Nerd Pride Radio

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #24:
"Ol' Man River", Show Boat, 1936, sung by Paul Robeson, written by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II

I am so disgusted by this list for so many reasons. Kermit denied and child-pimping approved, a lot of BS included as well, but there are so many reasons. Here is another:
Growing up in that peak period of "movies sold by hit pop song sold by movie", the way they've selectively chosen from number one hits, Oscar winning best songs, etc. is bizarre. We get power ballads like Up Where We Belong and Let the River Run, but not the far more impactful and higher quality movie power ballads from the same era like Against All Odds and Take My Breath Away. EVERYONE knows those two songs - can anyone even reproduce the tune of Let the River Run? Phil Collins is not exactly Dietrich Fischer Dieskau but he's a damn sight better singer than Joe Cocker!

We get Wind Beneath My Wings and every freaking thing Barbra Streisand was singing, but not hits that are STILL played all over the radio like Eye of the Tiger, or up tempo stuff like On the Road Again (another one everyone remembers and can sing) or Last Dance.

Even within a single movie they can't figure out their $%(*%&, so we are given the schlocky, rude Summer Nights from Grease rather than the ACTUAL NUMBER ONE monster hit songs, sitting right there next door, like You're the One that I Want or, hey, GREASE. Heard of it? Even Hopelessly Devoted to You is better. Ugh. These people.

Agreed. And I think I put my finger on it. With the exception of some of the token entries (like the two rap entries), I just find this list pretentious. Like it's a bunch of old white folks in their social club and boxes of snuff debating what "Oldie but Goodie" should go on the list next.

To defend a little bit, this is a list made by the American Film Institute so they are obsessed with old classic movies. They these nerds are using old movies as their base, what old classic movies have songs/performances that were memorable. As a film buff, I find use in this poll, although I disagree with it a lot, but yeah, if you aren't, then I can see how this poll is incredibly frustrating.

Overruled. Good day, sir.

Pete's Top Thirty-Six Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai #9



Love this bridge. Love the people on the bridge, the guy fishing, the boats. Love love love the placement of Fiji -- he could have easily centered it, made it bigger, or higher in the frame. A lovely composition.

These guys. Living the dream.

Yeah- nice.

I also think Paul Roebson belting out Ole Man River is exactly what I want for this poll. Epic performance. The poll would be worse if it ignored this civil rights hero / communist / bass-baritone par-excelence.

There's a line "It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die" in "A Change is Gonna Come" that always hits like a gut punch, but didn't realize until recently that it's referencing Old Man River's "I'm tired of living and scared of dying." Two gut punches.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #23:
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969, sung by B. J. Thomas, written by Burt Bacharach, Hal David

I never thought this song fit in this movie.

Hard agree. Cinephiles talk about the iconic bike scene and all I think of is "why the 60s pop music all of a sudden? Why no raindrops??"

My outrage WILL NOT BE DAMPENED in this matter! Where is the AIR soundtrack to The Virgin Suicides, if we are dealing with film geeks? Where is Screamin' Jay Hawkins and I Put a Spell on You via Stranger than Paradise? Where is Sweet Home Chicago or Think from The Blues Brothers? Above all, the film nerds would not have forgotten to give us this glittering jewel:

And you know what else chaps my hide? Where are the instrumentals that absolutely DEFINED a movie as well as topping the pop charts?

What's the first thing - FIRST THING - you think of when you read the words "Chariots of Fire"? Dudes running to THAT SONG which by the way was a number one for Vangelis and helped the whole film win Best Picture?

What's the first thing you think of when you see the words "A Summer Place"? THE SONG - you don't even think about the movie! This monster tune originally made for the movie but then done up later by Percy Faith AND HIS ORCHESTRA dominated the charts for a whole season and sold so many albums! Indeed, its record as a number one hit was only broken by none other than the incomparable Debby Boone and You Light up My Life, which is ALSO NOT ON THIS AFI LIST even though it was a massive hit from a movie, because this song makes you feel the whole nails on a chalkboard feeling inside your very bones and sinews. AAAAAAAAGHHHHH this is horrible:

I'm not going to disagree with your on Think nor Gold Diggers of 1933 which is awesome -- that one IS a surprising omission.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #22:
"Everybody's Talkin'", Midnight Cowboy, 1969, sung by Harry Nilsson, written by Fred Neil

Big nope on Everybody's Talkin. This choice baffles me.

Giving it a yes. Maybe not 22 but a top 100 pick

Kyle wrote: ↑Wed Mar 30, 2022 4:32 pm Big nope on Everybody's Talkin. This choice baffles me.

LOL reduced to helpless laughter lollllll it's SO HIGH on the list too! So lots of people were like, this sound is Quality! I actually love this song for real - I do! I just cannot with the list lol mmwwwwwaahhhhhhhhh the guy really gets into that singing like a harmonica and the crusty AFI experts feel a tingle!

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #21:
"Jailhouse Rock", Jailhouse Rock, 1957, sung by Elvis Presley, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

Checks out. Iconic song, maybe not movie.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #20:
"Somewhere", West Side Story, 1961, sung by Jimmy Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer), Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood), written by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim

Hmmm.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #19:
"Someday My Prince Will Come", Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937, sung by Adriana Caselotti (as Snow White), written by Frank Churchill, Larry Morey

NONSENSE up there at #20 DEFEATED by the obvious fact that another MOVIE exists from which a theme song called SOMEWHERE is better, more memorable, better sung, evvvvverything better:



We all know Linda Ronstadt is an icon and treasure but how under-rated is James Ingram?!

Agreed this is a top notch song, and there's better Disney, and James Ingram is underrated, and Linda is the best, but I'm not going to bad mouth Snow White. The movie invented animated musicals.

Also, didn't realize how Linda really knocked out-the-park duets with Black men in the late 80s. People were still weird (then, still a bit now) about mixed couples but love how Aaron and Linda sold this to such a degree that viewers thought they were a couple



Though Linda is my favorite as part of a trio

I was mad about that other Somewhere song but I am ALSO objecting to Snow White's song because COME ON PEOPLE, if there's a song we remember from that one that deserves to be #19, is it Someday my Prince? No. Nope. What song do you immediately think of when you think of that movie? It's not even a question.

Phoebe wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:13 am NONSENSE up there at #20 DEFEATED by the obvious fact that another MOVIE exists from which a theme song called SOMEWHERE is better, more memorable, better sung, evvvvverything better:



We all know Linda Ronstadt is an icon and treasure but how under-rated is James Ingram?!

This is dead on. Linda Ronstadt is a freaking vocal treasure.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #18:
"Cabaret", Cabaret, 1972, sung by Liza Minnelli, written by John Kander, Fred Ebb

Okay. See! I totally get this.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #17:
"I Could Have Danced All Night", My Fair Lady, 1964, sung by Marni Nixon (dubbing Audrey Hepburn), written by Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner

The right pick:

Whelp. Keeping the thread going another 12 hours.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #16:
"Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)", A Star Is Born, 1976, sung by Barbra Streisand, written by Barbra Streisand, Paul Williams

And another 12 hours!

This post only earns an extra 45 minutes.

Each day the thread should decrease by 10 minutes

poorpete wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 7:25 pm Each day the thread should decrease by 10 minutes

I love that idea.

I'm not going to be able to post every thirty seconds, though....

Eliahad wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:06 pm I'm not going to be able to post every thirty seconds, though....

Only required if the thread survives Day 144.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #15:
"Cheek to Cheek", Top Hat, 1935, sung by Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, written by Irving Berlin


I remember this song and movie more from it's appearance in The Green Mile.

Top Hat was long my favorite musical and this is an incredible Irving Berlin tune written for the film.

Though for performance this is its equal

Yes, we are ending with some worthies here!

Good morning!

Oh, also Cheek to Cheek has always been one of my favorite songs and will always have a special place in my heart. It was originally going to be our first dance at our wedding reception.

But I figured it would be best to look around to see if there were other good versions of the song that we could use instead. During that research I came across the version by The Boswell Sisters



This made an immediate impression, especially the way they played around with it in the second half, and I quickly became a big fan of the Bossies. Although it didn't turn into our first dance, we did include their "Crazy People" on our wedding CD.



The version though that we tapped to replace the 30s Astaire version was the Ella and Louis version



But then, after a lot of listening to the songs of Ella and Louis, we decided to switch it out with their version of "Love is Here to Stay."

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #14:
"My Heart Will Go On", Titanic, 1997, sung by Celine Dion, written by James Horner, Will Jennings

Pete's top 36 Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai #8



Those birds are huge!! Like, that's supposed to be a lake surrounded by green hills, right? Or is that a puddle among some green fungi splotches? Feel he made a good landscape and was like, I'll add some giant birds to really screw with people's sense of perspective.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #13:
"People", Funny Girl, 1968, sung by Barbra Streisand, written by Jule Styne, Bob Merrill

poorpete wrote: ↑Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:01 am Pete's top 36 Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai #8

Ooooooooooooooo are we sure this isn't the number one??? This might be my winner - It is certainly my favorite of all the ones posted so far, not only because of cranes (are those just sort of swampy wetlands?), but because the colors and composition are amazing and exactly what I love.

Also good songs up there!
I am outraged by the List of course - now People has rated higher than Evergreen! They can't even get their damn Barbra Streisand sorted within itself.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, #12:
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953, sung by Marilyn Monroe (also partial dubbing by Marni Nixon), written by Jule Styne, Leo Robin


By the way, WFT is up with the S&M bondage chandelier in this movie?