Best Original Song has acknowledged some timeless material since 1934, the year the category made its first appearance, honoring “The Continental” from “The Gay Divorcee” at the 7th Academy Awards. "Lullaby of Broadway." “The Way You Look Tonight.” “Thanks for the Memory."“Over Rainbow.” And that was just the ’30s. This list is a little more contemporary than the '30s,honoring the best of the songs that have won Best Original Song since the turn of the Century, to which I’d like to add the Weeknd’s “Earned It” after Sunday’s broadcast (even if it is from "Fifty Shades of Grey").
10. “The Weary Kind” (2009)
“You are the man that ruined the world” is such a classic line. This mournful acoustic-guitar-driven ballad, a devastating slice of wasted life, is probably closer in spirit to folk as Bob Dylan would do it than country, which may help explain why the washed-up, alcoholic country singer Jeff Bridges portrays in “Crazy Heart” is so down on his luck. He’s been going about it all wrong. It’s a brilliant record, though, written by T Bone Burnett, who produced it, and Ryan Bingham, who sings the world-weary version featured on the album, although Bridges sings it in the film. It also won a Grammy and a Golden Globe award.
9. “If I Didn’t Have You” (2001)
One thing Randy Newman didn’t have before this song from “Monster, Inc.” took home the Oscar was an Oscar, although he’d been nominated 15 times. In his acceptance speech, Newman said, "I want to thank, first of all, the music branch for giving me so many chances to be humiliated over the years.” It could be argued that the best songs from movies are those that work outside the context of the movie. This one doesn’t. To brilliant effect. Take the following line, as sung by one-eyed Mike Wazowski: “Yeah, I wouldn't be nothing / No! If I didn't have you to serve / I'm just a punky little eyeball / And a funky optic nerve.”
8. “Al otro lado del rio” (2004)
#OscarAlsoSoEnglish. The Oscar had never gone to a song sung in Spanish before this wistful acoustic-guitar-driven ballad beautifully performed by Uruguayan singer Jorge Drexler prevailed in 2004. The song was featured in “The Motorcycle Diaries.” Its title means “On the Other Side of the River.”
7. “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp” (2005)
The members of Three 6 Mafia co-wrote this soulful hip-hop track, a bit of a throwback to ’70s blaxploitation fare, with Frayser Boy for Craig Brewer’s “Hustle & Flow.” The song was performed in the film by actors Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson as DJay and Shug. The rapping is great what truly elevates this records is that soulful chorus hook: “You know it’s hard out here for a pimp/ When he tryin' to get his money for the rent / For the Cadillacs and gas money spent / Because a whole lot of bitches talkin' s—t.” Three 6 Mafia performed it at the Oscars, joined by Henson, and included their own version of the song on a special edition reissue of their “Most Known Unknown” album (for obvious reasons).
6. “Falling Slowly” (2007)
This is a beautifully written song from “Once.” But the vulnerability of those trembling vocals by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who star in the movie, is what ultimately reaches out and works its magic on your heartstrings. That and the arrangement, which builds from acoustic guitar and piano as those voices intertwine on the verses to a soaring chorus underscored by rich, dramatic strings. It somehow lost the Grammy to a song from “Dreamgirls” and wasn’t even nominated for a Golden Globe.
5. “Things Have Changed” (2000)
Bob Dylan had never won an Oscar nor been nominated before this track from “Wonder Boys,” which also earned the man a Golden Globe Award. It’s classic late-period Dylan, a shadowy blues with Dylan as “a worried man with a worried mind,” which he rhymes here with “No one in front of me and nothing behind.” The lyrics range from whimsical to world-weary, as Dylan’s lyrics have been known to do. My favorite line is probably “Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake / I'm not that eager to make a mistake.” The title appears at the end of the chorus in a brilliantly delivered, “I used to care but things have changed.”
4. "Man or Muppet" (2011)
To get the full effect, you’d have to see it in the context of the film, in which the call-and-response going down between Jason Segel (the man in the title) and those singing Muppets would not only make more sense, it would be funnier and more emotional. But it’s a brilliant song regardless, written by “Flight of the Conchords” veteran Bret McKenzie, who’s fleshed out Segal’s existential crisis with a song that sounds like something Alice Cooper might have done on “Welcome to My Nightmare” (an album whose release led to a guest appearance on “The Muppet Show”). Of course, McKenzie says what he was going for was more the sort of thing an Eric Carmen or a Harry Nilsson would have done around the same time. And you can definitely pick up on traces of “All By Myself” when the chorus kicks in.
3. “Glory” (2014)
Oscar was only so white when he gave Best Original Song to this socially relevant track from “Selma,” as written by Common and John Legend. Legend sings the gospel-flavored chorus, which eases you into the song with, “One day, when the glory comes / It will be ours.” And Common follows the promise of that glory with a grittier, more in-your-face approach to crying out for social justice. “Resistance is us,” he says. “That's why Rosa sat on the bus / That's why we walk through Ferguson with our hands up / When it go down we woman and man up / They say, ‘Stay down’ and we stand up / Shots, we on the ground, the camera panned up / King pointed to the mountain top and we ran up.”
2. “Lose Yourself” (2002)
This song does a brilliant job of capturing the essence of the hip-hop-Rocky vibe that Eminem was clearly going for in “8 Mile.” In the opening verse, his character is a bundle of nerves, knees weak, arms heavy, throwing up and choking in the spotlight. “But he won’t give up that easy, no,” Eminem vows on his way to a chorus that hits like a grittier version of “Don’t Stop Believin’”: “You better lose yourself in the music, the moment/You own it, you better never let it go/You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow.” It also won two Grammys, best male rap solo performance and best rap song.
1. "Skyfall" (2012)
A Bond theme should be second nature for Adele. And it certainly seems that way on this majestic triumph, which she co-wrote with Paul Epworth, who also produces. Setting the tone with a single outburst of dramatic orchestration, the arrangement pulls back to Adele on vocals and piano, complementing ominous piano chords with the opening line, “This is the end/Hold your breath and count to 10.” This theme also references the opening motif to “James Bond Theme,” nailing the essence of the franchise while bringing the soul and drama in equal measure. And that 77-piece orchestra gives it a richness you rarely heard on the radio in 2012.
