Songs of the Oscars–2000’s

Remember all the panic when we approached the year 2000?  All that Y2J stuff?  It pretty much led to nothing, didn’t it?  Well, something caused the Best Original Song category to go awry once we entered the 21st century.  For several decades now, things were pretty smooth.  Good nominations, deserving winners, but most importantly there was normalcy in the entire process.  All of this started to unravel in the 2000’s, partially because of slight addendums to the guidelines for nominating songs and partially because of…well…I’m not sure WHAT exactly other than just to say that for whatever reason, the tastes of the Academy Music Branch seemed to shift away from the mainstream.  Some years it wasn’t even just the Music Branch but the nominated movies as a whole, and in 2008 this would especially ring true.  Even the Oscars ceremonies themselves had some questionable decisions made by the producers.  Now, don’t get me wrong, we still had some rightful winners here, but the road is about to get a little bumpy, so buckle up.

2000

WINNER:  “Things Have Changed” (from Wonder Boys), music and lyrics by Bob Dylan

Also nominated:

• “A Fool in Love” (from Meet the Parents), music and lyrics by Randy Newman
• “A Love Before Time” (from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), music by Jorge Calandrelli and Tan Dun, lyrics by James Schamus
• “I’ve Seen It All” (from Dancer in the Dark), music by Björk, lyrics by Sjón and Lars von Trier
• “My Funny Friend and Me” (from The Emperor’s New Groove), music by David Hartley and Sting, lyrics by Sting

So right away here, I’m not thrilled with the winning song for 2000.  It’s fine, but I thought then and still think now that the AMPAS was just enamored with the fact that they could nominate and award something to Bob Dylan, who I will never argue is iconic.  He’s just never been my cup of tea.  At least in “Things Have Changed”, the lyrics are coherent.  I thought “A Love Before Time” had a shot to win as it’s got that power-vocals ballad style that tends to impress the voters at times.  Sting’s Disney song is “meh” while “A Fool in Love” has no business here, frankly.  The most interesting nominee was “I’ve Seen It All”, which is part of the amazing soundtrack to the equally-amazing film Dancer in the Dark, but I think there were better songs from that movie that could have made this cut.  Yes, this was the year Björk wore the swan dress to the Oscars, and she had it on when she performed the song.  All of the original artists performed at the ceremony, but Dylan’s performance was live via satellite as he was touring in Australia at the time.  Upon winning, he delivered his speech in the same manner.

2001

WINNER:  “If I Didn’t Have You” (from Monsters, Inc.), music and lyrics by Randy Newman

Also nominated:

• “May It Be” (from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), music and lyrics by Enya, Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan
• “There You’ll Be” (from Pearl Harbor), music and lyrics by Diane Warren
• “Until…” (from Kate & Leopold), music and lyrics by Sting
• “Vanilla Sky” (from Vanilla Sky), music and lyrics by Paul McCartney

Wow, remember how just a couple decades ago we were seeing nomination after nomination of songs that you’d hear on the radio constantly?  Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers and the like?  We’re a long way from that now.  “There You’ll Be” was a pop radio success, but these Diane Warren power ballads had gotten long in the tooth by now.  “May It Be” sounds like any other Enya song, which is not at all a bad thing, but it doesn’t stand out all that much.  The same goes for every other nominated song, and unfortunately that even includes the winner, which FINALLY got Randy Newman his Oscar.  In a way, I kinda feel like he got it just because this was his 16th nomination and since nothing else here really was all that impressive, the Academy decided to finally reward Newman in a half-“the song is nice” and half-“career achievement” manner.  And yes, the song IS nice, but I don’t even think Newman himself thought it would be the won to get him his first win.  His speech was a lot of fun though, and he was genuinely moved by the award.  The situation wasn’t lost on the audience, who gave him a rousing and well-deserved standing ovation when he made the stage.

At 4 hours and 23 minutes, this Oscars ceremony held on March 24, 2002 was and is the longest in history.  There were a few more montages and speeches than usual, including a surprise appearance by perennial-non-Oscars-attendee Woody Allen to speak about New York City and introduce a video package saluting such (this was due to the 9/11/01 attacks on the Twin Towers months earlier).  There was also a new category instituted this year for Best Animated Feature Film.

2002

WINNER:  “Lose Yourself” (from 8 Mile), music by Jeff Bass, Eminem and Luis Resto, lyrics by Eminem

Also nominated:

• “Burn It Blue” (from Frida), music by Eliot Goldenthal, lyrics by Julie Taymor
• “Father and Daughter” (from The Wild Thornberrys Movie), music and lyrics by Paul Simon
• “The Hands That Built America” (from Gangs of New York), music and lyrics by U2
• “I Move On” (from Chicago), music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb

This may have been the best list of nominations of this decade.  Chicago was a total smash and I thought it would win for Best Original Song, and I’d have had no problem if it did.  With that said, U2 were winning every award from everywhere for everything at this point in time, so it seemed like adding an Oscar to the collection wasn’t a crazy idea, especially since “The Hands That Built America” is a quality tune.  Even the Paul Simon song is decent, but compared to the aforementioned songs it certainly slips down the totem pole.  Sorry, but I don’t know how “Burn It Blue” got here.  You know what did get here, and should have?  Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”.  By God, the best song won Best Original Song, and I never thought the Academy voters would go that route.  Seriously, “Lose Yourself” starts out with a dramatic guitar riff and a little piano, and then for four-and-a-half minutes without a pause, the lyrics just hammer you over the head.  It’s one of the greatest rap/hip-hop tunes I will ever hear in my lifetime.  I just wish Eminem would have attended the ceremony.  He didn’t think he would win, so he stayed home.  When Barbra Streisand announced that he had won the Oscar, he was actually asleep on his couch with his daughter, who was watching cartoons.

2003

WINNER:  “Into the West” (from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), music and lyrics by Annie Lennox, Howard Shore and Fran Walsh

Also nominated:

• “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” (from A Mighty Wind), music and lyrics by Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole
• “Belleville Rendez-vous” (from The Triplets of Belleville), music by Benoît Charest, lyrics by Sylvain Chomet
• “Scarlet Tide” (from Cold Mountain), music and lyrics by T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello
• “You Will Be My Ain True Love” (from Cold Mountain), music and lyrics by Sting

Well, it really wouldn’t have mattered what was also nominated, because this was the year that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King went 11-for-11 at the Oscars, and frankly “Into the West” had zero chance of being the only non-winner.  It doesn’t really help though in that the competition is pretty weak.  Two songs from Cold Mountain and neither is memorable.  While I appreciate and celebrate the A Mighty Wind nod, it’s really nothing amazing.  That brings me to “Belleville Rendez-vous”, a stunner of a nomination.  It is damn sure unique, and its source movie is nothing short of raucously-bizarre at times.  Its flapper-era sound and style definitely make it a deserving nominee, but even in a non-LOTR year it probably is just a bit too weird to have won.

2004

WINNER:  “Al otro lado del río” (from The Motorcycle Diaries), music and lyrics by Jorge Drexler

Also nominated:

• “Accidentally in Love” (from Shrek 2), music by Counting Crows, lyrics by Adam Duritz and Dan Vickrey
• “Believe” (from The Polar Express), music and lyrics by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri
• “Learn to Be Lonely” (from The Phantom of the Opera), music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart
• “Look to Your Path” (from The Chorus), music by Bruno Coulais, lyrics by Christophe Barratier

For only the second time in history and the first time since 1960’s “Never on Sunday”, a foreign-language song took home the Oscar for Best Original Song.  When he was announced as the winner, Jorge Drexler went onto the stage and sang a few lines of his song as the audience nodded and smiled, knowing why he was doing this and agreeing with him that he was unfairly given the shaft.  What am I talking about?  Oscars producers wouldn’t allow Drexler to perform the song live during the ceremony because he was a relative unknown, and the producers were afraid they’d lose viewers.  Instead, Carlos Santana and Antonio Banderas performed live, and they were among those in the audience later loving the fact that Drexler was now up on stage singing his song despite the producers.  This isn’t the first time we’ve seen fear-of-losing-ratings bullshit like that but this really was the most aggravating example of it, and I love that Drexler went up there and basically told Gil Cates to go f*** himself.  Now, with all of that said, it’s a nice tune and I’m glad it won.  Beyond that, “Believe” was really the only other viable option as to me, the rest of these nominees are mediocre at best.

2005

WINNER:  “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp” (from Hustle & Flow), music and lyrics by Frayser Boy, Juicy J and DJ Paul

Also nominated:

• “In The Deep” (from Crash), music by Kathleen York and Michael Becker, lyrics by Kathleen York
• “Travelin’ Thru” (from Transamerica), music and lyrics by Dolly Parton

Only 3 nominations this year, and you could not put together three more different songs if you tried.  Crazy as it sounds, these are all actually good too, although if you’re like myself and probably most others, you’d never heard ANY of them prior to them being nominated.  Two of the three songwriters of “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp” are members of Three 6 Mafia so they performed it live at the Oscars ceremony since Terrence Howard did not wish to do so himself.  They nailed it, and when the song won later, they gave a speech that was so full of energy and excitement that it gave Oscars host Jon Stewart material for the rest of the night (“You know what?  I think it just got a little easier out here for a pimp!”).  This was the first time a rap/hip-hop song was performed live at the Oscars.

Controversy reared its ugly head with the “In The Deep” nomination as the song had appeared in a couple of films that were released before Crash was.  It even charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2003.  When the song’s Oscars eligibility was brought into question, the Academy ruled that since Crash director Paul Haggis had commissioned the song for use in this film back in 2001–which was prior to all commercial releases of the song or films that utilized it otherwise–it remained eligible here.  Yeah, this is one of those examples where the whole process started to unravel in the 2000’s.

2006

WINNER:  “I Need to Wake Up” (from An Inconvenient Truth), music and lyrics by Melissa Etheridge

Also nominated:

• “Listen” (from Dreamgirls), music by Scott Cutler and Henry Krieger, lyrics by Anne Preven
• “Love You I Do” (from Dreamgirls), music by Henry Krieger, lyrics by Siedah Garrett
• “Our Town” (from Cars), music and lyrics by Randy Newman
• “Patience” (from Dreamgirls), music by Henry Krieger, lyrics by Willie Reale

A number of firsts this year.  For the first time, the Best Original Song Oscar winner came from a documentary.  For the first time, a film that had three songs nominated did not win for one of those songs.  And for the first time since watching the Oscars ceremony every year since 1990, I missed most of this year’s event because I was watching at a friend’s house and that friend had DirecTV and it was raining out so the signal crapped out for over an hour, because DirecTV is shit.  Then-Vice President Al Gore was the life of the Oscars party, presenting an award and cracking jokes at his own expense.  The funniest moment of the night occurred when Gore started to seemingly announce that he was going to run for President and the orchestra played him off.  His documentary brought home this award plus the Documentary Feature prize, and Melissa Etheridge’s song was a nice winning tune.  As for the other nominees…well, let’s just say this wasn’t exactly a strong year.

2007

WINNER:  “Falling Slowly” (from Once), music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

Also nominated:

• “Happy Working Song” (from Enchanted), music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
• “Raise It Up” (from August Rush), music and lyrics by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas
• “So Close” (from Enchanted), music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
• “That’s How You Know” (from Enchanted), music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

Once is an Irish film that was made for $150,000 and found great success worldwide, thanks in great part to its lead actor and actress, who are in fact songwriters and singers Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová themselves.  They had no acting experience beforehand, and since then they have both moved on as they called the film a phase which they experienced and were glad to have experienced.  It’s a wonderful little romance film.  However, again some controversy.  The duo had been performing “Falling Slowly” for a couple of years already at live shows.  These were all at very small venues though, and that’s why the Academy ruled that the song was eligible when questioned on this.  The waters are getting murkier, folks.  Upon winning the Oscar, Hansard gave his speech but then the orchestra played and the show went to a commercial.  Host Jon Stewart was having none of that and when the show returned from the break, he brought Irglová back out so she could give her thanks as well.

For the second straight year, a film garnered three nominations in the Best Original Song category and none of them won.  This caused the Academy to institute a new rule effective immediately in that no film could have more than 2 nominations in the Best Original Song category.  It was felt that other films, songs and songwriters were perhaps being hampered of having their moment in the sun, so to speak.

2008

WINNER:  “Jai Ho” (from Slumdog Millionaire), music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar

Also nominated:

• “Down to Earth” (from WALL-E), music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, lyrics by Peter Gabriel
• “O… Saya” (from Slumdog Millionaire), music and lyrics by A.R. Rahman and M.I.A.

“Jai Ho” was a popular song worldwide with remixes and cover versions aplenty in 2008.  It’s infectiously-catchy, fun and I’ve no issue with the fact that it won Best Original Song.

That ends the positive portion of this year’s entry.  Now is where I go off.

Again, only 3 nominated songs?  All those movies, all those songs, and the Music Branch couldn’t find two more to nominate?  Worse yet, TWO are from the same film?  Really??  And then the Oscars producers tell Peter Gabriel that he’ll only get 65 seconds on stage to perform his nominated tune?  (Gabriel in turn declined to perform it at all.)  As this decade had commenced, the entire Best Original Song canon was crumbling.  2008 saw some pretty damn severe structural damage, and it still was going to get worse.

2009

WINNER:  “The Weary Kind” (from Crazy Heart), music and lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Also nominated:

• “Almost There” (from The Princess and the Frog), music and lyrics by Randy Newman
• “Down in New Orleans” (from The Princess and the Frog), music and lyrics by Randy Newman
• “Loin de Paname” (from Paris 36), music by Reinhardt Wagner, lyrics by Frank Thomas
• “Take It All” (from Nine), music and lyrics by Maury Yeston

It took over 70 years of this award, but it’s now official.  I need a drink.

Anyone remember any of these songs?  Yeah, me neither.  You know why?  Because they’re FORGETTABLE.  Hell, these aren’t even from 10 years ago and I not only forgot how the songs sound, but what in the hell is Paris 36 at all?  THAT’S how forgettable this list is.  Garbage.  Just…

Ugh…I can’t.

The Best Original Song category has just become a disaster at this point, and in the grand scheme of things, it really didn’t take that long to get there.  WHAT HAPPENED?!

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Sadly, the follow-up question is this:  WHAT’S STILL GOING TO HAPPEN?!  Because we haven’t hit rock bottom yet.  Fortunately though, when we DO hit rock bottom with the history of the Best Original Song category, the Academy realizes it, and fixes it.  We have one more decade to cover, and that’s the current decade.  After a couple of rough years still to come, things are going to get better.  Thank goodness.