# Songs that became movies/TV shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945 "2005-08-21T01:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/1 "2005-08-21T01:36:14Z")
The song has to have come first and inspired the movie or show. No theme songs, and no movies/shows that happen to have the same title as the song but the two otherwise have nothing to do with each other. “Convoy” by CW McCall “Harper Valley PTA” by Jeannie C. Riley “Take This Job and Shove It” by David Allen Coe “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer” by Johnny Marks ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/2 "2005-08-21T01:48:10Z")
The John Wayne movie _Green Berets_ was based on the bestselling _Ballad of…_ – there was also a book, apparently – it’s not clear where the book comes in the [chronology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad_of_the_Green_Berets). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/3 "2005-08-21T02:03:30Z")
How about [this masterpiece?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078239/) ---
**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 21, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/4 "2005-08-21T02:14:49Z")
Several Christmas movies/TV specials came from songs: “White Christmas” by Irving Berlin (the song was introduced in the vastly superior “Holiday Inn”) “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” “Frosty the Snowman” There were also some composer biographies that were named for songs they wrote: “Till the Clouds Roll By” (Jerome Kern) “Three Little Words” (Bert Kalmer and Harry Ruby) “Night and Day” (Cole Porter) “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (George M. Cohan) And there’s also “The Gambler” (Kenny Rogers song made into a TV movie). “Everyone Says I Love You” (also Kalmer and Ruby) inspired a Woody Allen movie of that name (at least to some degree). ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/5 "2005-08-21T02:14:52Z")
Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant.” ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/6 "2005-08-21T02:16:12Z")
Willie Nelson’s “Red-Headed Stranger.” ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/7 "2005-08-21T02:16:21Z")
Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead. (I don’t know whether the movie actually has anything to do with the song, or if it just cribbed the title. I’ve been meaning to see it.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/8 "2005-08-21T02:16:38Z")
“Ode to Billy Joe” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/9 "2005-08-21T02:17:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How about [this masterpiece?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078239/) You know, it’s funny, a LOT of people think that happened. But it didn’t. IT DIDN’T, I TELLS YA!! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/10 "2005-08-21T02:18:23Z")
_Yellow Submarine Ode to Billy Joe Tam Lin_ (not a pop song, but a Scottish border ballad) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/11 "2005-08-21T03:03:56Z")
IIRC, _Rhinestone_ (starring Sly Stallone and Dolly Parton) included a credit at the beginning, “based on the song _Rhinestone Cowboy_”. Maybe, not a credit, so much as a confession/excuse. ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/12 "2005-08-21T12:03:07Z")
John Waters’ _Cry Baby_ was inspired by a song of the same name, but was re-recorded for the movie, so I don’t rightly know who did the original. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-became-movies-tv-shows/317945/13 "2005-08-21T12:41:25Z")
I’m so proud to be the first to mention [The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082816/).