Top 15: Songs in Film Musicals

Musicals have been around for ages and are a popular genre of entertainment. Personally, I never really saw the appeal of musical films; they always seemed kind of silly to me as a kid. As I grew older though I started to see things differently—not that you get much choice when there's a freaking song stuck in your head for months!

The songs are catchy which is, I think, the reason why musicals are so popular. With all that said, I felt like doing something fun so we're going to look at 15 songs from film musicals.

15: The Gypsy Drinking Song—The Inspector General (1949)

This 1949 musical comedy is fantastic and this particular scene is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.

The film follows an illiterate gypsy who wanders into a town run by a corrupt mayor and all his cousins. They mistake this gypsy for the titular inspector general and hijinks ensue.

So, what's happening in this scene? Well, Georgi (the gypsy) is close to uncovering the mayor's dirty dealings—by accident—and the mayor is trying to kill him with poisoned wine. Before he takes a swig of the spiked wine, however, he breaks into song.

My favorite part of this scene? He starts to direct his audience in creating sound effects, and on the third one they go for it before he starts the signal. This results in a minor freak out with Georgi angrily yelling: "Stop! I didn't make it yet!" before becoming mild-mannered and polite again.

14: Time Warp—Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

I love this one! There's just so much energy in the cast's performances; it's also a seriously catchy tune. Brad and Janet are a couple who end up stranded at a house full of weirdos and bear witness to the time warp.

It's hard to pin down my favorite part in this one; I quite liked Charles Gray teaching the audience to do the time warp as it's being performed. The best part was watching Brad and Janet try to sneak out like they were in some sort of Loony Tunes short.

13: The Dentist Song—Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

I don't know about you guys, but dentists make me very uncomfortable. The thought of some stranger poking and prodding the inside of my mouth with his fingers or some crazy implement is just... nasty. Now, if you're like me; imagine a dentist who deliberately causes pain for fun... I'll just let that image percolate in your brains.

Steve Martin was fantastic in this film! He pulled off the part of the sadistic dentist perfectly and I certainly wouldn't want to end up in that waiting room!

12: Sweet Transvestite—Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The so-called "sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania" had to make this list somewhere! Following on from the time warp, Brad and Janet run into Dr. Frank 'N Furter (Tim Curry at his best) who promptly launches into one of the catchiest songs in film musical history.

Curry's shocker of a costume combined with the epic singing is fantastic fun—though maybe not for the whole family. Also, who knew Tim Curry could sing?

Fun fact: Tim Curry did his own makeup for Frank 'N Furter as he felt the actual makeup guys were too slow.

11: SOS—Mama Mia (2008)

Stepping away from the darker stuff, let's take a look at SOS from 2008s Mama Mia.

Donna (Meryl Streep) is trying to prepare for her daughter's wedding when three former boyfriends show up and complicate matters. In this particular scene, Donna and Sam (Pierce Brosnan) are talking about the wedding and it leads into Brosnan starting this duet between the two.

Now, Brosnan does seem to struggle a little bit but he gets the job done and it's a solid performance on both sides.

10: All I Ask of You—Phantom of the Opera (2004)

This duet performed by Christine (Emmy Rossum) and Raoul (Patrick Wilson) is one of my personal favorite songs in the film. In this scene, the two have fled the scene of one of the Phantom's murders and gone to the roof of the Paris Opera House.

Singing of their love for each other (basically) and unaware that the phantom is watching and listening to them; this song is just great. It stays fairly consistent and the performances are so believable that it hurts.

9: Beauty School Dropout—Grease (1978)

Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to have your favorite singer suddenly appear and start singing to you? Well, I'm pretty sure Didi Conn must've done so a couple of times—I don't think she actually expected it to happen though.

In this scene from Grease, Frenchy (Didi Conn) is lamenting the fact that she's dropped out of beauty school and now doesn't know what to do. She wishes for a guardian angel to come down and tell her what to do next, and gets her wish in the form of Frankie Avalon.

The best part about all this is that the actress wasn't really acting in this scene. What you saw was her genuine reaction to having Frankie Avalon serenade her.

8: Feed Me!—Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Little Shop of Horrors was a musical/horror/comedy about a dorky clerk, Seymour Krelborn, in a flower shop who puts a strange plant that he found on display. This plant is christened "Audrey II" after the woman whom Seymour pines for. Oddly enough, it doesn't survive on a plant's usual diet of sunshine and water; it survives... on blood! Seymour feeds Audrey II his blood for what appears to be several months and the plant grows to a gigantic size, bringing success to the flower shop.

In this scene, Seymour thanks his plant-friend for being so cool and is on his way to get something to eat when Audrey II suddenly droops. What follows is some brief banter before the plant launches into song.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a full clip of the scene but it's still a cool song.

I love how the plant starts out sounding all pathetic and then becomes this menacing, bloodthirsty creature plotting murder. I also love the way Rick Moranis (Seymour) and Levi Stubbs (Audrey II) play off of each other.

7: Honey Honey—Mama Mia (2008)

The opening song for Mama Mia, was performed by Amanda Seyfried and she does an excellent job! Sophie (Amanda) is getting married and is telling her friends about her three possible fathers while reading from her mom's diary.

Now before Mama Mia, I'd only seen Amanda Seyfried in behind-the-scenes bits on Jennifer's Body which came out a year later in 2009. She has a fantastic singing voice and this is definitely a song I could listen to on repeat for a while.

6: Summer Nights—Grease (1978)

Danny Zuko and Sandra Dee are telling their friends about their summer vacations—with different versions for each of them...

This song is just fantastic; and if you haven't seen Grease, you really should. It's great fun, and the songs will be stuck in your head for weeks afterwards. In regards to this song specifically, I like how the two characters tell completely different versions of the same story—namely, how the two met.

5: Mean Green Mother from Outer Space—Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

The penultimate song in the theatrical version of Little Shop of Horrors, this little number is terrifying!

Seymour confronts Audrey II about his plans for world domination and the plant bursts into this epic villain song.

Okay, so before I continue and show you the clip, there are two versions of the film: the theatrical and the original director's cut. The director's cut featured a darker ending where Audrey II essentially takes over the world. This ending was scrapped, however, for the theatrical release after test audiences felt that the ending didn't fit with the rest of the film's tone.

A new, happier ending was put together where the plant is thwarted and Seymour and his lady love live happily ever after. Now, I personally prefer this ending to the director's cut... but I couldn't find a clip that contained this ending and the full song.

Quick Note: Audrey II does swear in this song... a couple of times.

I don't mind the director's cut ending all that much, but I have to agree with the test audiences who felt it was too dark. Sure, the film was a black comedy, but this ending is just so bleak that you feel cheated by the end of the film in that you wanted Seymour to get the happily ever after he'd dreamed of.

4: Cool Rider—Grease 2 (1982)

The 1982 sequel to Grease follows newcomer Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield) to Rydell High as he falls in love with the leader of the Pink Ladies, Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer).

In the scene in question, Michael is trying to score a date with the pretty, blonde girl and she decides to tell him what she wants in a man...

The song is seriously cool and Pfeiffer does a good job with it. That said, nobody asked for a sequel and Grease 2 was critically panned; barely making back its budget.

3: Back to School Again—Grease 2 (1982)

What would you say if I told you that the opening song to Grease 2 was nigh impossible NOT to sing along with? You don't believe me? Try it yourself.

I'll bet you sang along! This is probably the best song in Grease 2, and I end up singing along every time I hear it. It's fast-paced, has a great beat and rhythm to it, and is just a lot of fun overall.

2: This Is Me—Camp Rock (2008)

Camp Rock was released in 2008 and seemed to be riding the High School Musical wave—High School Musical 2 was released the year before, in 2007.

The story is your typical rom-com, coming-of-age tale about a girl who goes to summer camp and falls for a celebrity who's attending the camp. She tells a few lies here and there, and it eventually blows up in her face. The film builds towards the "final jam," which is essentially a talent show/concert type of thing hosted by the camp.

Demi Lovato's character—Mitchie—ends up booted from the contest and is only allowed to perform after the final jam has ended. She makes the most of it, however, starting out soft and slow before belting out a fun and bouncy hit that'll have you doing some minor dancing as you hear it.

The song is upbeat and catchy while also delivering the whole "be yourself" theme full circle.

1: Easy Street—Annie (1982/1999)

Here's one that I'd kinda forgotten about until I started putting this list together; the best part is that there are two versions of this song (I haven't seen the 2014 film, and so it's not included here).Originally a Broadway musical by Charles Strouse and based on a comic strip—Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray—Annie was released in June of 1982. The reception that the film got was... mixed, but it did make $57 million in the United States against a budget of only $50 million. Annie went on to become the tenth highest-grossing film of 1982.

The film follows an orphan named Annie when she's taken in by billionaire Oliver Warbucks, and sets out on a quest to find her biological parents.

Now, let's get to the good stuff; the song—Easy Street. Agatha Hannigan—the owner of the New York Orphanage where Annie was living—is scheming with her brother Rooster and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis to get rich by scamming Oliver Warbucks... at least, that's how I remember it. The buildup in the original film starts while they're looking for an envelope with Annie's name on it.

I love this version of the song, it's got a ton of energy and is genuinely impressively choreographed. Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters, and Carol Burnett play off of each other perfectly; they have fantastic onscreen chemistry!

The bit with the piano and the staircase is probably my favorite part of the scene but all three actors got a chance to show off their comedic chops.

Now, remember what I said about two versions? Well, a made-for-TV movie was released by Disney in 1999. This is the more popular film—from what I gather.

This time, Rooster shows up to ask for some money while he puts a scheme together to keep out of prison and things take off from there.

I love the way that Cumming and Bates play off of each other in this scene! The chemistry is great and I love how they included the different accents of New York—which I didn't hear in the original version. Kristen Chenowith is the only actress in this scene that I don't know much about. Actually, I think this is the only film that I've seen her in. That said, she keeps up with Cumming and Bates with ease and chimes in with a pretty good voice—although, it is a little high-pitched.

The choreography is fantastic and the dialogue between the singing is just great. In rewatching this clip I heard a few lines that I missed as a kid. i.e.

Lily says: "I'm named after the hotel."

To which Hannigan replies: "Oh, which floor?"

Probably the funniest moment is right at the start where they're singing about their mother and we get the funniest line in the film:

"Mother dear, oh we know you're... down there, listening..."

As for which version I like best, well, I like them both. There's a lot of energy to the 1999 version and it's great fun to listen to. That said, I kind of like the original version just a tiny bit more; it's just pure energy from start to finish and has more of a rhythmic beat to it.

In Closing

I had fun with this one and there are more songs that could've made the list, but didn't. Of course, you know what that means, there's possibly enough for a sequel piece!