Aimee Mann’s record studio problems went from bad to worse as she worked on her third solo album. She turned her material in to Geffen and heard the classic line: “We don’t hear a single.” In fact, the studio shelved the album until she could produce something more commercial. She wound up writing a track called ‘Nothing is Good Enough’ about, you guessed it, evil record studio heads.

But then a funny thing happened. Mann’s close friend, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, was inspired by a line in one of her songs (‘Deathly’) to write and shoot the film Magnolia. And he intertwined Mann’s music into the film as well, using several existing cuts and asking her to pen a new one for the film.

That new track was ‘Save Me,’ a gorgeous ballad that earned Mann an Oscar nomination and the biggest audience of her career. The Magnolia soundtrack, which contained several of the songs on Mann’s shelved third album, became a best-seller. Without changing a note, she had delivered the commercial music Geffen demanded and perhaps proved there is an audience for smart pop music.

The most memorable track in Magnolia is today’s Song of the Day, ‘Wise Up,’ which features in the film’s emotional climax. As each character in the tale of intertwining lives is at his or her lowest point, they simultaneously break into song — this song. It’s a bold, crazy, half-bad idea that works because it’s so giddily unexpected and so emotionally charged.

And of course it works because this song is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard.