1978 Best Original Song - Disco Dominates the Oscars

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WON: "Last Dance," Thank God It's Friday

SHOULD'VE WON: "Ready to Take a Chance Again," Foul Play

After the hohumness of 1976 and 1977, it's nice to come upon a Best Original Song line-up with not just one or two listenable nominees. In fact, 45 years of Original Song in, 1978 marks one of the stronger categories I've reviewed.

This year, the Academy chose to reward "Last Dance," the plenty enjoyable disco classic, heavenly performed by the late Donna Summer. Sure, the song debuted in a crummy picture, the silly Thank God It's Friday, which marked one of Motown Productions' lesser forays into the world of cinema. The tune is still unimpeachably great, composed by the brilliant Paul Jbara, who delivered this and "It's Raining Men," among other records, before tragically dying from AIDS complications in the early '90s.

It's a testament to this category's strength that I don't give the terrific "Last Dance" the win, though I can't really knock its victory too much.

My favorite here is "Ready to Take a Chance Again," the theme from the criminally underrated suspense-romcom Foul Play, which featured Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase (in a turn comparable to prime Cary Grant) at the very top of their game. Performed by Barry Manilow, whose tunes dominated the airwaves around this time, it's just about the best adult contemporary can be. One, of course, has to have a taste for the somewhat divisive Manilow to go for a tune like this. And while I'm not always head-over-heels for his songs, this one is definitely among his best. (The fellas from Family Guy were also quite fond of this one.)

I'm also awfully fond, however, of "Hopelessly Devoted to You," one of the small handful of original songs from the smash movie adaptation of Grease. Belted out by the irresistible Olivia Newton-John (one of my biggest childhood crushes), it's a real charmer, though I would argue "You're the One That I Want" and Frankie Valli's "Grease" were probably a bit more deserving of honor here (had "Grease" been nominated, it would be my pick for the win here). Still, this is classic stuff.

The remaining two nominees aren't quite in the same league as the aforementioned three, though they aren't half-bad either. "When You're Loved," from The Magic of Lassie, is a pleasant endeavor, striking many of the same notes as "I Feel Love," the theme from another dog flick, Benji, which I actually picked for the win in '74 (a much weaker year). "The Last Time I Felt Like This," from the great Ellen Burstyn-Alan Alda dramedy Same Time, Next Year, pairs the same composers from "The Way We Were" (Hamlisch and the Bergmans) with Johnny Mathis and Jane Olivor. Great artists all-around but they seem be kind of phoning it in here. Still, it's a decent tune.

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. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  7. "The Windmills of Your Mind," The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
  8. "The Way We Were," The Way We Were (1973)
  9. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  10. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  11. "I'm Easy," Nashville (1975)
  12. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  13. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  14. "Theme from Shaft," Shaft (1971)
  15. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  16. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  17. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  18. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  19. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  20. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  21. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  22. "Last Dance," Thank God It's Friday (1978)
  23. "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
  24. "For All We Know," Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
  25. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  26. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  27. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  28. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  29. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  30. "Born Free," Born Free (1966)
  31. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  32. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  33. "Chim Chim Cher-ee," Mary Poppins (1964)
  34. "Call Me Irresponsible," Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
  35. "Evergreen (Theme from A Star Is Born)," A Star Is Born (1976)
  36. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  37. "You Light Up My Life," You Light Up My Life (1977)
  38. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  39. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  40. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  41. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)
  42. "Talk to the Animals," Doctor Dolittle (1967)
  43. "The Shadow of Your Smile," The Sandpiper (1965)
  44. "The Morning After," The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
  45. "We May Never Love Like This Again," The Towering Inferno (1974)

1977 Best Original Song - No Bee Gees, No Liza, No Dice

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WON: "You Light Up My Life," You Light Up My Life

SHOULD'VE WON: "Nobody Does It Better," The Spy Who Loved Me

1977 is a tough year to take very seriously in Best Original Song, and not just because of the winner - the sleepy, cornball "You Light Up My Life." This was the dumbfounding occasion in which the Academy inexplicably ignored both the legendary "Theme from New York, New York" and entire soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever.

"Theme from New York, New York," later ranked #31 on AFI's list of "100 Years...100 Songs," marks some of the finest, most iconic work composers Fred Ebb and John Kander (and performer Liza Minnelli, for that matter) have ever done. The tune, later covered to even greater success by Frank Sinatra, was likely hurt by the middling box office and critical reception to the picture at the time. Now, however, not unlike then-misfires like Sorcerer, Heaven's Gate and They All Laughed, it seems many, if not most have come around to conceding New York, New York is actually one hell of a film, unfairly maligned at a time when audiences and much of the industry balked at idiosyncratic efforts by some of the most groundbreaking directors from the early-to-mid-'70s. And the song has certainly more than stood the test of time.

As for Saturday Night Fever, you could have easily filled the entire Best Original Song category exclusively with songs from the film - "How Deep Is Your Love," "If I Can't Have You," "More Than a Woman," "Night Fever" and of course "Stayin' Alive" were all richly deserving of recognition here. I suppose one could argue these five songs simply canceled one another out in some way but more likely, the Academy, which fell head-over-heels for fluff like "You Light Up My Life," simply wasn't hip enough to get the magic of this soundtrack.

Even the Golden Globes, which more often than not don't quite get it right, had the brains to nominate "Theme from New York, New York" and "How Deep Is Your Love" at their ceremony this year, even though both fell victim to "You Light Up My Life."

So, at last, let's discuss the winning song this year. "You Light Up My Life" isn't quite as stinky as some other winners in this category (coughMaureenMcGoverncough) but it's still pretty turgid stuff. This original version was actually performed by Kasey Cisyk, not Debby Boone, and her pleasant performance keeps the tune reasonably listenable. It's also not quite the worst nominee in this category - that "honor" goes to the waltz from The Slipper and the Rose, the completely forgettable live action Cinderella starring Richard Chamberlain.

Two nominees from second-tier Disney pictures - Pete's Dragon's "Candle on the Water" (performed by the great Helen Reddy) and The Rescuers' "Someone's Waiting for You" - are more moving, nuanced examples of '70s adult contemporary than "You Light Up My Life," which tends to be bombastic in its efforts to tug at the heartstrings. If not for the snubbed songs this year, I wouldn't terribly mind these two having been recognized.

The nominee that clearly should have prevailed here, however, is the best Bond song of all, Carly Simon's riveting "Nobody Does It Better," from the strongest Roger Moore entry in the series, The Spy Who Loved Me. Composed by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager, this is about as good as soft rock gets. It was understandably a big, fat Billboard hit at the time and holds up infinitely better than something like "You Light Up My Life."

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. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  7. "The Windmills of Your Mind," The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
  8. "The Way We Were," The Way We Were (1973)
  9. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  10. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  11. "I'm Easy," Nashville (1975)
  12. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  13. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  14. "Theme from Shaft," Shaft (1971)
  15. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  16. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  17. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  18. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  19. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  20. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  21. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  22. "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
  23. "For All We Know," Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
  24. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  25. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  26. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  27. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  28. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  29. "Born Free," Born Free (1966)
  30. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  31. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  32. "Chim Chim Cher-ee," Mary Poppins (1964)
  33. "Call Me Irresponsible," Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
  34. "Evergreen (Theme from A Star Is Born)," A Star Is Born (1976)
  35. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  36. "You Light Up My Life," You Light Up My Life (1977)
  37. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  38. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  39. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  40. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)
  41. "Talk to the Animals," Doctor Dolittle (1967)
  42. "The Shadow of Your Smile," The Sandpiper (1965)
  43. "The Morning After," The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
  44. "We May Never Love Like This Again," The Towering Inferno (1974)

1976 Best Original Song - When Barbra Beat Rocky and Satan

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WON: "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)," A Star Is Born

SHOULD'VE WON: "Gonna Fly Now," Rocky

When reviewing 1954 Best Original Song a while back, I made a forceful argument the Oscar that year should have easily gone to "The Man That Got Away," the brilliant and iconic Judy Garland tune from the first remake of A Star Is Born.

The second A Star Is Born remake, the soapy and decidedly inferior 1976 version with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, managed to achieve what the Garland-James Mason vehicle couldn't by scoring the Original Song victory. The difference in quality between "The Man That Got Away" and the winning track, "Evergreen," could not, however, be more stark.

For while the Garland number was a true powerhouse, finding its performer at the very top of her game, not only in simply singing the song but also acting out the performance, the Streisand-Kristofferson record is a prime example of the sort of lukewarm adult contemporary cheese that flooded the airwaves around this time. It's not a flat-out bad song, certainly not on the level of one of the Maureen McGovern winners, but it's oh-so syrupy and undistinguished. It's not even a great showcase of Streisand's typically tour-de-force vocal chords.

So no, "Evergreen," which scored Oscars for both Streisand and composer Paul Williams, did not deserve to triumph here, certainly not against one of the all-time great movie themes, Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" from the Best Picture-winning Sylvester Stallone smash Rocky.

With sparse yet perfect lyrics by Carol Connors, perhaps best-known as the lead singer of the '60s pop group The Teddy Bears (which also included a pre-Ronettes Phil Spector), "Gonna Fly Now" sends the John G. Avildsen picture soaring in its memorable training sequence. In light of the success of the Creed, I recently revisited the first Rocky and, while I don't think the film has aged terribly well in many regards, "Gonna Fly Now" still holds up beautifully. I would be awfully surprised if it wasn't runner-up here, given the Academy's admiration for the film.

As for the remaining three nominees, "Ave Santini," the theme from the Gregory Peck-Lee Remick horror flick The Omen, is reasonably eerie stuff, but not quite on the same level as The Exorcist's "Tubular Bells" or even Lalo Schifrin's underrated (and also Oscar-nominated) theme from The Amityville Horror. Henry Mancini's "Come to Me," from The Pink Panther Strikes Again, is a listenable Tom Jones tune but definitely not among the more memorable Mancini pieces. The final nominee, "A World That Never Was," from the uber-obscure Half a House, marked the final Oscar appearance by the Paul Francis Webster-Sammy Fain team, who scored prizes in this category for "Secret Love" and "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing." Much like the Streisand and Jones tracks, it's very much emblematic of the ho-hum soft rock of this era.

In terms of snubbed songs this year, there are two biggies - Rose Royce's delightful "Car Wash," from the eponymous film, and Aretha Franklin's exquisite "Something He Can Feel," the Curtis Mayfield-composed record written for the not-so-exquisite Irene Cara vehicle Sparkle.

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. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  7. "The Windmills of Your Mind," The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
  8. "The Way We Were," The Way We Were (1973)
  9. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  10. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  11. "I'm Easy," Nashville (1975)
  12. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  13. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  14. "Theme from Shaft," Shaft (1971)
  15. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  16. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  17. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  18. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  19. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  20. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  21. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  22. "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
  23. "For All We Know," Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
  24. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  25. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  26. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  27. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  28. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  29. "Born Free," Born Free (1966)
  30. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  31. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  32. "Chim Chim Cher-ee," Mary Poppins (1964)
  33. "Call Me Irresponsible," Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
  34. "Evergreen (Theme from A Star Is Born)," A Star Is Born (1976)
  35. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  36. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  37. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  38. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  39. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)
  40. "Talk to the Animals," Doctor Dolittle (1967)
  41. "The Shadow of Your Smile," The Sandpiper (1965)
  42. "The Morning After," The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
  43. "We May Never Love Like This Again," The Towering Inferno (1974)

1975 Best Original Song - Divas Live '75! Barbra, Diana, Olivia and...Keith?

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WON: "I'm Easy," Nashville

SHOULD'VE WON: "Do You Know Where You're Going To," Mahogany

Now this is one hell of a line-up.

Let's first concede that the only halfway decent film of these five nominees is Nashville, the brilliant Robert Altman ensemble piece that surely deserved more than just a single win on Oscar night. Funny Lady and Mahogany are terrible pictures, though at least have some camp value - the other two, the dreary and manipulative The Other Side of the Mountain and the MASH rip-off Whiffs, have little redeeming value.

All five of these original songs, however, regardless of the quality of the films, are pretty dynamite, though there are two clear second-tier nominees - "Now That We're in Love," a listenable albeit rather generic Steve Lawrence tune that marked Sammy Cahn's final Oscar nomination, and "Richard's Window," a pleasant number for Olivia Newton-John that's a bit on the corny side but sold nicely by the vocalist.

From there, it's an awfully tough call.

Funny Lady, the unnecessary sequel to Funny Girl, is on the level of Mystery Science Theater 3000 parody-worthy in badness, but it was at least a bit notable for its original music, composed by the legendary Fred Ebb and John Kander. "How Lucky Can You Get," while no "People" or "Don't Rain on My Parade," is a marvelous showcase for Barbra Streisand, with some exciting arrangements and instrumentals. It's a tad on the long side but there's enough energy here to sustain the whole thing. In a weaker year, this totally could've come out on top for me.

Keith Carradine's "I'm Easy" is a beautiful piece and particularly effective and moving in the context of the picture. I'll never forget the haunting look on Lily Tomlin (who should've won the Oscar this year)'s face as Carradine sings this. It also works quite well on its own terms, and was indeed a modest Billboard hit at the time, but certainly the visual of that scene gives it a very striking lift.

But, in spite of my great admiration for the Carradine tune, I can't help myself on this one - I think "Do You Know Where You're Going To" is really one of the great pop-R&B records of the '70s, and perhaps the finest solo record Diana Ross ever produced. Mahogany is a mess and to some extent reminds me of Valley of the Dolls, which too featured a dazzling theme, performed in that case by Dionne Warwick. Somehow, these two turgid soap operas managed to bring out the very best in two of the greatest artists of the '60s/'70s. I'm sure I'll get plenty of shit for not picking "I'm Easy" here but I have no qualms about siding with this dazzling piece of Motown pop.

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. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  7. "The Windmills of Your Mind," The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
  8. "The Way We Were," The Way We Were (1973)
  9. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  10. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  11. "I'm Easy," Nashville (1975)
  12. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  13. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  14. "Theme from Shaft," Shaft (1971)
  15. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  16. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  17. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  18. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  19. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  20. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  21. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  22. "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
  23. "For All We Know," Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
  24. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  25. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  26. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  27. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  28. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  29. "Born Free," Born Free (1966)
  30. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  31. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  32. "Chim Chim Cher-ee," Mary Poppins (1964)
  33. "Call Me Irresponsible," Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
  34. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  35. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  36. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  37. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  38. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)
  39. "Talk to the Animals," Doctor Dolittle (1967)
  40. "The Shadow of Your Smile," The Sandpiper (1965)
  41. "The Morning After," The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
  42. "We May Never Love Like This Again," The Towering Inferno (1974)

1974 Best Original Song - Another Maureen McGovern Disaster

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WON: "We May Never Love Like This Again," The Towering Inferno

SHOULD'VE WON: "I Feel Love," Benji

Moving from the year of "The Way We Were" and "Live and Let Die" to a line-up featuring not just one but inexplicably two maudlin Maureen McGovern tunes...oy.

While 1973 marked what is perhaps the strongest Best Original Song line-up of the decade, '74 nearly competes with the truly dreadful '72 as the decade's bottom of the barrel in original music for the big screen. If not for a couple of these nominees, this category would be roughly on-par with the sounds of cats shrieking or knives on a chalkboard.

The two somewhat redeeming nominees here are "I Feel Love," the cute, supremely pleasant theme from the cute, supremely pleasant Benji, and "Blazing Saddles," from the side-splitting Mel Brooks film. While I can appreciate the nod for "Blazing Saddles," and perhaps even view it as something of a make-up nomination for the egregious snubbing of "Springtime for Hitler" a few years back, it isn't a especially funny or memorable tune. In fact, I could see it serving as the theme to just about any generic western. It's not a bad song, just a slight one, and that gives the solid edge for me to the Benji track.

Beyond Benji and Brooks, however, this line-up is not something to be celebrated.

The one non-McGovern track is "Little Prince," from the eponymous Stanley Donan picture. The Donan film is OK for the most part, an idiosyncratic fantasy-musical featuring the likes of Gene Wilder, Bob Fosse and Donna McKechnie, but the music, from the Alan Jay Lerner-Frederick Lowe team that inflicted Gigi and My Fair Lady on the masses, is awfully underwhelming, with the same grating talk-singing that was so prominent in those two pictures.

"Little Prince" is not, however, quite as ear-piercing as the remaining two tracks, both belted out by the aforementioned McGovern, who, as basically a poor man's Karen Carpenter, managed to attach herself to some of the decade's stinkiest cheese on the big screen.

The losing McGovern song, "Wherever Love Takes Me," from the deservedly forgotten Roger Moore yarn Gold (advice: at all costs, avoid pretty much every non-Bond Moore vehicle), is actually a tad less horrendous than the winner this year, "We May Never Love Like This Again" (from the title alone, you just know what kind of soggy dreck you're getting into), from Irwin Allen's star-studded The Towering Inferno. Somehow, this song manages to be even more shamelessly sentimental (in the worst way possible) than McGovern's "The Morning After," which in '72 seemed to set new standards for movie music crapola.

I'd like to think neither "The Morning After" nor "We May Never Love Like This Again" would have had a prayer of prevailing if they just had remotely formidable competition. Unfortunately, Michael Jackson's "Ben" in '72 and the rest of the line-up here in '74 just weren't very daunting.

In terms of tunes snubbed in '74, I'm afraid it was pretty slim pickings all-around this year, although Curtis Mayfield's soulful "On and On," performed by Gladys Knight and the Pips forClaudine (which netted the great Diahann Carroll a Best Actress Oscar nom), is head and shoulders above all of the songs recognized here. Beyond that, however, I can't think of a whole lot - even the Bond theme this year, "The Man with the Golden Gun," is a snooze.

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. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  7. "The Windmills of Your Mind," The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
  8. "The Way We Were," The Way We Were (1973)
  9. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  10. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  11. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  12. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  13. "Theme from Shaft," Shaft (1971)
  14. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  15. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  16. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  17. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  18. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  19. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  20. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  21. "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
  22. "For All We Know," Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
  23. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  24. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  25. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  26. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  27. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  28. "Born Free," Born Free (1966)
  29. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  30. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  31. "Chim Chim Cher-ee," Mary Poppins (1964)
  32. "Call Me Irresponsible," Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
  33. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  34. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  35. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  36. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  37. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)
  38. "Talk to the Animals," Doctor Dolittle (1967)
  39. "The Shadow of Your Smile," The Sandpiper (1965)
  40. "The Morning After," The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
  41. "We May Never Love Like This Again," The Towering Inferno (1974)