Last year, Annie Lennox walked away with an Academy Award for the best song written for a movie -- in this case, "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. But only the more rabid of Oscar fans (and Rings devotees) are likely to remember that win... proof that some winning movie songs are more memorable than others.
Past nominees for best song include hummable tunes such as "Mrs. Robinson" (The Graduate), "Moon River" (Breakfast at Tiffany's), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Eminem's "Lose Yourself" (8 Mile). This year's nominees range from choral music to Latin to rock 'n' roll -- but which of these songs will we remember a year from now?
Broadway and opera lyricist Murray Horwitz, who's also director of the American Film Institute Theater in Silver Spring, Md., judges the merits of each of this year's nominees:
• "Believe" by Josh Groban (The Polar Express)
• "Al Otro Lado del Rio" ("The Other Side of the River") by Jorge Drexler (The Motorcycle Diaries)
• "Accidentally in Love" by the Counting Crows (Shrek 2)
• "Vois Sur Ton Chemin" ("Look to Your Path") from the French film Les Choristes (The Chorus)
• "Learn to Be Lonely" by Minnie Driver (The Phantom of the Opera)
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