TCM host Dave Karger, left, and musician Chris Isaak host Songs on Screen. (Photo by John Nowak/TCM)
In December, Turner Classic Movies has a holiday gift for music lovers. Songs on Screen looks at songs and the films that propelled them to fame. Pairings such as “The Sound of Silence” in The Graduate and “Rock Around the Clock” in The Blackboard Jungle will be explored in-depth. The tune-travelling spotlight is new for TCM, which in the past has widely featured musicals, but has never delved into individual songs in films. “A great song, especially if it’s used at the beginning of a movie, can really set the tone for what the audience can expect from the film,” says TCM Songs on Screen host Dave Karger.
In fact, it’s hard to think of a movie without music (Andy Warhol’s Empire comes to mind). Karger is joined by musician Chris Isaak in exploring the cinematic aspects of song. Isaak, says Karger, not only has a wealth of knowledge to share about music history but has also studied up on film. “I had such a blast talking about 12 of the best-ever movie songs with Chris Isaak, who is not just one of my favorite singer/songwriters but also happens to be a classic film fan.”
Karger says his favorite research discovery in compiling the spotlight “was the fact that Barbra Streisand actually didn’t want to record a theme song for The Way We Were. Instead she wanted the focus to be on her acting. But she was talked into working with Marvin Hamlisch on a track and the song ended up becoming her first number-one hit.”
SPOTLIGHT: SONGS ON SCREEN
Friday, December 7
8:00 PM The Graduate (‘67) Song: “The Sound Of Silence”
10:00 PM The Thomas Crown Affair (‘68). Song: “The Windmills Of Your Mind”
12:00 AM Thunder Road (‘58) Song: “The Ballad Of Thunder Road”
Friday, December 14
8:00 PM The Blackboard Jungle (1955) Song: “Rock Around the Clock”
10:00 PM To Sir, With Love (1967) Song: “To Sir With Love”
12:00 AM Shaft (1971) Song: “Theme from Shaft”
Friday, December 21
8:00 PM Breakfast at Tiffany’s (‘61) Song: “Moon River”
10:15 PM The Way We Were (‘73) Song: “The Way We Were”
12:30 AM High Society (‘56) Song: “True Love”
Friday, December 28
8:00 PM A Hard Day’s Night (‘64) Song: “She Loves You”
9:45 PM Jailhouse Rock (‘57) Song: “You’re So Square Baby I Don’t Care”
11:30 PM Tommy (‘75) Song: “Pinball Wizard”
4 Responses to "Turner Classic Movies Tunes-Up ‘Songs on Screen’"
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Thunder road is one of my favourite films!! And I bet Isaak could do a fine cover of Moon river, and if he sequed into the Velvet Undergrounds’ Jesus – that would be sweet.
This was a super enjoyable segment with fun unpredictable conversation. Dave Karger and Chris Isaak have surprisingly good chemistry! It would be great if this could become a more regular thing throughout the year like “The Essentials” used to be, with Robert Osborne and and Alec Baldwin.
When it comes to songs on screen for movie trailers/previews specifically, I think one of the best of all time, if not THE best, is ‘Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing’ by Chris Isaak for the movie ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ Definitely made your eyes, ears, and attention wide open!
Hard Days Night is such a great reminder of how fun and joyous the original Beatles and their music were, especially Paul’s smile. The later Sergeant Peppers album was great and may have been considered their very best by the critics, but it was a different style from the original Beatles’ music, and from then on we also never saw Paul’s original unique smile again like in this fun timeless movie.