Did They Get it Right? – Best Original Song – Oscars 1996

This year was an excellent year for Best Original Song choices.  All 5 are amazing songs and each elicit a feeling that they knew what they were doing when they wrote them.   To me, every one of these songs defines the movie they were in and that in and of itself is important since the whole idea here is to have songs that do just that.

It’s interesting to note that in this year, both the 5 Oscar nominees and Golden Globe nominees in this category matched up (which isn’t an easy feat)

Here are the five nominees: (Winner in Bold)

 

• “Because You Loved Me” – Up Close & Personal • Music and Lyrics: Diane Warren

• “For the First Time” – One Fine Day • Music and Lyrics: James Newton Howard, Jud J. Friedman, and Allan Dennis Rich

• “I Finally Found Someone” – The Mirror Has Two Faces • Music and Lyrics: Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams, and Robert John Lange

• “That Thing You Do!” – That Thing You Do! • Music and Lyrics: Adam Schlesinger

• “You Must Love Me” – Evita– Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber • Lyrics: Tim Rice

Song (s) that I think should have been included in the mix: (Not sure if all really are eligible according to Oscar standards…)

• Beautiful Girl – Pete Droge (Beautiful Girls)

• Star – Bryan Adams (Jack)

• When We Were Kings – Bryan McKnight (When We Were Kings)

My Rankings:

Songs

• 5. – That Thing You Do
• 4. – I Finally Found Someone
• 3. – Because You Love Me
• 2. – For the First Time
• 1. – You Must Love Me

Movies

• 5. – The Mirror Has Two Faces
• 4. – Up Close and Personal
• 3. – That Thing You Do
• 2. – One Fine Day
• 1. – Evita

Do I agree with the Oscar winner? – Yes, but begrudgingly because all 5 songs are really good and hard to decide between them.

Let me know what you think about these songs!