# Songs that are forever linked to a specific movie/TV scene in your mind **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341 "2020-07-25T21:18:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/21 "2020-07-26T11:38:59Z")
Stayin’ Alive is forever linked to Airplane! for me.I Shake, Rattle and Roll is linked to Clue. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/22 "2020-07-26T12:44:36Z")
Assuming we’re discounting songs written for the movie, like “Always Look On The Bright Side of Life”, there’s always the slow movement from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21, in [Elvira Madigan](https://youtu.be/U3QC4UcDYVA) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/23 "2020-07-26T13:14:12Z")
John Cusack’s boom box playing Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” in **Say Anything**. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2020, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/24 "2020-07-26T13:24:17Z")
Royal Wood - [Don’t Fall Apart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaLDH7iZtDM) Only because it’s where I first heard the song, at the end of an episode of **Flashpoint**. It’s a Canadian show about a “SWAT” like team. Except for the action parts it’s almost wall-to-wall contrived melodrama, but I did like that the “bad guys” were very rarely just black and white cartoon bad guys, there was almost always an element of moral ambiguity involved in the conflict. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/25 "2020-07-26T13:31:36Z")
Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” in Shaun of the Dead. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/26 "2020-07-26T13:38:59Z")
In _Jackie Brown_ there is a scene where Max Cherry (Robert Forster) is in a car with Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) and the song Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time by _The Delfonics_ is playing. Jackie likes the song and begins to appreciate Max. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/27 "2020-07-26T14:52:10Z")
“Thus Spake Zarathustra” in _2001: A Space Odyssey._ “Singing in the Rain” in _A Clockwork Orange._ “The William Tell Overture” in _A Clockwork Orange._ “The Mickey Mouse Club” theme song in _Full Metal Jacket._ Stanley Kubrick messed with my head. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/28 "2020-07-26T16:43:09Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > the [Tiny Dancer scene from Almost Famous](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qW9wqUI4Lg) I never liked that song until I heard it in that movie. Also adding Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” from the Sopranos finale. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/29 "2020-07-26T16:54:09Z")
Thanks to _Pulp Fiction_, “Miserliu” is more evocative of the mid-Nineties than the early-Sixties. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/30 "2020-07-26T21:49:27Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > The Beat, here, too, but March of the Swivel Heads and Ferris Beuller’s Day Off. There’s that one, and also “Oh Yeah” by Yello that makes me think of the end credits scene with Vice Principal Rooney on the school bus. > [@mbh](#): > > Stanley Kubrick messed with my head. The Kubrick ones for me are: “Surfin’ Bird” for Full Metal Jacket (although Family Guy has kind of ruined that one). “Waltz 2”, Eyes Wide Shut. And of course “Beethoven’s 9th Symphony”, A Clockwork Orange. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/31 "2020-07-27T03:40:12Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > “Thus Spake Zarathustra” in _2001: A Space Odyssey._ > > “Singing in the Rain” in _A Clockwork Orange._ > > “The William Tell Overture” in _A Clockwork Orange._ > > “The Mickey Mouse Club” theme song in _Full Metal Jacket._ > > Stanley Kubrick messed with my head. And Kubrick messed with me by choreographing the brutal fight scene between Alex’s droogs and Billy Boy’s to the overture to Rossini’s “The Thieving Magpie.” Not to mention the first time I ever heard Vera Lynn sing “We’ll Meet Again” was in “Dr. Strangelove.” 😲 ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/32 "2020-07-27T04:18:42Z")
Iggy Pop’s _Lust for Life_ and the opening of _Trainspotting_. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/33 "2020-07-27T09:27:45Z")
Goodbye Horses - Silence of the Lambs I once heard of a bar fight starting over someone picking that song on a jukebox Tom Petty - American Girl - Silence of the Lambs Flight of the Valkyries - Apocalypse Now ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/34 "2020-07-27T11:16:43Z")
Day-o from Beetlejuice [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AQXVHITd1N4/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AHuA4AC8AKKAgwIABABGDMgSSh_MA8=&rs=AOn4CLDt0IN9TQ9Sv-b8i7n3h8SJ_TZijw "Beetlejuice - Day-o (Banana Boat Song)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQXVHITd1N4) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/35 "2020-07-27T11:28:34Z")
Another good one is Dirty Dancing and The Time of My Life. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WpmILPAcRQo/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gPCgeMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDTSZcYzNvzLMCfmnJPMuGVXmKgiQ "Dirty Dancing - Time of my Life (Final Dance) - High Quality") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpmILPAcRQo) ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/36 "2020-07-27T12:28:44Z")
Some obvious ones seem to have been omitted. Flashdance _That_ song from Titanic Of all the classical music that Kubrick appropriated, "Thus Spake Zarathustra” in _2001: A Space Odyssey_ stays most in my mind. Does the question exclude theme music? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/37 "2020-07-27T12:43:17Z")
I know Gary Glitter’s _Rock and Roll Part 2_ is more recently associated with _Joker_ (great scene, by the way) but it will always make me think of the lads’ rehearsing their strip routine in _The Full Monty._ ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/38 "2020-07-27T13:40:59Z")
I Saved the World Today by the Eurythmics from the end of S2 from The Sopranos. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Wagx7zlkdQQ/hqdefault.jpg "The Sopranos - Eurythmics I Save The World Today") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wagx7zlkdQQ) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/39 "2020-07-27T16:02:42Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Does the question exclude theme music? Let’s exclude any song that was written specifically for the movie or show. So regarding theme songs, it depends. “Won’t be Fooled Again” and CSI: Miami would count, since The Who released that song decades before the show. “Car Wash” would not, since as far as I know it was written specifically to be the theme song for the movie of the same name. Unless, of course, you associate “Car Wash” with a completely different movie. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341/40 "2020-07-27T16:36:00Z")
OK, no theme music. One thought:in general: if the song has been out for a while, it is harder to associate it with a movie later. Lots of movies have older music playing. I haven’t seen “Three billboards…” but i would instantly associate the song with Joan Baez and the summer of '68. And nothing else? Maybe it’s an age thing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-are-forever-linked-to-a-specific-movie-tv-scene-in-your-mind/916341.md?page=3)