The Best Song Podcast

Episode 18: A Kiss Is All I Need (1950)

One of the Oscar-nominated songs for the year 1950 is very well-known, but the version of "Mona Lisa" that Nat King Cole made famous is not the one heard in the movie Captain Carey USA. Learn more about the history behind the creation of this song on this episode of The Best Song Podcast, and how the songwriters fought to put it into the movie. Among the other four nominees is the story of how a song written in 1945 shaped one of Disney's most popular movie songs, and got it an Oscar nomination.

Episode 17: The World Is Such a Lovely Place (1949)

Two of the songs nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song of 1949 probably should not have been eligible for the award. One of them had been written many years earlier, while the other heavily borrowed from a folk song written about a century earlier.
As host Jeff Commings talks about the origins of these two songs, you can decide if they deserved Oscar nominations.

Episode 16: You Speak and I Hear Violins (1948)

Sammy Cahn earned the first of five consecutive Academy Award nominations in 1948, working with longtime collaborator Jule Styne for Doris Day's film debut Romance on the High Seas. Leo Robin, already an Academy Award winner, had two songs nominated that year, but the hot young songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans were making a statement with a hit song for Bob Hope.
Host Jeff Commings is ready to tell all the stories about these songwriters and the nominated songs they wrote on this episode of The Best Song Podcast.

Episode 15: Everything Is Satis-factual (1947)

Not every Academy Award-nominated song has survived as beloved classics. Two of the nominees of 1947 illustrate that, and host Jeff Commings talks about one song that has plagued the Walt Disney Studio for generations because of its film's seemingly strong racist tone. There's another nominee that seemed innocent at the time, but also stands out for its insensitivity.
With that aside, this year's nominated songs might not seem like a great list, but that's for you to decide after listening to this episode.

Episode 14: As Happy As a Christmas Tree (1946)

After listing 14 nominees for the Academy Award for Best Song in 1945, the Academy fixed the rules and started limiting nominations to just five beginning in 1946. The number of nominated songs was down, but the quality of the songs seemed to be much higher.
Host Jeff Commings guides you through the nominees for 1946, and two songs that failed to earn the nomination but have lived on as classic love songs.

Episode 13: We’ll Settle Down in Dallas (1945)

The Academy's rule that every studio or production company could submit a song for automatic nomination reached its apex in 1945 with 14 songs vying for the top award. It could be argued that one of the songs should not have been nominated because it never appeared in the film. But, the competition for the 1945 Best Song Academy Award was tight, with Bing Crosby originating two of the songs and some of the industry's most successful songwriters contributing some of their best work that year.

Episode 12: Walking Around in a Wonderful Glow (1944)

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 (1943)

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.