Gavin Logan on the Oscar race for Best Original Song…
With all the intense, anxious debate surrounding predictions, snubs, and “who are you wearing?” (like any of us really care) people could be forgiven for forgetting that the Oscars is supposed to fun. One of my favourite categories, and one that tends to get overlooked, is Original Song. We all know just how important music is in helping to capture a tone for a movie but maybe even more important is a particular song that can sometimes sum a movie up and make it easily recognisable. If I throw out ‘Misirlou’, you automatically think of Pulp Fiction. If I mention ‘Unchained Melody’, it’s impossible not to think of that racy pottery scene from Ghost. Although not original compositions specifically written for those movies, the songs will nevertheless be forever linked to them. In terms of original songs, think back to Toy Story and Randy Newman’s ‘You Got a Friend in Me’. How critical is that song in helping to sum up the relationship between Andy and Woody? Newman shockingly didn’t even win the year. And again in Toy Story 2 when Jesse explains her situation through song to the toys (sung by Sarah McLachlan). How the hell did Randy Newman not win that year either? Many ceremonies during the Awards Season don’t celebrate original song, I guess because they feel that it is not necessarily important or deserving of an award, but thankfully the Oscars is not one of them.
In fact not only do the Oscars honour the importance of Original Song by offering an Award they also invite the artists to the stage to perform said song in various segments throughout the ceremony. This year is no different. Performing on Sunday evening will be U2 (Ordinary Love, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Pharrell Williams (Happy, Despicable Me 2), Idina Menzel (Let It Go, Frozen) and Karen O (The Moon Song, Her). But this is a movie awards show, not a music awards show! Well yes, but what would movies actually be these days without the addition of music. Besides a musical performance is always welcome to help chasm the gentle monotony of it all.
Now I admit I’ve only seen two of the above movies mentioned but I have heard all of the songs and while they are all genuine contenders, I really hope the Academy make the right choice and hands the award to Idina Menzel and the team behind ‘Let it Go’. U2 of course took the gong at the recent Golden Globes (much to my disgust) and maybe it is bitter to say but part of me believes that much of the love for their song perhaps has something to do with the fact that Nelson Mandela passed away in December. There’s no denying that ‘Ordinary Love’ has a profound message and powerful lyrics that suck you into Mandela’s idyllic ideas but lets remember, this is not simply an award appraising the lyrical genius of the writer (to clarify I don’t believe Bono is a genius) but an award celebrating the quality of the whole song and more importantly it’s pertinence to the movie or scenes that accompany it, at least for me. Remember Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ from Armageddon? That was a massive success financially, topping the charts for four weeks and becoming Aerosmith’s biggest selling single ever. Yet it didn’t win the Oscar. Why? Because it was a power ballad which could’ve related to basically any movie that had a romance strung through it. However the same could be said for ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from Titanic, the difference being that Titanic was actually about the love-story with the tragic disaster as a setting rather than the other way about like Armageddon, which was probably why it won in 1997.
‘Let It Go’ essentially ticks every single box. Lyrics that help tell the story, beautifully crafted melodies and a thrashing chorus that even the macho men out there won’t be able to hold back singing in the shower. It’s also instantly recognisable with the movie that it belongs to and in my opinion is already a classic Disney number that will eternally be remembered, something that just doesn’t apply to U2’s effort. I harshly haven’t even bothered to mention ‘Happy’ or ‘The Moon Song’, both very good songs but probably won’t trouble the others. So whose with me in keeping their fingers crossed that Idina Menzel (and company) will join the long list of winners including Adele, Phil Collins, Bob Dylan and Eminem to name but a few. If not for the simple joy of it then just for the fact we won’t have to suffer through another humdrum acceptance speech from Bono.
Gavin Logan – Follow me on Twitter and A-Z Movie Challenge.
Originally published February 27, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
