# Songs made into movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966 "2001-10-02T13:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/1 "2001-10-02T13:27:23Z")
A friend asked the other day if I could think of any songs made into movies. Specifically, he’s looking for songs that tell a story, and the movie tells more or less the same story. I came up with a couple of hits and near-hits, but thought I’d throw the question to the experts here. Now the order is important…it doesn’t count if the song is written FOR the movie. I came up with: “Ode to Billie Joe” “Harper Valley PTA” “Convoy” “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” (doesn’t actually follow the song, though) “Love Potion No. 9” Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/2 "2001-10-02T13:32:53Z")
Kenny Roger’s “Coward of the County” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/3 "2001-10-02T13:52:03Z")
How about “Alice’s Restaurant”? ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/4 "2001-10-02T13:57:58Z")
“Ode to Billy Joe” was also a book, which for some reason I actually read. I can’t remember if the movie was based on the book which was based on the song, or if the book was just a novelization of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/5 "2001-10-02T14:25:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Legomancer \* > **Now the order is important…it doesn’t count if the song is written FOR the movie.** That would disqualify “Yellow Submarine”, right? How about “La Bamba”? That song wasn’t written for the movie, obviously – but it still seems like a tenuous case. Similarly, the movie “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”? Wasn’t there a documentary made about the Beatles in the early '70stitled “Let it Be”? ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/6 "2001-10-02T14:34:17Z")
It wouldn’t disqualify “Yellow Submarine” – the song came out in '66, the movie came out in '68 or '69. If you wanted to be really picked, you’d require that the movie script be written with the specific song in mind. For example, there’s a movie called “When A Man Loves A Woman” and the song features prominently in it. However, I’m sure that if the producers hadn’t gotten the rights to the song, they just would have named the movie something else. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/7 "2001-10-02T14:40:38Z")
Warren Zevon’s _Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead_ predates the film of that name. Good song, poor film. The content of the film has nothing to do with the song. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/8 "2001-10-02T16:01:49Z")
How about those 70’s conceptual rock operas that started out as just albums, but ended up being made into movies? **Tommy** **The Wall** ---
**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:** [October 2, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/9 "2001-10-02T16:09:07Z")
**Kenny Roger** ’s “The Gambler” was made into a movie. And for the obscure, **Twisted Sister** ’s song “Captain Howdy” was made into a movie called “Dee Snyder’s Strangeland”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/10 "2001-10-02T16:17:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > \*\*How about those 70’s conceptual rock operas that started out as just albums, but ended up being made into movies? > > **Tommy** > **The Wall** \*\* AND Jesus Christ Superstar! ---
**Author:** ![caircair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@caircair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caircair)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/11 "2001-10-02T19:20:59Z")
Good Grief, no one’s mentioned “Singin’ in the Rain?!?” ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/12 "2001-10-02T19:40:30Z")
Ooh, I got one…_My Boyfriend’s Back_. Except in the movie, the boyfriend dies and comes back from the dead as a flesh eating zombie. He does end up getting together with the girl…so I think it’s all right. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/13 "2001-10-02T20:09:00Z")
Blue Velvet? ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/14 "2001-10-02T20:10:11Z")
**Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.** ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/15 "2001-10-02T20:12:15Z")
ooooh,oohh… and for my 200th post!!!.. **Frosty the Snowman** **Weird Science** Does **Leaving Las Vegas** count? I guess that’s not what Sheryl Crow had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/16 "2001-10-02T20:12:22Z")
What about “The Legend of Billie Jean?” Or was there even a song before the movie? Was there any song at all? What is it about the name Billy/Billie, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kevin\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevin_H)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/17 "2001-10-02T20:15:07Z")
The Hurricane by Bob Dylan is now a movie (although it was a true story, I don’t know if that matters) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/18 "2001-10-02T20:59:25Z")
Tom Petty was allegedly offered a sizeable sum for the movie rights to “Into the Great Wide Open”. He turned it down, however. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2001, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/19 "2001-10-02T23:23:03Z")
“Torn Between Two Lovers” ---
**Author:** ![ArturoBandini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/50afbb/32.png) [@ArturoBandini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArturoBandini)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966/20 "2001-10-03T00:04:21Z")
Paul Thomas Anderson claimed that “Magnolia” was inspired by the Amiee Mann songs which eventually became its soundtrack. Apparently, she had recorded some tunes and PT decided to write a movie around 'em – or so he says. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-made-into-movies/84966.md?page=2)