Dancing, Dreaming, and Romancing

When it comes to the movies you have to admit that Hollywood transports us to incredible places and brings out many emotions from us when we sit there in the dark and that giant screen lights up. We wind up so wrapped up in what is happening on the screen that we live along with the story and often times find ourselves both laughing and crying and just plain wanting to cheer. The only thing we cannot do is to dance in the aisles but some songs from the movies have made us want to do just that and isn't that a wonderful feeling?

Dancing

A movie that made many want to sing and dance was "Footloose" in 1984 and that unforgettable song "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins. The song soon became a bit hit and made everyone want to get up and dance anytime it was played. The song topped the charts for three consecutive weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100.

"Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees made everyone want to strut beneath colorful disco balls showing everyone their own disco dancing style. John Travolta made people want to be disco dancers while watching "Saturday Night Fever." The song became the most classic disco song of all time and this memorable time was never forgotten.

Along came the movie "Fame" in 1980 and suddenly people were dreaming about becoming famous and making their own fame on movie screens. The song "Fame" by Irene Cara got people dancing and it won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The song was incredible with lyrics that made you want to become famous just to be able to live forever in the memories of others.

No one could resist the movie "Dirty Dancing" and the incredible songs like "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes. Everyone wanted to dance along with Johnny Castle portrayed by Patrick Swayze and Baby portrayed by Jennifer Gray. Soon everyone remembered that great ending and the phrase "Nobody put Baby in a corner." Since the world lost Patrick Swayze I hear this song and imagine him dancing across the Milky Way.

The song got many deserved awards among them the Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as the Golden Globe Award. Also a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.

Another movie no one could resist in 1983 was "Flashdance" and that incredible song "Flashdance What a Feeling" by Irene Cara. It certainly made you want to just get up and dance wherever you happened to be and it made the popular choice of dancing outfit to be leg warmers and cut-off sweatshirts.

What a moment when Julie Roberts and Richard Gere heated up the screen in "Pretty Woman" in 1990. You soon forgot about Roberts portraying a streetwalker and started cheering on the romance that was unfolding between her character and the wealthy businessman portrayed by Gere. To top it all off with a combination of dancing and romancing was the song "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison that was originally released in 1964.

Dreaming and Romancing

In 1965 "The Sound Of Music" made everyone who saw the movie want to sing and the songs became classics still enjoyed today, Who could forget that incredible moment at the beginning of the movie when Julie Andrews appeared atop the mountain singing "The hills are alive with music..." The theme song was composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein and I being a fan of the mountains with my childhood summers spent in the Catskill Mountains of New York State I was ready to climb the highest mountain I could find and begin singing my heart out.

The movie "The Bodyguard" in 1992 showed the incredible romance between a rock star and her bodyguard. When the romance was not to be at the end and Whitney Houston sang "I Will Always Love You" there were many misty-eyes staring at the screen. The song was originally sung by Dolly Parton as a country song and it made music history as the only country song to reach number one. Then Houston gave it a whole new twist and it topped the charts all over the world.

Pass that box of tissues and get me blubbering was what always happens to me when I watch that incredible movie starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey in 1988 "Beaches." Bette Milder had emotions running wild when she sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" which is a lovely song that celebrates the closest and best of friendships.

The movie "Breakfast At Tiffany's" in 1961 had it all comedy and romance. The role of the main character Holly Go Lightly was played to the hilt by Audrey Hepburn. I was living in New York City and it made me put on a wide-brimmed hat and walk past the famous jewellery store Tiffany windows imagining I was looking just like Hepburn in the movie, She sang "Moon River" in a wonderfully dreamy way. The song has won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

I don't think that there is a generation that does not love and enjoy the fantasy movie "The Wizard Of Oz" that came out in 1939. As a child watching it I fantasized about going to Muchkinland although the Wicked Witch of the West terrified me I so wanted to see the Emerald City. The movie brought us that wonderful song about wanting dreams to come true "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland. The American Film Institute has ranked Judy Garland's version of the song as the greatest movie song of all time. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Disney brought us many memorable songs in the animated movie "Beauty and the Beast" with the talented Angela Lansbury giving voice to the talking teapot Mrs Potts and singing the title song.

In 2017 a version of "Beauty and the Beast" was filmed with live characters. In this version, Emma Thompson portrayed Mrs Potts and also sang this romantic song beautifully.

Who could ever forget when the movie "The Titanic" came out in 1997 and the fantastically romantic song "My Heart Will Go On" by Céline Dion. It became one of the biggest love songs of all time. Time has gone on but the song remains a classic.

In 1942 Hollywood released "Casablanca" and introduced us to the lovers Rick and Ilsa portrayed by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The movie includes the timeless classic love song "As Time Goes By" and no matter how much time passes by every time I see this movie I clutch at the tissues. The song was written by Herman Hupfeld for the 1930s Broadway musical "Everybody's Welcome" but it was Hollywood that made it a classic.

James Bond movies have always been popular through the years, All that exciting action and spy stuff. However, there was one Bond movie that brought us a wonderful love song. The movie was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1966 and the song was "We Have All the Time In The World" sung by Louie Armstrong.

A movie that depicts the Russin Revolution and the hardest of time surprising also turned into one of the most romantic movies of all time "Dr Zhivago" in 1965. It brought to the screen the passionate romance between Yuri portrayed by Omar Sharif and Lara portrayed by Julie Christies and the incredibly beautiful romantic balled "Somewhere My Love." The song is also known as "Lara's Theme" and has been recorded as both an instrumental and vocal.