Random List-Mania: 40 Best Original Movie Songs of the 1990s

I can't let Dick Tracy go quite yet! All that discussion and no tremulous ode to Stephen Sondheim's brilliant song score? It won't stand! Every moment when Breathless Mahoney (Madonna) and 88 Keys (Mandy Patinkin) are in frame together is gold. 

(Eagle-eyed early 90s obsessiveness will know that Mandy Patinkin also pops up briefly in a celebrity-filled party scene in the Madonna documentary "Truth or Dare")

BEST ORIGINAL MOVIE SONGS OF THE 1990s
Beautiful Song Craft and/or Cheesy Epic Ballads For the Wins
* Oscar nominee ** Oscar winner 

1. "Wise Up" -Magnolia (Aimee Mann)
   technically this song first showed up on the Jerry Maguire soundtrack which is why it wasn't eligible for the Oscars for Magnolia but let's make an exception
2. "Sooner or Later"** - Dick Tracy (Stephen Sondheim)
   
   
   
   
3. "Gangsta's Paradise" - Dangerous Minds (Coolio)
   deemed ineligible by Oscar due to sampling -- people were obsessed with the scary new "is this songwriting?" world of sampling back then. What to make of it? 
4. "Stay" - Reality Bites (Lisa Loeb)
5. "Be Our Guest" - Beauty & The Beast (Alan Menken & Howard Ashman)
6. "More" - Dick Tracy (Stephen Sondheim)
7. "You Must Love Me"** - Evita (Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice)
8. "God Help the Outcasts" - Hunchback of Notre Dame (Alan Menken)
   
   32 more tunes after the jump
   
   
9. "Santa Fe" - Newsies (Alan Menken & JAC Redford)
10. "Show Me Heaven" - Days of Thunder (Maria McKee, Eric Rackin, and Jay Rifkin)
11. "Save Me"* -Magnolia (Aimee Mann)
    
    
12. "I'm Checkin' Out" - Postcards from The Edge (Shel Silverstein)
13. "I Have Nothing"* - The Bodyguard (David Foster & Linda Thompson)
14. "Colors of the Wind"** - Pocahontas (Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz)
15. "What Can You Lose" - Dick Tracy (Stephen Sondheim)
    
    
16. "Born Bad" - Natural Born Killers (Cissie Cobb)
17. "Heaven's Light/Hellfire" - Hunchback of Notre Dame (Alan Menken)
18. "Just Around the River Bend" - Pocahontas (Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz)
19. "That Thing You Do!"* - That Thing You Do! (Adam Schlesinger)
20. "Uninvited" - City of Angels (Alanis Morrisette)
    
    
    
     
21. "I Don't Wanna Fight" - What's Love Got To Do With It (Steve DuBerry, Lulu Lawire, Billy Lawrie)
22. "Streets of Philadelphia"** - Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen)
23. "Blame Canada"* - South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut (Trey Parker & Marc Shaiman)
    
    
    
    
24. "Kissing You" - Romeo + Juliet (Des'ree)
25. "This Used to be My Playground" - A League of Their Own (Madonna)
26. "Beauty and the Beast"** - Beauty & The Beast (Alan Menken & Howard Ashman)
27. "If I Never Knew You" - Pocahontas (Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz)
28. "This is Halloween" - The Nightmare Before Christmas ()
    
    
29. "Love Song for a Vampire" - Bram Stoker's Dracula (Annie Lennox)
30. "My Heart Will Go On" ** -Titanic (James Horner & Will Jennings)
31. "Tears in Heaven" - Rush (Eric Clapton & Will Jennings)
32. "The Circle of Life"* - The Lion King (Elton John & Tim Rice)
    
    
33. "Because You Loved Me"* - Up Close and Personal (Diane Warren)
34. "Beautiful Stranger" - Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Madonna)
35. "What's This?" - The Nightmare Before Christmas ()
    
    
36. "Beautiful Maria of My Soul"* - The Mambo Kings (Robert Kraft & Arne Glimcher)
37. "When You Believe"** -The Prince of Egypt (Stephen Schwarz)
38. "How Do I Live"* - Con Air (Diane Warren)
    
    
39. "I Finally Found Someone"* - The Mirror Has Two Faces (Barba Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams, Robert John Lange)
40. "GoldenEye" - GoldenEye (Bono & The Edge)

Honorable Mentions

 

"I'll Remember" - With Honors (Madonna)
"The World is Not Enough" - The World Is Not Enough (Garbage)
"Surrender" - Tomorrow Never Dies (K.D. Lang)

Okay okay. What did we forget? Do any of these songs bring back crazy good memories?

Comments

[Bette Streep]

What great songs . This. used to be my playground - like the Rose in 1979 has me bawling. This is why the Original Song should always have been 5 nominees and not the silly years when there were just 2 or 3 nominees.

And I would like to see the Original song score /adaptation category reintroduced too.

BTW - Nathaniel - thanks for all the great work you do and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[KBJr]

I've always been partial to "Love Is On The Way" from The First Wives Club - "INI" or "Stand Out" from A Goofy Movie.

[Paulie]

"Run to You," "Miss Misery," and "Philadelphia" all should have been in that top 10.

[Sawyer]

1. #1 Crush - Garbage, Romeo+Juliet.

[DJDeeJay]

Yep, also agree with others that Miss Misery and Philadelphia should've made this list, and since I'm a Janet fan I'll also push for "Again," which is just plain pretty as well as melancholic.

[meghaliz]

Wow! Someone actually remembers that "Tears in Heaven" was originally written for a film. Just about everyone I know thinks the Unplugged version was his first recording of it. The entire Rush score is incredible. Eric Clapton was seriously snubbed of any recognition for his incredible work on that film.

And, someone else is familiar with film Grace of My Heart and the incredible music that was in it.

Both "Secret Garden" and "It Must Have Been Love" were not written directly for the films they were in. "Secret Garden" was originally released as Bruce Springsteen's new track off his Greatest Hits compilation nearly two years before Jerry Maguire was released in theaters. It didn't actually become a hit until the film.

Roxette originally released "It Must Have Been Love" as a Christmas track in 1987. It was originally subtitled (Christmas for the Brokenhearted). Pretty Woman was the vehicle that made it a hit song.

Mo Money soundtrack had some really fun, interesting original tracks (though one contained samples): "Money Can't Buy You Love" and "Best Things in Life are for Free".

I also loved just about every original film song Modonna did in the 90's: "I'll Remember", "This Used to be my Playground" and the entire I'm Breathless album (some of it written by Sondheim and some of it hers).

The original music for Batman Forever and Batman and Robin was killer.

"Stay" and "Again" are forgotten gems, as is Neil Young's "Philadelphia".

Another 90's forgotten film song I love, "The One and Only" by Chesney Hawkes, originally written for the British film Buddy's Song but more well known for the opening sequence in Doc Hollywood.

[Billy]

I LOVE your love for Hunchback... but I think tied with outcasts for best song is "Out There", the ultimate outsider anthem... it is also superbly performed by Tom Hulce... I may also be biased because it sits perfectly in my range and i sing it in the car at least once a week...

I'd also agree that "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2 is a gorgeous song... and perfectly capitalized on the then-not-overplayed-in-animal-abuse-commercials lovely voice of Sarah McLachlan.

Also, What can you lose from Dick Tracy is delightful, so well done there.

@waflanagan