I posted “Bob Dylan Weekends” for so long on the blog that I was positive I’d already featured ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ when it popped up as the next random iTunes cut.
But apart from an early version from The Witmark Demos and a cover from my popular “attractive women playing Bob Dylan songs on YouTube” series, this classic has gone up-posted.
If you asked me to name a James Bond theme song, the first one I’d offer up is ‘Nobody Does it Better,’ Carly Simon’s gorgeous contribution to 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. And fittingly, that track was nominated for an Academy Award, though it lost to ‘You Light Up My Life.’
The second song I’d name would be ‘Goldfinger.’ And really, it should have been the first, but I just dig the Carly Simon tune.
My next Oscar-snubbed song was the least egregious oversight the Academy made of this film.
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is unquestionably the finest film of 1989 (and a front-runner for best of the 80s), yet it failed to land a nomination for Best Picture or Best Director. Lee did earn a screenwriting nomination, and Danny Aiello was deservedly nominated for his supporting turn as Sal Frangione.
This list of Oscar snubs contains two kinds of songs — those that are paired, memorably and forever, with the films in which they appear; and those that have been so big for so long that I didn’t even know they originally showed up in a movie.
Today’s Song of the Day is an example of the latter.
For those just joining the party, I am counting down ten songs inexplicably snubbed by the Oscars.
This list was inspired by the overlooked ‘Don’t You Forget About Me,’ and today I’m featuring another iconic track from another iconic John Hughes film.
If you think the Academy had something against John Hughes, you’re probably right. Not one of the man’s films was ever nominated for an Oscar. These films were beloved upon release and are even more beloved now, but apparently they weren’t “Academy material.”
Meet Me In Montauk 