Twenty Great Movie Love Songs (11-20)

The celebration of great movie love songs continues !!! ...numbers 11-20. These were selections one-ten: Moon River....Days of Wine and Roses...Laura's Theme...The Shadow of Your Smile...The Way We Were...Night and Day...People..Whistling In The Dark...Someone to Watch Over Me ... Fallen . From these first ten, the oldest written in 1926 for a Fred Astaire movie, but made popular again in 1996. One from the 1960s was recently performed on the American Idol TV show. Some are instantly familiar by their titles, some may not be as familiar. Want to learn more about these first ten? Click here.

For the next ten, the oldest was written in 1934, but revived for 2007 movie, P.S. I Love You. A 1947 song was also included in another 2007 movie, although this movie Evening takes place in the 1940s. All 20 songs chosen here for "greatness" via their popularity at the time of their release, or their ongoing popularity, or their appeal to me! So, get ready to slip into a mellow, loving mood ... ten more great movie love songs!

My Funny Valentine...Misty...In The Wee Small hours...The Way You Look Tonight ...Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered) ... It Might as Well Be Spring...When I Fall in Love...Come Away With Me...P.S. I Love You...Time After Time.

From 1934 comes the oldest, and yet the song with most recent movie appearance, is P.S. I Love You. Written by Gordon Jenkins with lyrics by Johnny Mercer (see more Mercer songs in Part One). The song was published in 1934 and was recorded by one of USA's first teen heart throbs, the Justin Timberlake of his day, Rudy Vallée. It was revived in the 1950s by The Hilltoppers and in the 1960s by The Vogues, and again in 1984 by country music singer Tom T. Hall. Kellie McKay's rendition was used for the Hillary Swank 2007 movie of the same name, so here are two versions. The first is of Bette Middler's performance in the 1991 For the Boys movie. (sung in the midst of performing 'Stuff Like That There'). the second, Nellie McKay's for the 2007 movie. For those not familiar with McKay, at age 19 her first album got four (out of five) stars from Rolling Stone magazine.

Catch P.S. I Love You on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009, at 8 AM.

The next Golden Oldie to continue finding fans is the 1936 Academy Award winning song The Way You Look Tonight by Jerome Kern (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics). The movie was Swing Time. The song has long been a crooner's standard but received wider attention when it was included in the Steve Martin/Dianne Keaton remake of Father of the Bride.

Aug. 26, 2008: Did anyone see Dianne Keaton perform "The Way You Look Tonight" to Steve Martin at the Wash DC Kennedy Center "Mark Twain, American Humorist" award program?

My Funny Valentine is next up, written in 1937 by the muscial team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the stage musical Babes in Arms. It is now considered a jazz standard, notes Wikipedia, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists. Probably the most melancholy melody of all the songs on this 'love list.' First seen on film in 1957's Pal Joey, starring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak (who sang the song in the film). It later was part of the muscial numbers in the 1989 movie,The Fabulous Baker Boys, performed by Michelle Pfeiffer.

Moving right on to the 1940s, that year saw the creation of Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, another Rogers and Hart song written for the stage musical, Pal Joey, and then used in the 1957 movie production. According to Wikipedia, it was the best selling record of 1950. It's most recent recording is the Rod Stewart/Cher duet...which I won't comment on one way or another. Listen to this lovely song here by Silje Nergaard on her "Port of Call" (2000) recording.

The year is 1945 and the Academy Award for best song went to the charming romantic It Might As Well Be Spring from the unlikely movie State Fair (1945) by Rodgers and his new partner Oscar Hammerstein. This is the only score they wrote directly for a movie, rather than for a Broadway production that was later produced as a movie. The song hasn't enjoyed a continuing popularity like many of these 20 songs, but it's been a favorite of mine.

The 1947 Time After Time has been performed by everyone from Judy Garland to The Isley Brothers to Vikki Carr to Frank Sinatra to Harry Connick Jr. ...and now, by Claire Danes in the 2007 movie Evening. Written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styn for the movie It Happened in Brooklyn, this song has maintained its popularity as one of the happier love songs of the lounge crooners. Included on this list partly due to it's long lived popularity, it's recent appearance in a 2007 movie, and that it's a 'happy' love song, not a 'love gone wrong' song.

Another wonderful romantic song is When I Fall in Love from the movie One Minute to Zero; first recorded in 1952 and now connected with the 1993 Sleepless in Seattle movie. It's so popular among performers that more than 80 artists have included this song on their albums from Doris Day to Kenny Rogers to Nat King Cole to jazz great Stan Getz.

See Sleepless In Seattle on OXYGEN channel on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009, at 7:30PM and 11PM.

1954 was the year when pianist Erroll Garner wrote the instrumental song Misty. The famous lyrics were written later by Johhny Burke. If you're familiar with this song, you probably know that it was the 'signature song' of Johnny Mathis, although the famous Willie Nelson's recording is frequently heard on 'soft' radio stations these days.

The song was not written for a movie, but like several songs from these two lists, the song plays an integral part within a movie. For this song, it's Clint Eastwood's 1971 directorial debut, the thriller Play 'Misty' For Me.

Is there a more tender song than In The Wee Small Hours? Written by Bob Hilliard originally recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1955 on a famous album of the same name, the album made critical raves, but the song never became one of Sinatra's more famous 'classics.' This one falls into the 'love gone wrong' category, but it's a lovely song nonetheless, and here performed by Carly Simon for 1993's Sleepless in Seattle.

Seems to take the newer songs to get female composer/writers onto these lists. For Part One, it was Lauren Wood's Fallen. To get another female composer into this mix, here's Norah Jones' 2003 Come Away With Me. although not written for a movie, it's soft mellow sound and lush lyric has made it a popular choice for including in recent 'chick flick' movies Two Weeks Notice and Maid in Manhattan.

Hope you enjoy these 20 movie love songs! Coming soon....Movie Power Ballads! ( For when the song has to be gut-wrenching, not just lovely and loving.) All songs selected by li'l ol' me...the data compliments of Wikipedia.