The Best Song Podcast

Episode 12: Walking Around in a Wonderful Glow

The year 1944 saw an astounding 12 songs nominated for the Academy Award, including Bing Crosby's latest chart-topping hit and one of the many songs from Judy Garland's latest musical sensation.
Speaking of that musical, there was controversy over whether one of the men credited with the song actually helped to write it. That's just one of the many stories that host Jeff Commings shares on this episode.

Episode 11: The Gravy’s In the Navy

World War II officially invaded the Academy Awards in 1943, with four of the 10 nominees for Best Song dealing with the war. One of them was a comical take on the men left behind, while the other three were love songs or tributes to the men fighting in Europe.
In addition to giving more behind-the-scenes details of those four songs, host Jeff Commings talks about a musical featuring an all-black cast, Cole Porter's return to Hollywood, and one of the shortest animated feature films from the Walt Disney Studios.

Episode 10: I Like Banana Splits

The Gershwin brothers -- George and Ira -- were mentioned in one of the songs nominated for the Academy Award in 1942, but the brothers themselves did not earn a nomination. Respected songwriters such as Irving Berlin, Harry Warren, and Jerome Kern were on the docket, and a new talent named Sammy Cahn earned his first invitation to the Academy Awards ceremony. Lots of great music to hear in this episode with host Jeff Commings!

Episode 9: A Voice Like Music

Hollywood had reason to be worried in 1941, not the least of which was the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese that December. Commercial television made its debut in July, giving the public a reason to stay home for entertainment instead of going to a theater. But, the output in Hollywood still gave us some top movies, including Citizen Kane. That movie didn't have an original song in it, and the nine films that featured nominated songs didn't become instant classics. Take a listen to the nominees from 1941 with host Jeff Commings, and decide for yourself if the controversy that surrounded the winning song was warranted.

Episode 8: Fate Steps In

World War II was raging in Europe in 1940, but Americans were largely going about business as usual while Hitler was conquering the continent. Hollywood was not yet affected by the war, and the Academy Award-nominated songs in 1940 brought us more classic tunes sung by Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. They are joined on this list of nine nominated songs by an animated cricket who helped raise the stakes in animated movies.

Episode 7: I’ll Hold You In My Heart

The year 1939 has been regarded as one of the most important years in film history, and you need to look no further than the Best Picture nominees from that year to prove that. Though one of the nominees for Best Song stands out tall among the others, the four songs that were nominated maintain the high quality that came from such a rich year in the movies. Host Jeff Commings talks about the weird circumstances that led to the creation of some of the songs, and how they helped raise the pedigree of their movies.

Episode 6: Everything I Do Is Depending on You

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made a big change to the rules for submitting songs for award consideration in 1938, allowing studios to submit one song for an automatic nomination. That resulted in 10 song nominees in 1938, and host Jeff Commings will bring you the histories behind all of them, including two songwriters who competed against themselves.

Episode 5: The Way You Sing Off-Key

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers continued to light up the silver screen in 1937, and it was the Gershwin brothers -- Ira and George -- who were responsible for the nominated song that accompanied their song-and-dance routine. Not to be outdone, Bing Crosby makes a play for a hit song with a lullaby, written by an old friend who had no plans to work in Hollywood.