songs whose fame has long since eclipsed that of the movie they originally appeared in

"Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile?

A bunch of Elvis songs, not just themes but also stuff like "Return To Sender" & "Wooden Heart".

was gonna suggest beyonce's 'check on it' from that pink panther thing but i guess it didn't end up on the soundtrack? didnt see the movie but the video had hella steve martin fr sure

"We Have All the Time in the World" from On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The song was not registered in the music rating charts in the UK when first released, only becoming well known 25 years later, as part of a Guinness beer commercial after My Bloody Valentine chose to cover it for charity.

cannot parse leap from guinness to mbv

Maria McKee, "Show Me Heaven" - Days of Thunder, right?

Think "Unchained Melody" wins this.

Think "Unchained Melody" wins this.

― Stevie T, Sunday, July 17, 2011 10:45 AM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark

There are songs like I Only Have Eyes For you that I think began in 1920s or 30s films or stageshows that are much better known in later versions. There's a history of stageshow songs becoming adopted into the folk canon too. think that broadens the remit of the question though.

& yeah, think Unchained Melody dates back quite a way to early film musicals or beyond doesn't it?

Do You Know Where You're Going To? - Theme from Mahogany

Rock Me Amadeus

B-Real, Coolio, Method Man, LL Cool J And Busta Rhymes - Hit Em High (from Space Jam)

'Together in Electric Dreams' from, uh, Electric Dreams.

Came here to post this. I didn't even know it was from a movie until a couple of weeks ago when I was playing it doing the washing up and my wife came out and was like "why are you playing the theme song from Electric Dreams?"

Ha! I always knew it was from a film, but had to go look up what that film was called, despite it actually being in the name of the song.

Gold Diggers of 1933 has been a film school staple for decades, esp. for the climactic "Forgotten Man" number.

While I do agree that Gold Diggers of 1933 remains a famous film, particularly for people who attend 'film school', I think that there needs to be a bit of an ironing out of the thread concept before dismissing this suggestion. Because as I read it, there is no question that the song 'We're in the Money' is about 1000x as famous as the film, and thus is perfectly valid. However, if you want to go for "songs that are still famous even though nobody remembers the film", that is a different matter.

Hmm, does Morricone's main theme from "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" count? Obv. linked to the film, but seems to get used in adverts / comedy sketches etc as a signifier of westerns / shootouts etc. Everyone knows the music, but does everyone know the film? (talking about normal people here, not ilxors)

I would say yes, the film is pretty much as famous as the music. People riff on the concept, the aesthetic, the title all the time. It's definitely still well within the public consciousness. Even if one edged out the other, 'eclipsed' would not be the word here.

Dr Dre - Keep Their Heads Ringin'

Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?" from the Dr. Doolittle soundtrack

Also, "Try Again" from Romeo Must Die

Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come

& yeah, think Unchained Melody dates back quite a way to early film musicals or beyond doesn't it?

No! Theme song for a prison drama called Unchained, and it's, um, just let me fetch my wikipedia, 1955. First thing that came into my head for this.

What's New Pussycat?

"Rock Around The Clock"

'I Believe I Can Fly' from Space Jam

i think this is the first one of these in my memory that i'd forgotten was anything to do with, you know, cartoon animals

the best i can come up with is the music the muppets used for the 'ma na ma na doo doo d'doo doo' bit

Came here to post this. I didn't even know it was from a movie until a couple of weeks ago when I was playing it doing the washing up and my wife came out and was like "why are you playing the theme song from Electric Dreams?"

Actually too bad it (the movie, that is) isn't remembered more fondly. It's a great movie, and a great soundtrack along with it.

Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" -- originally single before Batman Forever but that's when it became big

― Mordy, Saturday, July 16, 2011 6:45 PM (Yesterday)

The pop edit of Jewel's "Foolish Games" as well.

"live and let die"?

it's not like the movie is completely forgotten, but...

Play Misty for Me isn't forgotten--probably no Eastwood film post-Leone is--but Roberta Flack's version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" has certainly eclipsed it in terms of familiarity.

there is no question that the song 'We're in the Money' is about 1000x as famous as the film, and thus is perfectly valid. However, if you want to go for "songs that are still famous even though nobody remembers the film", that is a different matter.

But "eclipsed" in the thread title refers only to the latter reading, no? "As famous as" means the song has not eclipsed the film. Also, why the scare quotes around "film school"?

the best i can come up with is the music the muppets used for the 'ma na ma na doo doo d'doo doo' bit

Piero Umiliani, originally from some Swedish porno I can't remember the name of- I'd definitely say that counts.

id argue 'theme from new york, new york'

wait, is someone arguing that Golddiggers of 1933 is relatively as well known as "We're in the Money," a song used in countless tv ads?

yeah but it's kevin thingy bodega, he's mental

lol @ "kevin thingy bodega" - autocorrect or classic history mayne?

also knows more about film than anyone here

but probably to someone less acquainted with film history the song would seem more popular

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAX0qyF9KU4/S1c8K63dbLI/AAAAAAAAAaA/jCGz3dLU854/s400/R-1063410-1217694094.jpeg

but probably to someone less acquainted with film history the song would seem more popular

― corey, Sunday, July 17, 2011 9:05 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

no... the song's fame has clearly eclipsed that of the movie, it is crazy to suggest otherwise

"Nature Boy" from The Boy With Green Hair

'A Kind Of Magic' from Highlander?

"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" maybe? Of course there is an obvious reason it's better remembered than the film it's from

"Green Dolphin Street" from film of the same name

The Kinks, "God's Children," "The Way Love Used To Be," "Willesden Green," all from the soundtrack to Percy. Has anyone even seen that film?

("fame" in this case being relative)

i've seen bits of it, late at night.

No, never seen it.

Do the Right Thing and "Fight the Power" is a draw--probably inseparable for a lot of people.

John Parr - St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)

Dusty Springfield "The Look Of Love"

(originally written for the Casino Royale spoof)

Also on the Bacharach/David tip, "A House Is Not A Home".

Rock Me Amadeus

― Siegbran, Sunday, 17 July 2011 12:21 (9 hours ago)

..except that it was only inspired by "Amadeus" and didn't appear anywhere in the movie (which is actually a little unusual imo!)

wait "nature boy" was from a movie? huh. well, that wins.

we have all the time in the world is a good one, even though OHMSS is the best bond film with the best john barry cues.

carry on.

did anyone do "into the groove" which was in "desperately seeking susan"?

Sorry, wrong brackets.

"I can Dream About You" from Streets of Fire

"Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" from At the Circus

Dylan's "Things Have Changed" from Wonder Boys

Roger Daltrey: Quicksilver Lightning

I'm kidding about Roger Daltrey song, but not about this:

Lisa Loeb: Stay

"All Star" from Shrek and Mystery Men ?????

So I guess this is going to be another thread where 90% of the answers range between unconvincing and wrong? Lots of these songs were released before the movie mentioned, and lots of other are inextricably linked to the movie.

You know on Amazon where people answer questions about a product ("Does it support bluetooth?") with things like "Sorry, I haven't received mine yet, so I don't know". Whelp, if you don't have an answer, you don't have to enter one.

I think Que Sera, Sera has been the best answer so far, that scene actually felt really incongruous when I eventually saw The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Lots of these songs were released before the movie mentioned, and lots of other are inextricably linked to the movie.

was gonna say. and to note that a famous film song is no longer so linked does not prove that it has "eclipsed" the movie's fame.

I feel like All Star's connection to Mystery Men is often forgotten, but it's connection to Shrek is very strong in its meme-ification.

Yeah imo there's a lot of rong here mostly in the category of claiming films are forgotten when they're wildly popular, but maybe the other problem is ppl interpreting it as 'songs where the public has forgotten the song and movie were linked,' which might be where we're getting all the arbitrarily-tacked-on hits that aren't in any sense the film theme or whatever. In practice most folks rarely know that a song comes from a particular film in the first place unless it's super obvious like Men in Black or the video makes a big big deal out of it. Thread is most interesting when it's films that have completely vanished from people's miinds, and songs that have never fallen out of favor, imo.

can't imagine anyone anywhere has rescreened buddy's song any time in the last decade or so but chesney hawkes' 'one and only' still haunts the airwaves of uk commercial radio

I feel like All Star's connection to Mystery Men is often forgotten, but it's connection to Shrek is very strong in its meme-ification.

yea probably should've mentioned, Mystery Men is what I think fits the thread

people don't really remember this but the video was a tie-in to the movie, hell Ben Stiller is front and center in the first scene, and it's not just clips from the film either. then it got picked up in another, much more popular film, and seems to have even outlived that

David Essex, "Silver Dream Machine"