Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Best Actress Playlist

A couple of weeks ago, I randomly noticed that in my iTunes I had three songs whose titles corresponded to the titles of three of Bette Davis' Oscar nominations. I thought this was a funny coincidence so I tried to see if I could come up with any others. I didn't--you try finding a song called Mr. Skeffington!--but it got me thinking about what other Best Actress-titled songs I could find in my iTunes. Here's what I came up with, in order of the Oscar nomination:

Ann Harding, Holiday

'Holiday' by Green Day
'Holiday' by Madonna

Bette Davis, Dangerous

'Dangerous'
by Monrose

Norma Shearer, Romeo & Juliet

'Romeo and Juliet'
by The Killers

Bette Davis, Jezebel

'Jezebel'
by Chely Wright

Irene Dunne, Love Affair

'Was it Just Another Love Affair?'
by The Eurythmics

Bette Davis, The Letter

'The Letter'
by Michael Johns and Carly Smithson

Susan Hayward, My Foolish Heart

'My Foolish Heart'
by Paula Abdul

Katharine Hepburn, Summertime

'Summertime'
by Fantasia Barrino

Faye Dunaway, Bonnie and Clyde

'03 Bonnie & Clyde'
by Jay-Z and Beyoncé

Ali MacGraw, Love Story

'Love Story'
by Taylor Swift

Liza Minnelli, Cabaret

'Cabaret'
by Liza Minnelli

Barbra Streisand, The Way We Were

'The Way We Were'
by Barbra Streisand

Bette Midler, The Rose

'The Rose'
by Bette Midler

Gena Rowlands, Gloria

'Gloria'
by Laura Branigan

Sissy Spacek, Missing

'Missing'
by Everything But the Girl

Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams

'Sweet Dreams'
by Beyoncé
'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' by The Eurythmics

Jessica Lange, The Music Box

'Music Box Dancer'
by Frank Mills

Kathy Bates, Misery

'Misery' by P!nk and Steven Tyler

Angela Bassett, What's Love Got to Do With It?

'What's Love Got to Do With It'
by Tina Turner

Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas

'Leaving Las Vegas'
by Sheryl Crow

Juliette Binoche, Chocolat

'Chocolate'
by Kylie Minogue

Judi Dench, Iris

'Iris'
by The Goo Goo Dolls

Diane Lane, Unfaithful

'Unfaithful'
by Rihanna

Charlize Theron, Monster

'Monster'
by Lady GaGa

Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line

'I Walk the Line'
by Johnny Cash

And, in case you're missing any and want to complete this amazing playlist, click on this link and you can download them.

I know this playlist is hardly exhaustive, so does anyone have any suggestions? There's a song from the 80's called 'Suddenly, Last Summer' but I wasn't able to find it online. And there has to be songs called 'Queen,' 'Blue Sky' and 'A Man and a Woman,' but I haven't come across them. I'm hoping some of my more music savvy peeps can help out in that regard. Bonus points to anyone who can find a song called 'The Story of Adèle H.'

7 comments:

NicksFlickPicks said...

If I wanted to overload on all my favorite things at once, I'd watch Bette Davis in The Letter while listening to PJ Harvey's song "The Letter," from Uh Huh Her. It could still happen. That's my suggestion. (Loved this, of course.)

Also, if you're throwing in "The Rose," "What's Love...," etc., why not "Sweet Dreams" by Patsy Cline?

David Rush said...

This is awesome! :)

David

xxxxx

Dame James said...

Nick: I've heard of PJ Harvey but I know absolutely nothing about her music. I will definitely track that one down now.

And the only reason I didn't add Patsy's 'Sweet Dreams' (as well as Edith Piaf's 'La Vie en Rose') is because I didn't have it in my iTunes. No slight against it, I just don't own the song.

David: Glad you liked it!

Glenn Dunks said...

I must say, the thought of "Gloria" appearing in Gloria is a humourous one!

"Precious" by Depeche Mode is probably my favourite DM track. "Precious" by Annie Lennox is fine, too.

I remember there being a country song called "Elizabeth". ... okay, a quick Wiki search shows me it's by The Statler Brothers from 1984.

And, of course, Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago"! Roy Orbison' "Pretty Woman"! Bruce Springsteen's (or Everything But the Girl's) "Missing"! Daft Punk's "Face to Face"! The Seekers' "Gorgy Girl"!

Wikipedia tells me there was a Eurovision song called "You Can Count on Me" from 1986.

Wasn't "Music of the Heart" also the theme song by Gloria Estefan and N Sync? Did they have a song called "Sunset Boulevard" from the Broadway adaptation?

I know there are multiple songs called "Afterglow". Missy Higgins, Sarah McLachlan, INXS and Tina Turner come to mind.

There's "Our Town" from Cars.

"Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand and "Star" by Erasure are almost right.

Meanwhile "Suddenly Last Summer" is indeed a song and it's by The Motels.

I'd suggest that "Romeo and Juliet" by Roxy Music or the Indigo Girls is better than The Killers' one, but to each their own. :)

Did I help? I got most of those from my iTunes or my own general knowledge so there's probably a lot more if you do detailed searches of Wikipedia or Discogs.

J.D. said...

A bunch of random songs I already knew and/or researched:

Norah Jones, "Sunrise"
Paul McCartney, "Coquette"
Hot Chocolate, "Emma"
Grace Moore, "One Night of Love" (too duh?)
Meg & Dia, "Rebecca"
The Monkees, "Since You Went Away"
Miranda Lambert, "Love Letters"
High Contrast, "Brief Encounter"
Within Temptation, "Caged"
Jay-Z f/ J. Cole, "A Star is Born"
N.E.R.D, "Baby Doll"
Nina Simone, "Wild is the Wind"
Bane, "Some Came Running"
Deep Blue Something, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (duh)
Nine Inch Nails, "The Collector"
Girls, "Darling"
U2, "A Man and a Woman"
The Beatles, "Julia"
Empire of the Sun, "Country"
Maureen McGovern, "The Morning After"
Hello Saferide, "Anna"
Maroon 5, "Misery"
David Bowie, "Dead Man Walking"
Depeche Mode, "Precious"
Delphic, "Doubt"

Also: Vampire Weekend, "Holiday"

Yes, I'm bored.

NicksFlickPicks said...

the Eurythmics' "Julia" from their 1984 album is a keeper, too

rinconxavier said...

Diane Keaton, Annie Hall, Siouxsie & The Banshees, "Hall Of Mirrors"