Notablog

Song of the Day: Holiday Inn (“Be Careful, It’s My Heart”), words and music by Irving Berlin, was originally slated to be the big hit from that 1942 film, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. But it got eclipsed by a little song about a “White Christmas” that sold 50…

Song of the Day: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (“Soundtrack Suite”) [YouTube link], composed by Henry Mancini, is one of the hallmarks of this 1961 rom-com, based on the Truman Capote 1958 novella, directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Audrey Hepburn. Mancini would take home Oscars for this wonderful score and the…

Song of the Day: Touch of Evil (“Soundtrack Suite”) [YouTube link], composed by Henry Mancini, enhances this 1958 film noir, directed by and starring Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, and Marlene Dietrich. The Mancini score was deeply inspired by Welles’s cinematic vision. Tomorrow, another Mancini soundtrack suite will be…

Song of the Day: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (“Soundtrack Suite”) [YouTube link] was composed by the immortal Ennio Morricone for the 1966 “spaghetti Western“, directed by Sergio Leone. The film was the third in the director’s “Dollars Trilogy“, which included 1964’s “Fistful of Dollars” and 1965’s “For…

Song of the Day: A Patch of Blue (“Main Theme”) [YouTube link] was composed by the great Jerry Goldsmith, who was born on this date in 1929. Goldsmith received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for this score to this poignant 1965 film, starring Sidney Poitier.

Song of the Day: Emerald, Texas (“Golden Coreopsis”) [link], composed by my friend Michael Gordon Shapiro, is featured in the 2014 film, directed by George Adams. It is an update of “The Wizard of Oz” set in Emerald, Texas. Quite simply, it’s a lovely theme.