My Top 10 Oscar Nominated Songs that didn’t Win

 

  Just because a song doesn’t receive an award doesn’t mean it goes unappreciated. When it comes to Oscar Nominated songs that didn’t win the Best Original Song award, there’s a number of great ones that have stuck with fans and viewers for years after, despite not taking home the gold. You name it, the “Footloose” theme from “Footloose”, “Papa can you Hear Me?” from “Yentl”, “On the Road Again” from “Honeysuckle Rose”, “The Prayer” from “Quest of Camelot”, and several other hits were nominated for Best song, but didn’t win, and yet are still remembered fondly to this day. So, I felt the time was right to shine some light on my personal favorite songs that were nominated at the Oscars, but didn’t win. I had initially tinkered with the idea to make this a Top 50 countdown, as there’s so many great songs to highlight, but I decided to keep it simple, and rank my own personal top 10 favorite Oscar nominated songs that I most feel deserved the Best Original Song award.     

 

#10 “Everything is Awesome!” (The Lego Movie)

This is arguably one of the catchiest, and most thoroughly joyful songs on my list. I’d honestly go so far as to say it was a generations “Zippity Doo Dah”. In the movie, this song takes place in an everyday work environment, and thankfully our lead characters are the jolliest people every, making every day a big upbeat musical number. The visuals are colorful, the environment is very active, and the lyrics are so simple they're bound to get stuck in your head. Despite loosing to the more sentimental and inspiring song “Glory” from 2014’s “Selma”, I can’t help feeling sad this toe-tapper of a song number didn’t win the award. Still, “Everything is Awesome!” has earned its place in the party-house hall of fame. 

 

#9 “May it Be” (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)

I didn’t go into the first “Lord of the Rings” movie expecting to be won-over by an original song, but Enya’s cover of the song “May it Be” is one of those special surprises that has stuck with me over the years. It’s a song with a dual nature of being somber and moody in tone, yet blissful and spirited in melody and passion. It perfectly compliments the feel of “The Lord of the Rings” franchise, and still cares this moving effect to this day. For some odd reason, it lost the Best Original Song Award to Randy Newman’s “If I didn’t Have You” from “Monsters, Inc.”, which was fine … I suppose … but for my money, it was not on the same level of either quality or beauty as “May it Be”.   

#8 “Believe” (The Polar Express)

Josh Groban has some terrific Christmas albums, most of which are his versions of already classic songs, but his best original holiday song in my opinion is "Believe". This is one of those songs that can just lift my spirit, and put me in a perfect, joyful holiday mood. The song was featured in the animated 2004 motion picture “The Polar Express”, and that’s when I first took note of how beautiful this song is. I love the theme, I love the melody, I love the message, and Josh Groban just puts his whole heart and soul into this, making it a magical, uplifting song, and one that should definitely be heard around the holidays. It lost that year to Jorge Drexler’s song “Al Otro Lado Del Ril” from the 2004 picture “The Motorcycle Diaries”, and while it’s cool that a lesser known, foreign language song won the award … I still love Josh Groban’s “Believe”, and it has a secure place among my favorite contemporary Christmas songs.

#7 “The Power of Love” (Back to the Future)

Huey Lewis's opening song “The Power of Love” was rightfully nominated at the Oscars for Best Original Song, but it lost to Lionel Richie Double-Dagger’s “Say You, Say Me” from the movie "White Knights" … who else remembers that one? Anyway, Huey’s Lewis’s “The Power of Love” still went on to become a record-breaking hit, toping numerous Billboards, and it’s absolutely one of the films many musical highlights. Just like the movie “Back to the Future”, I’d also call this opening song a decade staple in its own right, and carries a beat that’s still just as infectiously upbeat today.

 

#6 “This is Me!” (The Greatest Showman)

For all the reservations with this 2017 movie musical, it’s personally one of my favorites of the past decade, and one of my favorite song compilations from any musical. Of course, I can’t forget the Oscar nominated song “This Is Me”, which is exceptionally uplifting, and in my personal opinion should have won the Academy Award … even though the song “Remember Me” from Pixar’s “Coco” was quite good too. Never the less, I found “This is Me!” to be a perfect mix of triumphant, inspiring, and a real toe-tapper all in one package. It’s easily a bright spot in this mixed, yet still favorable movie musical.

 

#5 The “For Your Eyes Only” Theme (For Your Eyes Only)

Of all the classic James Bond Theme songs, Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only” theme from the 1981 picture “For Your Eyes Only” stands out as one of my absolute favorites. While Sheena Easton’s face is a little to frequently featured in the opening credits, I honestly find this theme song to be the most beautiful and spell-binding of all the Bond themes. This number lost to “Arthur’s Theme (Best that you Can Do)” from the 1981 movie “Arthur”, but for me, I feel this was a year that Bond deserved to take home some Oscar Gold. While this has never been one of my favorite Bond movies, this Oscar nominated song is still hands down the bright spot of the film, and for me is the most captivating of 007 themes.

 

#4 “I’m Just Ken” (Barbie)

The 2023 picture “Barbie” did in-fact take home some Oscar gold for Best Original Song, but it was for Billie Eilish’s song “What was I Made For?”, which is thematically the more rich and beautiful song … but with that said … Ryan Gosling’s big song number “I’m Just Ken” absolutely slaps, and made for one heck of a showstopper presentation at the Academy Awards. It was a big highlight segment of the film, the tempo goes through a number of riveting peaks and vales, it was stuck in my head for weeks on end, and it was honestly my whole inspiration for putting this list together in the first place. Maybe it wasn’t as thoughtful as “What was I Made For?”, but regardless, “I’m Just Ken” was unmistakably my personal favorite original movie song of 2023. 

 

#3 “Go the Distance” (Disney’s Hercules)

There’s a number of great songs from Disney animated movies that were nominated at the Oscars, and didn’t win, but to avoid repetition of filling this list entirely with Disney songs, I just wanted to single out one of my all-time favorites of from their animated musical catalogue. When it comes to Disney’s “Hercules”, “Go the Distance” is a triumphant anthem for a hero, and while it may not be a house hold title like some others, it’s always been one of my most treasured. Even Michael Bolton’s rendition was pretty darn good, and found its way on the top of the hot contemporary tracks chart. It’s initially sung by a young teenage Hercules that doesn’t fit in with the people around him, but it really highlights the better parts of his character. While it had no chance of beating Celine Dion's "My Heart will Go On" from "Titanic", I still find this Disney song to be an inspiring musical piece, with an uplifting tone, a triumphant score, and it’s arguably one of the most underappreciated Disney songs that I really hope gets more attention.

 

#2 “Everything I do, I do for You” (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)

Brain Adams hit it out of the park back in 1991 with this Grammy Award winning song, topping multiple charts, and naturally was nominated at the Oscars for best original song, but understandably lost to Celine Dion’s cover theme for Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” theme. Regardless, the Brian Adams song still holds up all these years later, and closes the film on a high note. One minor announce I have to address is that when the movie was originally released on VHS, the end credits played over a music video of “Everything I do, I Do for You”, which is awesome, as I’ve always hatted those dull, black backdrops, and I always want something to fill that empty space. Unfortunately, when it was transferred to DVD, the song still played over the credits, but the music video in the background was absent, and that bummed me out. Even the extended cut on Blue-Ray didn’t put the video back in, and I can’t figure why … my guise is that it’s some kind of ownership issue. Regardless, the song is still a decade staple, and one of the biggest highlights to come from the movie.

 

Before I reveal my Number One favorite Oscar Nominated song, here are some quick Honorable Mentions …

“The Ghostbusters Theme” (Ghostbusters)

“Rainbow Connection” (The Muppets Movie)

“The Journey” (Anastasia)

“Blazing Saddles theme” (Blazing Saddles)

“Somewhere Out There” (An American Tail)

 

#1 “Eye of the Tigger” (Rocky 3)

While the song “Gona Fly Now” from the first “Rocky” rightfully won the it’s Best Song Oscar, and is a signature anthem for the franchise … it’s Survivors “Eye of the Tigger” that has always stuck with me as the characters signature theme. Whenever I think back on the character, or the franchise, it’s always mentally linked with this song, and it’s always stuck we me as a personal favorite of mine. Whenever I’m working out, or hard at work on a project, this is one of my top songs to give me that boost to keep pushing myself. Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan wrote a generational hit with this song, and I feel confident in saying it still leaves an impact over the years. It lost the Best Original Song Oscar that year to “Up Where We Belong” from the 1982 picture “An Officer and a Gentleman”, which is another member track in it’s own right … but for me, there’s no looking past “Eye of the Tigger”, and personally, it’s my favorite Oscar Nominated Song that didn’t win the award.

Thanks for reading my countdown … and continue to enjoy both the movies and music you Love!