Episode 39: Let It Shine All Around Them (1971)

Johnny Mercer's 18th and final Oscar nomination for songwriting came for a conventional movie song that was competing for the big award alongside a song that was the equivalent of a 9.1 earthquake. Shaft featured a no-holds-barred black New York private investigator and a no-holds-barred theme song that shook up the list of five Oscar nominees from that year. Isaac Hayes, who was new to the Hollywood game, wrote a song that sounded new but also fit the formula of other title songs that came before it. At a time when the Academy was still hesitant to accept anything other than love ballads as Oscar winners, host Jeff Commings brings you the story of the race for the Original Song Oscar for 1970 on this episode of The Best Song Podcast.