Best Songs of the Movies

“Thanks for the Memory.” “Swinging on a Star.” “The Way You Look Tonight.” Three great and popular standards of the American songbook—and all three won Oscars for best song. But who wrote these songs? What movies were they written for? Which stars introduced them? In the 25 years covered by this book, 160 songs were nominated for Academy Awards. Some are well known, but many are nearly forgotten. They deserve more lasting recognition.
Best Songs of the Movies tells the stories behind all these songs, year by year. After announcing the nominated songs, the text describes the way each song was presented and performed, critiques the lyrics and melody, and provides appropriate historical and biographical insights.
One appendix presents brief biographies of all the lyricists and composers responsible for these songs; another lists the Oscar-nominated and winning songs from 1959 through 2003. A bibliography and index complete the volume.

Semi-retired teacher and publisher John Funnell lives in Werribee, near Melbourne, Australia. His work has been published in leading educational periodicals in Australia.

John Funnell
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 320
Bibliographic Info: photos, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2005
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2193-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2099-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v

Introduction      1

1934      7

1935      15

1936      23

1937      33

1938      42

1939      54

1940      62

1941      73

1942      87

1943      101

1944      115

1945      131

1946      148

1947      157

1948      164

1949      173

1950      181

1951      189

1952      196

1953      203

1954      211

1955      220

1956      229

1957      237

1958      245

Appendix 1: The Songwriters      255

Appendix 2: The Nominated Songs, 1959–2004      273

Bibliography      283

Index      287

“useful…recommended”—ARBA; “will appeal to all fans of musicals”—SirReadaLot.org.