

Cat People (Putting Out Fire) – David Bowie It was still released as a single, though, and it’s one of the few songs written for a picture to head to the top of Billboard’s charts.ġ2. Perhaps the most famous title song for any movie, it was written on condition that Hayes receive an audition for the title role, which never happened. It also stayed at Billboard’s #1 spot for 16 weeks, making it the most successful single of his career. Written largely from the point of view of Eminem’s character in the loosely semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, “Lose Yourself” was the first rap song to win an Academy Award.

Strangely enough, Hepburn’s version wasn’t even included on the film’s soundtrack. Moon River remains an oddity in that it was written particularly for a movie, with Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini making sure it worked with Hepburn’s vocal range, but it’s been so overshadowed by Andy Williams’ cover that the original version is often forgotten. That isn’t to say it’s bad, though, and this track written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin captures a more psychedellic sound for the group than their more popular singles and functions as the main theme in the film.
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While much of Head’s music was actually written by The Monkees for the first time in their career, like the movie they wrote it for, the soundtrack flopped (although not quite as badly). One of those songs that feels like it’s been around forever, “Raindrops” fit strangely into Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but helped set the picture’s goofy, buddy heist-flick tone. But it features Tom Waits as himself, so it should be no surprise that Waits wrote a song for the film, which probably would’ve gone completely unnoticed if it hadn’t been for Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards’ release the following year. Roberto Benigni’s 2005 feature was barely released in America. You Can Never Hold Back Spring – Tom Waits You might not like it, but now that we’ve mentioned it you almost certainly can’t get it out of your head.ġ8.

No list of movie songs is complete without mentioning Kenny Loggins’ so-bad-its-good work for Top Gun. Just be sure to listen to the version with Thom Yorke singing, rather than the version actually featured in the film. While we’ve mostly left musicals off this list, we’d be remiss if we failed to mention this excellent track from Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark. While Easy Rider and Scorpio Rising popularized the use of found music, some directors have desired to work with the artists they love without all of the context and baggage that found music carries with it. The release of The Hunger Games film and its accompanying soundtrack, including original tracks from artists as diverse as The Arcade Fire and Taylor Swift, had us thinking about the long history of pop music written specifically for movies.
