Rap and Hip-Hop Crash into Movie Soundtracks and Lyrics

The 2006 movie song of the year "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from the movie Hustle and Flow rapped Oscar up side the head. It beat a Dolly Parton tune from the movie Transamerica and a song from Crash. The sight of the group Three 6 Mafia accepting the award - no tux, flashing gold teeth, and plenty of bling - paved the way for new experiences in movie soundtracks and movie lyrics. The 2006 original score was hauntingly elegant, but came from another non-traditional movie, Brokeback Mountain. 

Movie soundtracks and movie music lyrics contribute to the joy of the movie experience. Whether it is John William's sweeping score for Star Wars or his forbidding shark approach in Jaws, the best movie soundtracks bring to mind key film scenes or set the tone of a film. A soundtrack lyric such as "Goldfinger" from the James Bond film of the same name, belted out by the incomparable Shirley Bassey, lets you know you are in for a film treat. With so many to choose from, let us review some of the best movie soundtracks and movie themes.

"Tara's Theme" from Gone With the Wind sets the sweeping stage for Scarlett O'Hara on the plantation and then the toll the Civil War takes on her life. Another 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, featured songs by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg. Any filmgoer wants to look "Over the Rainbow" with Judy Garland's yearning vocals. When Sam plays "As Time Goes By" for Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) in Casablanca, we feel Rick's (Humphey Bogart) pain. Movie soundtracks chronicle the mood of the movie and often the general public mindset. MGM musicals of the 1940s and 1950s featured Ziegfield girls, snappy tunes, and Rogers-Astaire dances. While sex could not be shown on the screen, the movie soundtracks pulsed with heat and unrequited love. The soundtrack and ballet in An American in Paris burned up the silver screen.