OSCAR ORIGINAL SONG SHORTLIST

“The World I Knew” from “African Cats”
“Lay Your Head Down” from “Albert Nobbs”
“Star Spangled Man” from “Captain America: The First Avenger”
“Collision of Worlds” from “Cars 2″
“Dakkanaga Dugu Dugu” from “DAM999″
“DAM999 Theme Song” from “DAM999″
“Mujhe Chod Ke” from “DAM999″
“Rainbird” from “Dirty Girl”
“Keep On Walking” from “The First Grader”
“Where the River Goes” from “Footloose”
“Hello Hello” from “Gnomeo & Juliet”
“Love Builds a Garden” from “Gnomeo & Juliet”
“Bridge of Light” from “Happy Feet Two”
“The Mighty Sven” from “Happy Feet Two”
“Never Be Daunted” from “happythankyoumoreplease”
“Hell and Back” from “Hell and Back Again”
“The Living Proof” from “The Help”
“Coeur Volant” from “Hugo”
“It’s How We Play” from “I Don’t Know How She Does It”
“When the Heart Dies” from “In the Land of Blood and Honey”
“Ja Nao Estar” from “José and Pilar”
“The Keeper” from “Machine Gun Preacher”
“Life’s a Happy Song” from “The Muppets”
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets”
“Pictures in My Head” from “The Muppets”
“Summer Song” from “The Music Never Stopped”
“Imaginary Friends” from “Olive”
“Sparkling Day” from “One Day”
“Taking You with Me” from “Our Idiot Brother”
“The Greatest Song I Ever Heard” from “POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”
“Hot Wings” from “Rio”
“Let Me Take You to Rio” from “Rio”
“Real in Rio” from “Rio”
“Shelter” from “Take Shelter”
“Gathering Stories” from “We Bought a Zoo”
“Pop” from “White Irish Drinkers”
“Think You Can Wait” from “Win Win”
“The Backson Song” from “Winnie the Pooh”
“So Long” from “Winnie the Pooh”



No big surprises here, I don't think. All of the songs which have been prominent thus far from the critics' awards (not that there are very many) are present, alongside predictable choices from other films. The biggest snub is Madonna's Golden Globe-nominated song, Masterpiece, from W.E., which was ineligible anyway. All this said, I couldn't tell you what a single one of these sounds like, bar Think You Can Wait, which is by The National, so of course I know it, and Couer Volant from Hugo, which I only remember because it sounds exactly like Michael Giacchino's Ratatouille score.


The rules are different for Original Song regarding the nomination process. Academy members will determine the nominees by an averaged point system of voting.  If no song receives an average score of 8.25 or more, there will be no nominees in the category.  If only one song achieves that score, it and the song receiving the next highest score shall be the two nominees.  If two or more songs (up to five) achieve that score, they shall be the nominees.


Do you think we'll have Lady Gaga, Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Sinead O'Connor, The National and The Muppets all performing on Oscar night? That'd be one way to boost the ratings, I suppose...