# Songs written for another movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2009, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367 "2009-04-08T06:46:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/1 "2009-04-08T06:46:20Z")
I just watched \*Sweet Bird of Youth \*(great acting by Geraldine Page and Ed Begley Sr.; nice body shots of Paul Newman). A few minutes into the film, a piano is playing “Over the Rainbow” in the background . . . a song that we all know was written for \*The Wizard of Oz. \*So I’m wondering . . . how many other movies contain songs that were composed specifically for a previous movie? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/2 "2009-04-08T10:58:48Z")
Jack Nicholson singing “Always look on the right side of life” in _As Good As It Gets._ ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/3 "2009-04-08T11:30:59Z")
“Unchained Melody” was first heard in the film [_Unchained_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048762/) (1955). In 1990 it became erroneously known as the “Theme from [_Ghost_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099653/).” ---
**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:** [April 8, 2009, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/4 "2009-04-08T11:44:26Z")
_As Time Goes By_ from _Casablanca_, voted by the AFI as the second best film song ever, was written 11 years earlier for the Broadway musical, _Everybody’s Welcome_. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/5 "2009-04-08T12:03:59Z")
**Malcolm McDowell** performs an unorthodox rendition of “_Singing in the Rain_” in **A Clockwork Orange**. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/6 "2009-04-08T13:04:02Z")
And “Singin’ in the Rain” was originally written for **The Hollywood Revue of 1929** , and was reused in **Singin’ in the Rain**. Nearly all the songs in **Singin’ in the Rain** had been written for other movies, with the exception of **Make 'Em Laugh** , which is a blatant plagiarism of Cole Porter’s **Be A Clown** , which was written for a movie, too. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced to "They Can’t Take That Away from Me\*\* in **The Barkleys of Broadway** , but the song was introduced (by Fred singing to Ginger) in **Shall We Dance**. MGM did a series of musicals using the back catalogs of popular songwriters ( **Singin’ in the Rain** is the best-known). Some of the songs used in these were introduced in films. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/7 "2009-04-08T17:54:19Z")
The only thing I remember from the movie **Punch Drunk Love** is that they used the song “He Needs Me” from Altman’s **Popeye** movie during one scene. Odd enough to stick in my mind, plus I’m a big fan of the Popeye musical. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/8 "2009-04-08T18:13:53Z")
Singin’ in the Rain was also used in Shanghai Knights. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/9 "2009-04-08T18:42:25Z")
“White Christmas” first appeared in the film _Holiday Inn_ (1942) when it won a best-song Oscar. Later it inspired the film _White Christmas_ (1954). ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/10 "2009-04-08T18:51:08Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Singin’ in the Rain was also used in Shanghai Knights. And _A Clockwork Orange_. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/11 "2009-04-08T19:51:33Z")
“Hooray for Hollywood” has been in dozens of movies after its introduction, usually as an instrumental. One version that had the original song was in **The Long Goodbye**. “That’s Entertainment,” written for the movie **The Band Wagon** was used in a series of documentaries by that name. Warner Brothers recycled a lot of their film music for their cartoons. You can easily find many examples of standards like “Hooray for Hollywood,” “We’re In the Money,” “The Lady in Red,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” (which was the title of one cartoon), and “I Love to Singa” (another cartoon title) in various Merrie Melodies, and there were many more, since the animators were obligated to use them at one point. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/12 "2009-04-08T20:00:01Z")
I hear that “Singin’ in the Rain” was also used in _A Clockwork Orange_. But I could be wrong. 😉 Ah-nuld whistles “Edelweiss” at the beginning of the mall bathroom fight scene in _True Lies_, a nice nod to both his Austrian heritage and _The Sound of Music_. The famous tango “Por Una Cabeza,” composed by Carlos Gardel and used in an Argentine movie in the mid-Thirties, has since appeared _Schindler’s List_, _Scent of a Woman, Delicatessen_ and _True Lies_. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/13 "2009-04-08T20:02:56Z")
“All Star” by Smash Mouth is usually remembered as being in Shrek, but it was originally written for Ben Stiller’s superhero comedy Mystery Men. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/14 "2009-04-08T20:26:36Z")
Jerry Goldsmith’s theme for the movie _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ was so good it was reused for the TV show _Star Trek: The Next Generation_. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/15 "2009-04-08T20:37:13Z")
Smashing Pumpkins wrote [The End Is the Beginning Is the End](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_Is_the_Beginning_Is_the_End) for the soundtrack of _Batman & Robin_. It came out with some alternate versions, one of which was called “The Beginning Is the End is the Beginning” and had somewhat different lyrics and was “a more melancholic version.” This version of the song appeared in the trailer for _Watchmen_. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/16 "2009-04-10T13:05:28Z")
“Putting on the Ritz” was written for the movie “Putting on the Ritz” but most people can’t hear it without thinking “Young Frankenstein” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-written-for-another-movie/492367/17 "2009-04-10T15:42:51Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Smashing Pumpkins wrote [The End Is the Beginning Is the End](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_Is_the_Beginning_Is_the_End) for the soundtrack of _Batman & Robin_. It came out with some alternate versions, one of which was called “The Beginning Is the End is the Beginning” and had somewhat different lyrics and was “a more melancholic version.” This version of the song appeared in the trailer for _Watchmen_. Yeah! Wished they’d used it in the movie itself. The lyrics actually fit the movie pretty well. Here’s more on it: [Corgan talks 'Watchmen' music](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/07/corghan-talks-w.html)