Best Original Song Oscar- What Happened?

One of the traditionally most ridiculous categories to predict, beyond the short films, is the Best Original Song Oscar.

The big complaint this year is that three songs from Enchanted got nominated. Now, I understand that Alan Menken has history on his side: eight wins for Disney standards like "Under the Sea," "A Whole New World," and "Colors of The Wind" from The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Pocahontas, respectively. So I actually went to YouTube and checked out the three songs. "So Close" is okay- kind of a cheese-ball ballad that really feels dated to me, but I could see why it's nominated, at least in a year with a Randy Newman Pixar song or something. But both "That's How You Know" and "Happy Working Song" are complete pieces of fluff- pale imitations of earlier Disney musical songs that are absolutely nothing special.

The August Rush song, "Raise It Up," is nice and soulfull- but honestly some of the after-school rap lyrics are honestly cringe inducing. Also, children singing is very hit or miss for me.

So here are my choices, from the original list of 59, for what I'd vote for.

"Do You Feel Me" - Diane Warren (perf. by Anthony Hamilton)
from American Gangster



Randomly sung during a nightclub scene in Ridley Scott's all-but overlooked crime drama, this song left an immediate impression- it could have been any random seventies cover, but Diane Warren (an Oscar song giant herself) captured the soul of the era, and Anthony Hamilton delivers it. No offense to Amy Adams' singing voice, but come on.

"My Hands Are Shaking" - Sondre Lerche
from Dan In Real Life



If I had known that Norwegian troubadour Sondre Lerche composed the score and wrote several songs for Dan in Real Life, I probably would have gotten off my ass and seen it. As it is, you shouldn't have to be a former Beatle to get an Oscar nomination for a pop song.

"Pop! Goes My Heart" - Andrew Wyatt (perf. by Wyatt and hugh Grant)
from Music and Lyrics



Good song? Yeah, it's cheesy and captures the era. But mostly, how awesome would it be to see this performed at the Oscars? (assuming there is an Oscars).

"Guaranteed" - Eddie Vedder
from Into the Wild



Usually I'm not the biggest Eddie Vedder fan, but this seems to fit the mood of the story perfectly. What's with the Academy not liking pop stars anyway? This getting the shaft, after winning the Golden Globe, is pretty strange on the heels of both Vedder's and Johnny Greenwood's late-breaking disqualifications for Best Score.

And finally, the only one of the academy's five I agree with:

"Falling Slowly"- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
from Once



Curiously, this song seems like it shouldn't have been nominated, as per the Academy's bitchy rules (it was written well before the film, and even released on Hansard and Irglova's "The Swell Season"). But as long as the voters were ignorant enough of it to nominate it, there's no way it should lose.

I would be well more pissed than any other Oscar fiasco (including Crash over Brokeback Mountain, Titanic over L. A. Confidential, anything) if "Falling Slowly" doesn't win the statue.