# Original songs from (non-musical) movies that are part of the plot **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234 "2015-08-07T12:50:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/1 "2015-08-07T12:50:48Z")
This might be difficult to understand but I’ll try my best to describe what I’m looking for: Original, written-specifically-for-the-movie songs from movies that AREN’T traditional song-and-dance musicals (a la _Singin’ In the Rain_) that are in some way integral to the plot. Sung by the cast (or at least lip-synced) is a good indicator. NOT just songs off the soundtrack NOT songs from “music videos” within the movie (“Danger Zone”) NOT songs just playing in the background NOT songs that existed long prior to the movie (“La Bamba”) There are probably going to be a lot of songs from mockumentaries and movies about fictional bands. Examples: “That Thing You Do” “Let’s Duet” (_Walk Hard_) “On the Dark Side” (_Eddie and the Cruisers_) “Somebody Kill Me” (_The Wedding Singer_) Almost anything from _This Is Spinal Tap_ ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/2 "2015-08-07T13:19:47Z")
“I’m Easy” from Nashville. There may be more from that movie, but I can’t think of them right now. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/3 "2015-08-07T13:35:12Z")
**Falling Slowly** from the movie **Once**. Is Purple Rain a musical? If not, those songs. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/4 "2015-08-07T13:37:47Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > \*\*Is Purple Rain a musical? If not, those songs. I counted _Walk Hard_, so I’d count _Purple Rain_. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/5 "2015-08-07T13:43:21Z")
[“Rock and Roll High School,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5vh0QHUA1w) from the movie of the same name featuring the Ramones. The plot (such as it is) revolves around P.J. Soles’ character having written that song for them, and trying to get them to listen to it and record it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/6 "2015-08-07T14:02:35Z")
_I’m Tired_ from _Blazing Saddles_ _Always Look On the Bright Side of Life_ from _Life of Brian_ _Springtime For Hitler_ from _The Producers_ also Aimee Mann’s _Wise Up_ from _Magolia_ although she actually wrote it for _Jerry Maguire_ and although it’s on the soundtrack it wasn’t in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/7 "2015-08-07T14:44:27Z")
Maybe not completely “original”, but “Home in the Meadow” (Greensleeves) in “How the West Was Won”. This song is as integral as it gets as it is passed down (and sung) by various members of the different generations of the pioneering family. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/8 "2015-08-07T14:45:27Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > **Falling Slowly** from the movie **Once**. But **Once** is listed as a musical, and the later stage version even won a Tony for it. **Monty Python and the Holy Grail** for Neil Innes’s “Camelot Song” and “Brave Sir Robin.” “Hail Fredonia” from **Duck Soup** , as well as “The Country’s Going to War.” The Mcguffin song from **The Lady Vanishes**. The concerto in **The Man Who Knew Too Much** (composed for the movie). Susan Alexander Kane’s Salammbo arias (also composed for the movie) in **Citizen Kane.** ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/9 "2015-08-07T14:53:44Z")
“Jeremiah Johnson” from the film of the same name sung by Tim McIntire. ICK! ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/10 "2015-08-07T14:56:52Z")
There’s that balladeer guy who sings little narratives between scenes in “There’s Something About Mary” Borat singing the “Kazakhstan national anthem” at the rodeo. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/11 "2015-08-07T14:58:26Z")
“One Trick Pony” (One Trick Pony) “Way Back into Love” (Music and Lyrics) “Songs to Aging Children Come” (Alice’s Restaurant) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/12 "2015-08-07T15:14:59Z")
\*\*\*Postcards from the Edge \*\*\* was not a musical, but it ends with newly sober Meryl Streep trying to reinvent herself as a country singer and performing Shel Silverstein’s “I’m Checking Out.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/13 "2015-08-07T15:18:50Z")
The entire movie \*\*\*You Light Up My Life \*\*\*was built around an aspiring singer (Didi Conn) who wrote and sang a song by that same name. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/14 "2015-08-07T15:20:02Z")
“Feel My Heat,” as performed by Dirk Diggler and Reed Rothchild in _Boogie Nights_. Diggler also performed “The Touch,” but that was a cover of the seminal Stan Bush song. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/15 "2015-08-07T15:20:46Z")
“Jai Ho” from _Slumdog Millionaire_, because you just _can’t_ have a Bollywood movie without at least one big dance number with the whole cast. And there’s no other good way to wrap it up. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/16 "2015-08-07T15:21:57Z")
“Wise Up” by Aimee Mann in the movie Magnolia might or might not count. It wasn’t written specifically for the movie, but it hadn’t been used before. And it could be seen as a music video in the movie, but that scene is a part of the plot. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/17 "2015-08-07T15:24:19Z")
> [@Gordon\_Urquhart](#): > > “Feel My Heat,” as performed by Dirk Diggler and Reed Rothchild in _Boogie Nights_. Diggler also performed “The Touch,” but that was a cover of the seminal Stan Bush song. Oh, great call. “The heeeeeeeat wiiiillll rock you. The heeeeeeeeeat wiiiiillll roll you…” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/18 "2015-08-07T15:26:26Z")
“Ladies of Tampa” in Magic Mike is performed by Matthew McConaughey at the end of the movie, and I think would count for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/19 "2015-08-07T15:53:09Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Oh, great call. > > “The heeeeeeeat wiiiillll rock you. > The heeeeeeeeeat wiiiiillll roll you…” “Feel feel feel feel … feel my heeeeeat (_feel my heeeeeat_).” Were we rolling on rehearsal? Back to the topic: “Suicide is Painless” was performed during the “funeral” scene of the movie _MASH_. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234/20 "2015-08-07T16:51:02Z")
“The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Song” by the baseball players of _A League of Their Own_ Oops, nevermind, on further reading I see this actually was the league’s official song written back in the 40s… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/original-songs-from-non-musical-movies-that-are-part-of-the-plot/727234.md?page=2)