to be the main reason why Marvel enlisted Matt Shakman to pilot their premiere Fantastic 4 film (stealing him away from Star Trek 4 ...), the film that was going to rescue the studio from their post-"Endgame" stupor. There are probably all sorts of soundbites about this being the first real version of the story to get the machine to work, and I wouldn't disagree. But in the context of Marvel's larger rehabilitation, The Fantastic 4: First Steps reads less like the great MCU reset and more like an elaborate gymnastics routine, an attempt to splice Marvel's Thanos era with its Not-Iron-Man era. Graciously, this works better than it sounds on paper, but it does kind of purchase this at the expense of ...

Films and Feelings

Search This Blog