almost randomly picked between '90 and '09: a commentary of some songs from the movies of the last two decades

photo credit: Enrique Leyva

     Movies can indeed be a good source of some of the most memorable songs of every generation.  A theme song, in particular, plays a comfortable position of highlighting and summing up the story of a movie.  If a movie is very popular, one can expect that the theme song can be heard from a radio station somewhere, or sometimes, it feels like hearing it everywhere.  However, we should face the fact that this does not necessarily reflect the technical quality of the song, but still we should also be aware that song appreciation also depends on the "ear" of the beholder.  So I think that there's no such a thing as "best" even in the science behind it because even experts in music may have varying opinions about a particular song, but I think that there's a thing called "remarkable".  Something technically "remarkable" exists in a sense that experts may unanimously agree that a particular song is above average.  From that "remarkable" point of view, there are songs that can be considered timeless based on their musical arrangement.  We can in a way determine something that is timeless because we have examples of music tracks that survived after hundreds of years, which opinions of experts from different generations agree that these are good.  If you listen to many of these songs, one will notice that they have similarities.  In fact, there are classic music tracks that I can't find a strong clue why they are considered good.  Well, I still have lots of things to learn, but it's obvious that the scientific approach is not the best paradigm of learning in this discipline. 

     Early in the 1990's, there's a song entitled "Beauty and the Beast".  The widely dispersed version is of course the pop version, but I think the better version of the song is the one sang by a character called Mrs. Potts.  The opening sequence is impressive with the piano, woodwind work, and additional strings, and the song ends like a great bedtime story.  Many soundtrack reviewers consider this as a masterpiece, and I myself, a common listener, agree with them.  The genius lies not only in the score, but also in the lyrics.  Consider these lines:

Alan Menken as a "Disney Legend" (photo credit: Loren Javier)

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme...     

     
     

     
     There are many popular songs from the animated films of the 90's, but maybe I can talk about them some time in the future.  However, I would like to mention another song from an animated film: "Go the Distance" from the movie "Hercules".  I think that in this song it is the singer's interpretation that gave the most impact here.  Of course, we cannot ignore the musical composition because it's one of the most inspiring tunes around.  Consider the heroic sequence that delivered a compelling message of aspiration.

     In interpreting a particular song, a composer may have designed it to be performed as a duet.  There are lots of good duets in the 90's, and one of the classic ones is the "The Prayer".  It is one of those challenging songs for singers.  This is probably the reason why many great singers of our time take turns to sing this song.  Other notable duets include "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Whole New World".  Well, they're both from Disney.
     
     Sometime in the late 1990's is a popular song, and it's called "My Heart Will Go On".  As we all know it came from one of the highest grossing movies of all time in the world.  You might have hated it because it was very popular, but setting the handicap aside, it's a good song.  A friend of mine finds the song cheesy.  Well, I think that the context in which it was sang is in a way cheesy (of course, you can disagree), but hey, setting this aside, I still hold to the point that the song arrangement is really good.  Think about the woodwind sequence minus the memories of something that pertains to the sinking ship inside your heads when the song is being played.  It can be cheesy, but it's like a good idea being said over and over again such that it already hurts the degree of its goodness.  The lyrics can be average, but the melody is not your ordinary musical composition (if one can't stand the original, try an instrumental version).

     The songs mentioned do not really represent the 90's well, but since there's something from "Titanic", you can at least say, "yeah, he's trying hard to talk about the 1990's; and now, he's in trouble trying to talk about the 2000's".

Howard Shore of "The Lord of the Rings" and Orchestra (photo credit: Henry Burrows)

      

     In the early 2000's, there's the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.  Well, the trilogy produced three good songs, and one of them is a "weird" song.  You may have remembered "May It Be" and "Into the West", but maybe you have also remembered the "Gollum's Song" from the second movie of the trilogy.  "May It Be" and "Into the West" are two of the most inspiring compositions around.  They can be considered as songs of hope, while the "Gollum's Song" is a song of despair.  Since they are theme songs, you can actually say that the trilogy is moving along this path: hope --> despair --> hope.  Well the second "hope" is hope in a triumphant sense; but hey it can be: hope --> despair --> triumph.  Well, the three songs are good enough to represent the journey being told in the three movies.  Also take note of the lyrics of "Into the West"; it's kinda genius.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of "Once" (photo credit: Vince Kmeron)

     Apart from something big as "Lord of the Rings" comes the songs from the "smaller" movies.  Two songs worth mentioning are "Falling Slowly" from "Once" and "In the Deep" from "Crash".  They can be categorized under the "easy listening" genre especially "In the Deep".  "Falling Slowly" sounds a little bit conventional because it sounds like the usual guitar song, but if you'll focus on the lyrics and the harmony of guitar and violin, you can say that this is not just an ordinary love song.  Speaking of this genre, there's a song that I haven't really paid much attention because it sounds rather conventional (plus it was played during an amusing portion of the movie).  However, paying more attention the second time around, you can say that it's amusing enough to be part of the movie.  The title of the song is "Accidentally in Love".

     There's a unique entry in the 2000's and it's called the "Slumdog Millionaire".  There are several songs in that film, and I would like to note that "O... Saya" and "Jai Ho" (not the altered pop version) are the most remarkable ones.  The impressive instrumentation in both songs can catch the attention of somebody who is searching for something that has unique cultural undertones.  I have searched for the English translation of the Hindi portions, and I think "Jai Ho" represented the movie better.  The vibrant instrumentations are brainy enough such that one can't simply categorize them as ordinary pop songs.

Conclusion: These are some of the songs from the movies in the last two decades that can be considered remarkable. 

"I have heard some of these, and they're indeed remarkable because they did hurt my ears."