MSN Entertainment put together this short entertaining look at the five most overused songs in movies, entitled “Geeking Out On…The Most Overused Songs in Movies.” Check it out.
In case you do not have the three minutes to watch the video, the songs are “Hallelujah,” “Bad to the Bone,” “Born to Be Wild,” “Let’s Get it On,” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” It does not seem to be a scientific survey, but those songs are good picks.
What do you think is the most overused song in movies? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In spring 1998, the Rolling Stones were doing a stadium tour in South America with a guy named Bob Dylan as their opening act. During the tour, Dylan often joined the Rolling Stones for a performance of “Like a Rolling Stone.” Although reportedly early joint performances of the song were a little rough, by the time the Rio de Janeiro performance was televised Dylan had adjusted to the Stones’s playing style on the song.
Check out Dylan and the Rolling Stones on “Like a Rolling Stone.”
The joint performance is one of the rare times Dylan has played with the full lineup of the Rolling Stones, even though he and the band are long-time friends. Before the South American joint tour, both bands were playing in New York earlier in 1998 and the Rolling Stones played “Like a Rolling Stone” in honor of Dylan, but he never joined them on stage.
At Dylan’s 1988 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Mick Jagger and a large number of other stars joined Dylan for “Like a Rolling Stone.” But the South American tour remains the rare time the legend and the legendary band played the legendary song.
Who would you like to see Dylan perform with? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The last few weeks have been full of speculation about the ending of the AMC TV series Breaking Bad. I will leave it to others to debate the greatness of tonight’s series finale. But one thing we cannot argue about is that it was cool that the final scene used the Badfinger song, “Baby Blue,” which first appeared on the band’s 1971 album, Straight Up.
Both the band’s name and the TV series feature the word “bad.” More importantly, though, the song’s opening had appropriate lyrics for the show’s end, as well as a good sound for the mood of the ending of the series and of our relationship with Walter White (Bryan Cranston).
Guess I got what I deserve; Kept you waiting there, too long my love, All that time, without a word; Didn’t know you’d think, that I’d forget, or I’d regret,
The special love I have for you, My baby blue
Below is a 1972 Badfinger performance of “Baby Blue.” Note that the band is introduced by a dark-haired Kenny Rogers.
Unfortunately, the original Badfinger, which lost band members Tom Evans and Pete Ham to suicide, has not been active since the mid-1980s. A lot of people, though, are singing their song tonight.
What did you think of the ending of Breaking Bad? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In the 1600s, French author François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld wrote, “The gratitude of most men is merely a secret desire to receive greater benefits.” (Reflections, or, Sentences and Moral Maxims 298 (1678)). While the maxim implies some type of dishonesty, La Rochefoucauld might have been surprised to learn that one’s gratitude reaps some more unexpected benefits.
In the video “The Science of Happiness – An Experiment in Gratitude,” SoulPancake presents the result of a study finding that one way to increase happiness is to show gratitude. The video explains how expressing gratitude benefits us, and then it shows a real life experiment that is both interesting and touching. Check it out. You can thank me later.
Alanis Morrisette reportedly wrote “Thank U” out of a personal experience after visiting India. She began looking inside herself in a different way, finding compassion for her self and gratitude toward others. Although the song touches on ideas of “terror” and “frailty,” it is ultimately a hopeful song about learning and thankfulness. And as found in the new study, a nice reminder to show gratitude as a small step toward increasing happiness.
Thanks to Carolyn for pointing me to the SoulPancake video.
In 1983, Columbia Pictures released “The Big Chill,” a film featuring an ensemble of great young actors (including a rising star cut out of the movie) as characters looking back on the 1960s with nostalgia, loss, and wonderful music.
On September 28, 1983, Columbia Pictures released The Big Chill. The film, directed by Lawrence Kasdan, featured baby boomer college friends reuniting around fifteen years after school for the funeral of a friend who committed suicide. The film perfectly encompassed the baby-boomer anxiety about selling out in life and a loss of innocence.
And of course, there was the humor. And the movie featured the great soundtrack with such performers as Marvin Gaye, Creedance Clearwater Revival, and Aretha Franklin.
The move taught me an important lesson that had little to do with the lost idealism or the friendship of the characters. I learned how great it can be not to know anything about a movie before you see it.
When I was in college, I went to a shopping mall with friends and we decided to see a movie. As we debated what to see, none of us had yet seen any advertisements for The Big Chill. I only knew that my sister had seen it and liked it, but I had no idea about the story or the actors.
Well, we decided to see The Big Chill based on my sister’s vague recommendation. By the time the movie got to the scene with the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” I was hooked.
For the time period, with MTV only about two years old, the movie seemed like something new and refreshing, using rock music to explore the 1980s nostalgia for the 1960s. I do not know if I would have loved the movie so much had I known what to expect. So I learned the best way to see a movie is without expectations. Now, before I see a movie I try to learn only as much as I need in order to decide whether or not I want to see it.
Thus, in case you have not seen the The Big Chill, I will not say much more about the plot. Many have fond memories of the movie, which had a great ensemble cast of Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams.
Much later, we would read that the dead friend Alex, who we never see in the film, was originally played by a young Kevin Costner. In this reunion video, you may hear more about a deleted flashback scene featuring Costner.
Critics are somewhat divided on the film. I understand how looking back at the movie through today’s lens, one may see too many clichés.
But for the time, seeing the movie through my own innocence, it helped connect me a tiny bit to thinking about how I might one day look back on my own life. And today, I find myself older than the characters in the film looking back nostalgically at where I was when I first saw The Big Chill during my own college years. What is your favorite scene in The Big Chill? Leave your two cents in the comments.
