Songs Synonymous with Movies

The other night I was driving around with a couple of people in the car and almost every song that came on I could tell you what movie or TV show the song was from, then describe the scene and it got me thinking about what songs go hand in hand with their films. Not just because they play at some point during the movie, but because when you hear the song playing at the store or on the radio your first instinct is to think of the film. There's always the obvious ones like "My Heart Will Go On" or "Hakuna Matata" that were written specifically for the movie, but I'm talking about the films that take a song that was already popular and redefine it.

The list has to start with Quintin Tarantino. The man has a skill for shooting films with lengthy scenes of dialogue, showing far more bare feet than necessary, long takes, filming from a trunk, and finding the perfect song for the perfect moment. The most obvious choice from his films is Reservoir Dogs and "Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheal. The song plays on the radio and Michael Madsen starts singing along and dancing all while torturing a man he has tied to a chair. The gruesome scene would quite possibly be too much to bear if not for the happy, upbeat song playing in the background. In Tarantino's next film, Pulp Fiction, he decides to take Chuck Berry's "You Can Never Tell" and makes Uma Thurman and John Travolta dance to it in a competition. The song is the perfect choice to show the uneasiness of the situation and helps bond the characters together. The lesser-seen Jackie Brown probably plays its theme song, "Across 110th Street" by Bobby Womack, more times than any of his other films. The film starts off with a reference to The Graduate having the titular Pam Grier standing on a moving walkway while the song plays and ends with her singing the song in her car. It fits the blaxploitation element perfectly and is a nice frame for an underrated film. Tarantino does this countless more times but I want to point out other films too.

Cameron Crowe is another director with a penchant for finding that one song to make a movie. This is less surprising when you realize he was a rock journalist for Rolling Stone at the age of 18. Say Anything, his directorial debut included one of the most iconic shots of the 80's: John Cusack, brown trench coat, boom box overhead, and Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes." Even mention the song in a room of people and it is all but guaranteed to get a conversation about the film, the moment, or Lloyd Dobbler (Cusack's character). In Crowe's most critically acclaimed film, Almost Famous, he takes a tour bus full of a band, band-aides (see: a half-step above groupies), and a reporter and plays Elton John's ballad "Tiny Dancer." The entire bus is in complete silence from a combination of anger and awkwardness only to end up singing along to the song and realizing that everything is magically better. It isn't corny like it sounds in print, just real. In Elizabethtown Crowe picks the most common redneck song and turns it into something special. Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" is an eight minute epic of a song with a fantastic guitar solo. In the film it is used to combine sadness and love in an unforgettable scene including sprinklers and a bird on fire.

Ironically, the next film on this list was written by Crowe but handed over to Amy Heckerling to direct. Fast Times at Ridgemont High is famous for Sean Penn as stoner Spicoli, Phoebe Cates' finest hour, and Tom Petty's "American Girl." The reason this song will stick with you for so long is it fits the tone and feel of the movie perfectly. Normally it's a rule to not allow the lyrics of a song to influence its selection, but in this case it was just a perfect fit.

The Frances Williams song "As Time Goes By" is forever linked to Casablanca for the oft (mis)quoted "Play it again Sam" line supposedly spoken by Humphrey Bogart. The song was clearly the theme for Bogart and Ingrid Bergman's characters before they separated and it killed Bogart's character Rick to hear it, especially at Ilsa's (Bergman) request years later. The song became a benchmark for Rick and allowed us to feel the pain he had been living with for years.

While Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" was written partially for The Graduate, their "Sound of Silence" was already a #1 hit four years before the film was made. The entire movie is essentially a Simon and Garfunkel music video but again it's the opening scene that seals it. Dustin Hoffman on a moving walkway staring into his future while the haunting song written about the aftermath of the JFK assassination is playing leaves an impression, along the rest of the movie, that you aren't going to shake off easily.

Movies would be nothing without the music that backs them. It's the reason I love movie scores and soundtracks sell so well. Songs are able to take you back to the exact moment in the film and give you the same feeling you originally had while watching. These were just some of the more famous renditions.