1963 Best Original Song - It's a Meh, Meh, Meh, Meh Category

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WON: "Call Me Irresponsible," Papa's Delicate Condition

SHOULD'VE WON: "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

"Call Me Irresponsible," composed by the same legendary Sammy Cahn-Jimmy Van Heusen team that also scored Oscars for "All the Way" and "High Hopes," is an unimpeachably iconic tune, a piece that emerged a standard through fine covers by the likes of Judy Garland, Dinah Washington and, perhaps most notably, Frank Sinatra. There was a fascinating debate between Van Heusen and Cahn over just who exactly the song was originally written for - the former has said Garland, as a sort of parody of her diva reputation, while the latter claimed Fred Astaire, the initially cast leading man of the picture Papa's Delicate Condition.

Regardless of whether it was meant for Garland or Astaire, the latter was ultimately unable to star in Papa's Delicate Condition on account of contractual issues, leaving the debut of "Call Me Irresponsible" to be performed by, of all people...Jackie Gleason.

In a turn that makes the lifeless likes of Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls and Clint Eastwood in Paint Your Wagon sound like Crosby and Astaire, Gleason drunkenly sleepwalks his way through the song. The unpleasant experience suggests the apparent strengths we've seen in "Call Me Irresponsible" might well stem less from the Cahn-Van Heusen tune itself and more from the amazing performers who've tackled it since Gleason's original.

Unfortunately, the rest of 1963 Best Original Song isn't remarkably better. I suppose I was spoiled by the immense strength of '62 (my favorite year thus far in this category).

The team of Dimitri Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster have impressed me greatly with their appearances in this category - I even went with their "Town Without Pity" over the uber-legendary "Moon River" two years back - but they did have one nominated clunker ("Strange Are the Ways of Love" in '59) and I'm afraid their song this year, the maudlin "So Little Time" from the Charlton Heston-Ava Gardner bomb 55 Days at Peking, marks their second underwhelmer for me.

Mondo Cane's "More" and Charade's, well, "Charade" are fine, if rather unremarkable instrumental tracks. "Charade" does have a nice Bernard Herrmannesque vibe to it, though I don't think I would ever label it top-tier Henry Mancini.

Ultimately, my pick this year is the only nominee I have any real fun with - the charmingly goofy title theme to the comparably charmingly goofy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It has a peppy Broadway showtune quality to it, with music and lyrics that no doubt inspired future musical comedies like The Producers and Spamalot. Is it among the most well-performed/composed, interesting or unforgettable tunes to have been nominated for Best Original Song? Not exactly. But at least it gets my toes tapping, which is far more than I can say about Jackie Gleason's "singing."

On a final note, what a shame (and surprise) Judy Garland's "I Could Go on Singing" (from the film of the same name) - the final Garland tune that would've been eligible in Best Original Song, prior to her death in '69 - wasn't recognized here. It's an infinitely more stirring song (written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, the same team from "Over the Rainbow") than all of the Academy's picks this year.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "High Hopes," A Hole in the Head (1959)
  4. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  5. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  6. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  7. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  8. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  9. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  10. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  11. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  12. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  13. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  14. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  15. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  16. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  17. "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
  18. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  19. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  20. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  21. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  22. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  23. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  24. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  25. "Call Me Irresponsible," Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
  26. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  27. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  28. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  29. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  30. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)

1962 Best Original Song - Walking on the Wild Side

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WON: "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses

SHOULD'VE WON: "Walk on the Wild Side," Walk on the Wild Side

Now THIS is a terrific category. Year after year in reviewing these categories, there is almost always (if not legitimately always, thus far) at least one dud or underwhelmer in Best Original Song. That simply isn't the case with 1962, the year "Days of Wine and Roses," the moving and subtle Henry Mancini piece from the startling Jack Lemmon-Lee Remick picture of the same name, took home the trophy.

And while I have no real qualms with Mancini prevailing here, just as he did the year before with "Moon River," '62 Original Song is so strong that even a terrific piece like "Days of Wine and Roses" can fall short.

For me, the most impressive nominee here comes from the weakest picture, by far - "Walk on the Wild Side," an Elmer Bernstein-Mack David piece from the ludicrous, star-studded (as in, Jane Fonda, Anne Baxter and Barbara Stanwyck, among others) soap of the same name. It's a real knockout, performed with considerable zest by the great R&B vocalist Brook Benton. Benton may be best-known for his duets opposite the equally great Dinah Washington but "Walk on the Wild Side" proves he was a force to be reckoned with on his own terms too.

"Tender Is the Night" and "Second Chance," performed by Tony Bennett and Jackie Cain, respectively, are very powerful vocal showcases - I've actually listened to the Bennett track most over the past couple of days, if exclusively for his powerful performance. In most years, songs like these, "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Days of Wine and Roses" could easily be my winning pick.

The fifth nominee, "Follow Me," from the not-great Marlon Brando Mutiny on the Bounty, is clearly dead last of this line-up but nonetheless a pretty fascinating track - it's often cited as "Love Song from Mutiny on the Bounty," yet it strikes me as more unsettling than it does romantic. I could swear I've heard something near-identical in one of the Exorcist pictures.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "High Hopes," A Hole in the Head (1959)
  4. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  5. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  6. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  7. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  8. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  9. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  10. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  11. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  12. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  13. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  14. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  15. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  16. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  17. "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
  18. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  19. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  20. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  21. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  22. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  23. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  24. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  25. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  26. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  27. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  28. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  29. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)

1961 Best Original Song - Sorry, Holly Golightly...

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WON: "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's

SHOULD'VE WON: "Town Without Pity," Town Without Pity

Nope, your eyes are not deceiving you.

When I first approached this category, I experienced a bit of a double-take - I either forgot or simply hadn't realized singer Gene Pitney's "Town Without Pity," which I've long considered one of the most underrated, perhaps even greatest rock tunes of the early '60s, in fact made its debut in the gripping (and itself underappreciated as well) Kirk Douglas drama Town Without Pity. To boot, I certainly had no idea that Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, the same brilliant team behind the Oscar-winning High Noon theme, were responsible for composing this terrific record.

"Town Without Pity," which was actually the first-ever Golden Globe winner for Best Original Song, has always struck me as basically the greatest Elvis Presley song that Elvis never recorded - it's a sultry, passionate, expertly produced and performed record that no doubt scored heaps of jukebox airtime back in the day. I can imagine upcoming rock acts like The Beatles heard and were greatly inspired by "Town Without Pity" and there's no doubt producer Phil Spector, who hired Pitney to write "He's a Rebel" the following year, was too very much enamored with the track.

My gushing over "Town Without Pity" complete, I really like "Moon River" too. I can't knock the American Film Institute for ranking it #4 on their list of "100 Years...100 Songs" a number of years back. Henry Mancini is an unimpeachable genius (I have no doubt I'll give him the win at some point) and Audrey Hepburn's delivery of the tune couldn't be lovelier. I just admittedly don't feel considerable passion for the song. It's a moving, restrained, immensely listenable piece, and I'd probably support it in most other Best Original Song years, but I'm having a tough time chalking up over-the-top enthusiasm for it.

After the terrific "Town Without Pity" and "Moon River," it's a pretty significant gap in quality to the remaining nominees.

"Bachelor in Paradise" (also composed by Mancini) and "Pocketful of Miracles," like the pictures they've featured in, are admirably peppy but awfully slight and not too memorable. "The Falcon and the Dove," the love theme from the overblown Charlton Heston-Sophia Loren epic El Cid, is a bit of a curiosity - composer Miklós Rózsa's score to the film is actually quite splendid, yet the picture's original song, performed by Billy Storm, is just as overbaked as most of the film itself. Not sure what happened there.

What a shame these three tunes were recognized, yet 101 Dalmations' marvelous "Cruella De Vil" and Blue Hawaii's "Can't Help Falling in Love," which is right up there with "Town Without Pity" as one of the best Billboard hits of this era, were given the cold shoulder.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "High Hopes," A Hole in the Head (1959)
  4. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  5. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  6. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  7. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  8. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  9. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  10. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  11. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  12. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  13. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  14. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  15. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  16. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  17. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  18. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  19. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  20. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  21. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  22. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  23. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  24. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  25. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  26. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  27. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  28. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)

 

1960 Best Original Song - Wait, Where Are Blair and Tootie?

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WON: "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday

SHOULD'VE WON: "The Green Leaves of Summer," The Alamo

Damn. For a moment, I thought maybe, just maybe "The Facts of Life," Oscar nominee for Best Original Song in 1960, was the same irresistible cheese that served as theme song to the great Charlotte Rae '80s sitcom. Alas, not only is that not the case, but I've been reminded that theme song connoisseur and TV dad Alan Thicke in fact served as co-writer on the '80s tune. Oh well.

Blair, Tootie, Jo, Natalie and Mrs. G aside, '60 Best Original Song is a mostly enjoyable affair and remarkable in at least one regard - it produced the first winner to hail from a foreign language film, the Melina Mercouri-starrer Never on Sunday, which also garnered a boatload of other nods that year, including for its leading lady and director, Jules Dassin (ultimately, it only went home with the Original Song prize).

I can't begrudge the Academy too much for going with "Never on Sunday" here - Mercouri's delivery of it is engaging and very sexy - but I've listened to covers of the tune and it doesn't seem to quite hold up on its own terms. I think the victory here is very much a product of Mercouri's dazzling performance and less of the song itself.

For me, '60 Original Song is actually a bit of a barn burner, not between "Never on Sunday" and another nominee, but rather "The Green Leaves of Summer," the theme from John Wayne's The Alamo, and "Faraway Part of Town," which is featured in the dreadful Catinflas "comedy" Pepe, yet very much notable as a late Judy Garland effort - and a fascinating one at that.

The Alamo really isn't among the greatest Wayne vehicles - in fact, it's pretty overbaked and arguably an entire hour overlong - but the music, from Dimitri Tiomkin, who also did High Noon, is fantastic and "The Green Leaves of Summer" is full of rich atmosphere. It was also later used to terrific effect in the opening sequence of Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds. As for the Garland track, it's a terrific discovery, a fine song in its own right, lifted to even greater heights by her incredible vocal performance...but it's kind of tough for me to fully embrace this song for the win, given Garland doesn't even appear in Pepe - the tune merely plays in the background during one scene, featuring future Oscar-winner Shirley Jones. Since "The Green Leaves of Summer" is such an integral part of its film and "Faraway Part of Town," while plenty interesting, is basically a throwaway in its picture, I have to lean toward the former as my pick.

"The Facts of Life," from the enjoyable Bob Hope-Lucille Ball vehicle of the same name, is a fun, peppy little tune, utilized to nice effect in the picture's clever opening title sequence. It isn't quite in the same league as the other two nominees, though. Finally, there's "The Second Time Around," a Bing Crosby number from Blake Edwards' messy comedy High Time, and while it's been covered quite memorably a number of times since the original, including by Rosemary Clooney and Barbra Streisand, I actually find the Crosby version curiously flat.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "High Hopes," A Hole in the Head (1959)
  4. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  5. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  6. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  7. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  8. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  9. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  10. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  11. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  12. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  13. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  14. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  15. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  16. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  17. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  18. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  19. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  20. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  21. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  22. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  23. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  24. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  25. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  26. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  27. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)

1959 Best Original Song - The One Where I Finally Pick a Sinatra Song

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WON AND SHOULD'VE WON: "High Hopes," A Hole in the Head

Over the past 25 years of Best Original Song I've thus far tackled, I have encountered half a dozen nominees performed by the incomparable Frank Sinatra - 1958's "To Love and Be Loved," 1957's Oscar-winning "All the Way," 1955's "(Love Is) The Tender Trap," 1954's "Three Coins in the Fountain," 1945's "I Fall in Love too Easily" and 1944's "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night."

All of those are pretty terrific tunes, yet, mostly on account of superior competition, I haven't yet selected a Sinatra-performed song as my favorite of an Original Song line-up.

At last, that changes with 1959 and the Academy's pick for Best Original Song, the irresistibly charming "High Hopes," which Sinatra performs alongside child actor Eddie Hodges in Frank Capra's immensely underrated A Hole in the Head. The tune, which was later selected by John F. Kennedy to serve as the theme to his successful 1960 presidential campaign, is such a joy to listen to, catchy as can be, particularly with the adorable Hodges in the mix (Sinatra of course later did a solo version too, which admittedly isn't quite as fun). When I eventually hang up my hat in reviewing this category, I wholly expect "High Hopes" to rank awfully high on my ranked list of the winners (I have it at #3 for now).

As for the rest of the line-up, it's not a whole lot to write home about, though I've certainly encountered far worse in this category.

I like both Johnny Mathis' "The Best of Everything," from the Peyton Place-wannabe of the same name (which isn't terribly notable beyond a great late supporting turn by Joan Crawford), and Marty Robbins' "The Hanging Tree," from the fine Karl Malden-Gary Cooper western of the same name. In another, weaker year, I could perhaps see one of these two emerging as a contender for the win, but they ain't "High Hopes."

Danny Kaye's "The Five Pennies" is a pleasant but very slight lullaby, written by wife/composer Sylvia Fine. The fifth nominee, "Strange Are the Ways of Love," from the Patrick Wayne (John's son) vehicle The Young Land, is simply wretched, even though it's from the same brilliant team that produced the great theme from High Noon, which I actually picked for the win in its year.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "High Hopes," A Hole in the Head (1959)
  4. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  5. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  6. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  7. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  8. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  9. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  10. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  11. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  12. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  13. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  14. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  15. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  16. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  17. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  18. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  19. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  20. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  21. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  22. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  23. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  24. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  25. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  26. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)