OVP: Best Original Song (1999)
The Nominees Were...
"Blame Canada" Music & Lyric by Trey Parker & Marc Shaiman (South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut)
"Music of My Heart," Music & Lyric by Diane Warren (Music of the Heart)
"Save Me," Music & Lyric by Aimee Mann (Magnolia)
"When She Loved Me," Music & Lyric by Randy Newman (Toy Story 2)
"You'll Be in My Heart," Music & Lyric by Phil Collins (Tarzan)
My Thoughts: 1999 represented a convergence of the old and the new when it came to the movies. After a decade of movie star-driven projects (really the last great decade of the movie star, as Denzel, Julia, both Tom's, Sandra, Jim, & Will were basically deities during this era), we were given a new stage in filmmaking. New franchises that would dominate the global landscape for the next few decades (The Matrix and its clones, Star Wars, Toy Story) were added, while inventive films ranging in style from Run Lola Run to The Blair Witch Project were gaining pages in trade publications. This is best encapsulated in the much-discussed Best Original Song category of the year, a mix of Academy traditionalism and new-style, more relevant music.
Trey Parker spent years mocking Phil Collins for this race, basically talking about how bad it was that he had to lose to him (specifically) in this contest, so let's start with those two since anyone who was alive for this ceremony knows that was where the press was focused. Collins' music in Tarzan is, by my estimate, quite good, even if it is sentimental, and is more of an attempt to modernize Alan Menken's Disney approach with a sound that was at least a decade old in 1999. Part of the problem with this nomination is that it's the least of the four songs that Collins sings in the movie; "Two Worlds," "Son of Man" and especially "Strangers Like Me" are all better than "You'll Be In My Heart," a song that is more incorporated into the picture (it's one of only two songs in the score actually sung by a character, which is normally the approach in a musical), but is more schmaltzy and a bit drippy. It's not bad music, but it's certainly pretty square.
It doesn't help Collins that Parker was correct-his score was better. "Blame Canada" (sung with much glee by Robin Williams at the ceremony) is one of many really good songs from South Park, including "La Resistance" and "Uncle Fucker" (can you imagine if they had nominated that instead?!?). It's funny, very much in the tradition of a grand Hollywood musical number (save for the profanity), and a clever piece of music. I frequently criticize the modern push to nominate joke songs in these categories (a recent example of this was "I'm Just Ken," a fun scene but a middling tune), but this isn't the case for "Blame Canada"-it just works, and stands apart as a hummable ditty.
Parker didn't bogart all of the cool points in this race, though. In 1999, Aimee Mann was also getting a lot of heat for her score to the Magnolia soundtrack. "Save Me" is, along with "Wise Up" (which was ineligible) a really marvelous bit of music, capturing the mood of Paul Thomas Anderson's film (why doesn't he use songs in more movies?), and while it doesn't get the central showpiece moment that "Wise Up" does in terms of the plot, it works really well within the picture's message of lost souls. This is a case where Mann was never going to win in 1999 (it was absolutely going to one of the Disney films), but the song has been so revered in the years since it sometimes gets talked about as a serious contender for the win...which it should've been.
Randy Newman's frequently one-note songs have been nominated for countless Oscars, with Newman rivaling Diane Warren (also nominated this year, one of 4 times they have been in the same category against each other) in terms of Oscar going for the bland along with the great. This is a case of the great, though. Newman doesn't sing it (instead, handing it to chanteuse-of-the-moment Sarah MacLachlan), and that makes all of the difference. "When She Loved Me" works perfectly (establishing a new, sad chapter in another lost toy, one that would be borrowed from in the two sequels), and giving us all of the feels with only a modicum of the schmaltz. Really well done; had Newman won for this, it would've aged much better than his actual victories.
Despite two iconic Disney songs, a beloved indie hit, and the anthem of a TV juggernaut, if you went solely by the Billboard charts, the biggest song on this list was in fact our final one, "Music of My Heart" which was a #2 Billboard smash, and proof that at one point, Diane Warren's name on a song didn't just mean Oscar trivia, but big radio play. The song, sung by N Sync, is dreadful. I like Diane Warren in some capacities (we've only covered 2000-23 for our My Ballot awards, and I've already given her a Silver Medal. so calm down if you're a fan), but this isn't it. This is schmaltzy, and takes the biggest boy band in the world at the time, and slows it down into something interchangeable with a performance you'd see at a high school talent show.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Globes went with "You'll Be in My Heart" against Oscar-blessed "Save Me" and "When She Loved Me," as well as "Beautiful Stranger" from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (sung by Madonna, yet another Madonna song that the Globes loved but Oscar ignored) and "How Can I Not Love You" from Anna and the King (sung by Joy Enriquez). The Grammys have different eligibility windows than the Oscars, and so in the 2000 ceremony they nominated "Beautiful Stranger" (it won) as well as "Music of My Heart," and "You'll Be in My Heart" while at the 2001 ceremony Randy Newman won for "When She Loved Me" against two other 1999 songs-"Save Me" and "The Great Beyond" (an REM song from Man on the Moon). In sixth place...I think this is maybe the closest that Madonna ever got. There are other tunes to consider (the ubiquitous Smash Mouth Top 10 hit "All Star" was eligible this year from Mystery Men, as was Garbage's soulful "The World is Not Enough" from the identically-titled James Bond film), but Madonna circa 1999 was in the middle of a renaissance, and toward the end of her pop dominance...if she was going to make it with Oscar, this was probably the time.
Songs I Would Have Nominated: Save for N Sync, this is a really good lineup, and part of the reason it invites so much debate is that there is more than one answer to who should've won. But if I was going to make my own list, I would've kept Garbage's tune in the conversation. A really dark song, elegantly crooned by Shirley Manson, it's one of the better Pierce Brosnan Bond themes.
Oscar’s Choice: Like I said, this was a battle between the two Disney animated films, and Phil Collins came out on top (Newman would win just two years later, ending his long-standing losing streak with the Oscars rather humorously with the opening lines "I don't want your pity").
My Choice: Like I said, a great lineup, but it's impossible for me to deny "Save Me" as the winner. It's one of my favorite songs, and has been since I saw the movie-it works too well in the movie for me to deny it. Behind it, I think "When She Loved Me" might have more of a challenge against other South Park songs (still putting the finishing touches on my lineup there for the My Ballots), but against "Blame Canada" I think it comes out on top. Behind these two, we'll go Tarzan next and finish with Music of the Heart.
Those are my thoughts-how about yours? Do you want to sit and feel your feelings with Magnolia, or would you rather tap your toes with Tarzan? Is this the best song that Randy Newman was ever nominated for, and would he have gotten a South Park mocking him if he'd won? And was this the closest that Madonna ever got to an Oscar nomination? Share your thoughts below!
No comments:
Post a Comment