If there is another thread that has already used this idea, please ahem me. I couldn't find one.

Every time I hear Eric Clapton's Layla, my first thought is of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.

Every time I hear Iron Butterfly's In-a-Godda-di-vida, instant flash to Michael Mann's Manhunter.

I can't hear any version of Danny Boy and not think of the Coen Bros. Miller's Crossing.

These are songs that had a definite life before they were used in these films, but their use was so powerful that my first association is now with the film, and not the song's pre-life. What other examples hit home for the rest of you?

This is one of my favorite scenes in any film.

I can't listen to "Hey Now You're a Rock Star" without getting images of Shrek in my mind.

Baal_T'shuvah wrote:
: Every time I hear Iron Butterfly's In-a-Godda-di-vid, instant flash to Michael Mann's Manhunter.

I think of that Simpsons episode where Homer says, "Remember when we used to make out to this hymn, Marge?"

Though that might not count, since Homer is responding to a COVER of the song, and not to the famous recording used by Mann etc. I assume, for the purposes of this thread, that we are NOT referring to songs that were originally released on certain movies' soundtracks, and we are NOT referring to movies that featured brand-new recordings of older songs (such as Ewan McGregor's cover of 'Your Song' in Moulin Rouge, which blows away Every. Other. Version. of that song that I think I have ever heard).

However, a recording that was originally released on ONE movie's soundtrack, and then re-used in a definitive (or re-definitive) way on ANOTHER movie's soundtrack, might qualify for this thread. In which case, I nominate Aimee Mann's 'Wise Up', which was originally released on the Jerry Maguire soundtrack (at least, I don't THINK it was on any earlier albums) but is now remembered by everyone, everywhere for the way it was used three years later in Magnolia.

Then again, since I don't even REMEMBER that song from Jerry Maguire, maybe it would be incorrect to say that Magnolia "redefined" it for me. For all intents and purposes, the first time I really noticed or thought about the song was when I saw Magnolia. Hmmm.

Young Frankenstein: Puttin' on the Ritz

"Blue Velvet" in BLUE VELVET

"Let's Get It On" in HIGH FIDELITY

"In Your Eyes" in SAY ANYTHING

"Rain And Tears" in THREE TIMES

"More Than This" in LOST IN TRANSLATION

"What A Wonderful World" in GOOD MORNING VIETNAM

"Wonderful World" in WITNESS

"Time Of The Season," "A Rose For Emily," "She's Not There," "Woman" in DEAR WENDY

"I Got You Babe" in GROUNDHOG DAY

"Son Of A Preacher Man" in PULP FICTION

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" in THE BIG CHILL

"Summer Wind" in THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE

"The Logical Song" in MAGNOLIA

"The Good Life" in MATCHSTICK MEN

"Easy To Be Hard" in ZODIAC

"Cold Water" in GIRL IN THE CAFE

"How Deep Is Your Love" in ADAM'S APPLES

"Nothing Really Blue" in THE PRINCESS & THE WARRIOR

"Tell It Like It Is" in FORGIVENESS

"Across The Universe" in PLEASANTVILLE

Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 in The Great Dictator
Barber's Adagio for Strings in Platoon
"We'll Meet Again" in Dr. Strangelove
"Et in terra pax hominibus" from Vivaldi's Gloria in D Major in Runaway Train
"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" in Benny and Joon
"Oh Yeah" in Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Another from Zodiac... Hurdy Gurdy Man.

or The Elephant Man
or Amelie
or Flashdance
or El Norte
or S1m0ne
or The Scarlet Letter (1995)
or Sicko (2007)
or Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)

Hmm. Perhaps it's time for a moratorium on Barber's Adagio for Strings at the movies? Perhaps the only classical music film makers listen to is in other people's films?


Ah! Don't remember that song - when was it used? - but your film did have memorable sequences with "Danke Schoen" and "Twist And Shout" that definitely redefined how I hear both songs.


Ah yes!

Re: Ferris Bueller, did anybody here actually KNOW the song 'Oh Yeah' before they heard it in the film? If not, could the film really be said to have "REdefined" the song for you?

Also re: Ferris Bueller, I am wondering if a movie has to PLAY a song, music and all, in order to REDEFINE it for someone. To wit, I am thinking of the scene where Ferris, speaking and not singing, says something like, "I don't believe in isms. As John Lennon said, 'I don't believe in the Beatles, I just believe in me.' Good point there." I believe Ferris is quoting a line from Lennon's song 'God', but the song is never actually played within the film. If someone was familiar with the song BEFORE seeing this film, and if the dialogue in which Ferris quotes that line had redefined how someone HEARD that song, would that qualify for the purposes of this thread?

I don't think I had ever heard "Oh Yeah" before Ferris Bueller, but unfortunately heard it in many John Hughes knock-offs afterwards.

However, I had heard Lust for Life long before I saw the terrific opening for Trainspotting, and now can only think of hooligans running amok whenever I hear it nowadays.

Heck, I had never heard "Twist and Shout" before Ferris Bueller! That's how sheltered I was.

But Peter has a point about "Oh Yeah." The film might have introduced the song for all I know.

"Mad World" in Donnie Darko.
"Mickey Mouse Club Theme" in Full Metal Jacket.

"Tiny Dancer" in Almost Famous .

"Ballad of a Thin Man" in I'm Not There . Before I saw the film, the song was just kinda annoying--and I'm a huge Dylan fan. Now when I listen, I see Cate Blanchett lobbing a femur at Mr. Jones, and that somehow makes it more bearable.


And--not sure this counts for a number of reasons--but "Rocket Man" always brings to mind Stewie Griffin from "Family Guy." (Definitely doesn't count, I guess, since it's a parody of William Shatner's almost-parodic rendition)

"Fix You" and "I Wanna Be Sedated" as sung in Young at Heart
"Mad World" in Donnie Darko
"Let's Get It On" in High Fidelity
"I'm Too Sexy" in Zoolander. No, wait, that didn't change anything.

People Are Strange in The Lost Boys

Amen! Of all Doors songs, that one always seemed a bit of a ditty, without the sort of dark subtext of so much of their music. Now I hear "People Are Strange" and only think of vampires.

Hmm. Ought to see that movie again. Though I wish it had ended better. All that mood and dread and tension, resolved with outrageous OTT action stuff. Oh well. Nobody's perfect. (But they are strange.)

This is stretching what I originally had in mind, as it isn't a popular song nor do I think you'd hear this played much on the radio. I was listening to the soundtrack to Powaqqatsi yesterday, and as soon as Anthem Part 1 and 2 were played I immediately flashed on The Truman Show.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is about to regloss a certain song for a lot of people. (Namely, the Barry Manilow version of I Can't Smile Without You.)

Oo oo! The sickest "X-Files" episode EVER -- "Home" -- totally redefined Johnny Mathis's "Wonderful, Wonderful" for me and a lot of X-philes. Now it means inbred hayseed mutants coming to kill your family.

The End in Apocalypse Now.

Yup.

I don't know if I'll ever hear "Sprout and the Bean," by Joanna Newsom, again without associating it with its placement in The Strangers... the sad, wistful calm (of sorts) before a very dark storm. I'm still grappling with my feelings about this film.

Super Freak in Little Miss Sunshine.

"Head over Heels" and "Under the Milky Way" perfectly used in Donnie Darko

"Stranglehold", poorly used in both Rock Star and Wonderland

"We Will Rock You" and "Golden Years" in A Knights Tale


all the Supertramp in Magnolia

Steeler's Wheel - Stuck in the Middle With You - Reservoir Dogs

Mine too!

In the early days of Premiere magazine, they would devote an article to a shot-by-shot account of a scene in a recent film. For their August 1990 issue that section was devoted to the Danny Boy sequence of Miller's Crossing. I think that's where I read the Coen Bros. reference that anyone who is shot by a machine gun is dancing the "Thompson Jitterbug." Has nothing to do with this thread, just thought it was a kinda fun bit of trivia.


edit: I was able to find a webpage that reprinted the Premiere article. You can find it here. Unfortunately, it does not contain the photos that accompanied the original article.