Carly Simon at the Oscars

Two weeks in a row I sacrificed my sleep to watch award shows.  Last weekend, SNL40.  This weekend, the Oscars.  I needed to know what went down so the next day I could be one of the cool kids. I already gave you my take on SNL40 (see post Miley Cyrus, Seriously?) last weekend and then was ready this weekend to catch some Oscar buzz.

One of the things I was wondering about was how the songs were selected. You know, the ones that played presenters on and offstage.  With over 80 years of film music to choose from, I thought it was interesting that they seemed to pinpoint obscure love songs from movie soundtracks from the 70’s and 80’s. Almost every song had personal memories for me.   But no one can top Carly Simon at the Oscars.

There were two Carly Simon songs, Nobody Does It Better from The Spy Who Loved Me, and Let The River Run from Working Girl.  I didn’t care so much about the Bond song (Pierce Brosnan is the only Bond I really like) but it was cool that it was played.  Working Girl is another movie on my guilty pleasure list.  Poor girl with a heart of gold makes good AND gets the guy.  It doesn’t get better than that in Hollywood.   Let The River Run is one of the most musically rich songs I know!  For me it is full of hope and longing and perseverance.  I crank it up and dance every time I hear it.

Maybe 50 is the new Oscar.

I loved it when I heard Through The Eyes of Love, from Ice Castles, which is definitely on my guilty pleasure movie list (love that Robby Benson!). I think my favorite role of his was as the voice in Disney’s animated Beauty and the Beast.   After a number of B movies, he became a very talented director.

Almost Paradise, from Footloose, made me smile as I remembered my Kevin Bacon phase in high school (who didn’t have one of those?).  Even before he was the frosh pledge in Animal House (‘Remain callm! All is well!!’), before everyone could track him back to someone in six degrees, I watched him as the teenage alcoholic Tim on my favorite soap, Guiding Light.

It was quite a trip down memory lane for me that night.  After this, I may have to check and see if Pandora has an Oscar station!!

Want more? See My Favorite Oscar Moments