Theme songs don’t count, nor does anything composed specifically for that movie or TV show.
Hitchen’ a Ride by Vanity Fair always reminds me of that scene in Now and Then where the girls find the Wormer boys skinnydipping and steal their clothes, making them run after naked. I was 10 when I first saw that movie; it let to a lasting crush on Devon Sawa.
Mad World by Tears for Fears always reminds me of the ending of Donnie Darko. And finally I can’t listen to Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower
without thinking of the season 3 finale of Battlestar Galactica, Crossroads.
Somewhat showing my age here (though the movie came out 6 years before I was born) but the song would be As Time Goes By from Casablanca. And in case you’re wondering if it meets the criteria the song was originally from the 1932 Broadway show “Everybody’s Welcome”.
Tarantino movies are great for this. I heard Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell” on the radio the other day, and immediately thought about John Travolta and Uma Thurman in the dance contest.
Snow Patrol, “Chasing Cars” in the finale of Grey’s Anatomy. Increased the sadness tenfold. What is that saying, ‘amazing, the power of ‘cheap’ music’.
I can’t listen to Snow Patrol while driving, ever since, I start tearing up something awful.
“I’ve Had the Time of My Life” (from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack) always reminds me of a Simpsons episode. At halftime of a Springfield University football game, there’s a halftime show that’s a tribute to halftime shows. The song goes, “I’ve had the halftime of my life, and I owe it all to S.U.”
Van Morrison’s “Moondance” and the shower/love scene between the two main characters (David and stunning English nurse Alex) in the original version of “An American Werewolf In London”.
So utterly sensual, between Van’s sublime, sophisticated sound on that particular song, and the film choreography featuring two very good looking actors, who looked like they were an actual couple, coming together sexually for the very first time.
One of the hottest on-screen pairings I have ever seen, and Van’s music captures the mood perfectly…
Once upon a time Richrd Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries was a great, bombastic piece of music. Now it’s irretriebably tied to the helicopter scene Apocalypse Now (and, through that, to the similar scene in watchmen.0
I doubt anyone who watched The Sopranos will ever hear “Don’t Stop Believin’” without thinking of the bizarre and controversial last scene of the show.
Goodfellas is chock full of song/scene associations. I can’t hear Donovan’s “Atlantis” or Harry Nilsson’s “Jump Into the Fire” without thinking of the Billy Bats beatdown or a paranoid coked-up Henry Hill driving around while being stressed about helicopters watching him and making sure the sauce is being stirred.