Saturday night at the movies
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Haley’s recording of “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock,” released in 1954 to a mediocre response, then was re-released with the movie and shot to number one, thus ushering in the rock era. “Rock Around The Clock” wasn’t written specifically for the movie “The Blackboard Jungle,” but many songs were written for the cinema and then climbed the pop music charts, including these: Look for movie songs and soundtracks: DeeJays Records at eBay |
Saturday Night Fever
was a 1977 film glorifying temporary escape from difficult and mundane reality. The film showcases the music, the dancing, and the subculture surrounding the disco era.The picture stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a troubled Brooklyn youth whose weekend activities are dominated by visits to a local discothèque.
While in the disco, Tony is the king, and the visits help him to temporarily forget the reality of his life: a dead-end job, clashes with his unsupportive and squabbling parents, racial tensions in the local community, and his associations with a gang of dead-beat friends.
The Bee Gees wrote and performed much of the music. Three songs from the movie had great chart success:
“How Deep Is Your Love” was in the top forty for 26 weeks and was number 1 for three of those weeks. “Stayin’ Alive” was in the top forty for 22 weeks and topped the chart for four weeks. “Night Fever” was in the top forty for 18 weeks and eight of those weeks were spent at position #1.
Saturday Night Fever · Movie DVD 
It is a product of the disco era, and an amazingly successful sound track album. It is the sound track from the movie “Saturday Night Fever.”
How Deep Is Your Love · The Bee Gees · 1977 MP3
Stayin’ Alive · The Bee Gees · 1978 MP3
Night Fever · The Bee Gees · 1978
Download MP3 · Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack CD
Tammy and the Bachelor · Movie DVD Between July 28, 1956, and December 1, 1958, only one female vocalist had a single go to number one in the United States. That single was “Tammy” by Debbie Reynolds.
The movie was “Tammy and the Bachelor.”
The film is about a teenager who nurses an injured pilot back to health. Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Nielson starred in the 1957 release. Debbie sang the title tune in the film, and when it was nominated for an Oscar, she was invited to sing it at the Academy Awards on March 26, 1958.
Debbie recorded the song accompanied only by a piano. More instruments and a Henry Mancini arrangement were added to the track before it went into the movie. Coral records executives really didn’t expect it to sell well and released it without further embellishments. The song went to number one for three weeks, and remained in the top forty for 23 weeks in all.
Tammy · Debbie Reynolds · 1957
Endless Love was a 1981 romantic drama film starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt.
The movie, itself, was not a great success. but the theme song by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, also called “Endless Love“, became a #1 hit (9 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the biggest-selling single in Ross’ career. It charted in the top 40 for nineteen weeks.
Endless Love · Diana Ross and Lionel Richie · 1981
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Endless Love 
The song became the biggest-selling single of the year in the U.S., and one of the biggest hits ever for Motown. It also topped the Billboard R&B chart and the Adult Contemporary chart, and peaked at number seven in the UK.
Jailhouse Rock opened in theaters on October 21, 1957. That same day the title track became Elvis Presley’s eighth number one single.
The film’s cast includes Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy, Jennifer Holden and Dean Jones. Elvis stars as a convict-turned-singer who’s career on the outside stems from having successfully appeared on a televised prison talent show.
Jailhouse Rock · Movie DVD “Jailhouse Rock” remained on top of the Billboard™ Best Seller chart for seven weeks, and in the top forty for nineteen weeks.
Like many of Elvis’ records, the flip side, “Treat Me Nice,” (also from the movie), was a big chart hit too, peaking at position #18, and remaining in the top forty for six weeks.
The record was the first to enter the British singles chart at number one.
Both songs were written by the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
The two tracks used on the record were recorded in separate sessions in May and September of 1957.
Jailhouse Rock / Treat Me Nice · Elvis Presley · 1957
Jailhouse Rock MP3 · Treat Me Nice MP3 · Elvis Presley CDs
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day.
The song was “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera).” It was a hit in both the United States—where it made it to number two on the Billboard charts (Top 100 and Jockey), and in the top 40 for 22 weeks—and the United Kingdom. From 1968 to 1973, it was the theme song for the situation comedy The Doris Day Show, becoming her signature song.
“Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” · Doris Day · 1956
Download MP3 · 16 Most Requested SongsThe Man Who Knew Too Much · Movie DVD 
This is another of the songs that I remember my mother singing at home when I was very little.
—Dee Jay
“I Just Called To Say I Love You” · Stevie Wonder · 1984
Download MP3 · Stevie Wonder CDs
The Woman In Red · Movie DVD The Woman in Red is a 1984 romantic comedy starring Gene Wilder as a happily married man who fantasizes about having an affair with a sexy mystery woman (Kelly LeBrock). His attempts to actually initiate the affair, however, are repeatedly thwarted by various comic circumstances, most notably by a secretary (Gilda Radner) who mistakenly believes that she is the object of his affection.
The soundtrack was composed by Stevie Wonder and features performances by Wonder and Dionne Warwick. Stevie Wonder received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “I Just Called to Say I Love You“. The song topped the Hot 100 for three weeks, and was in the top 40 for fifteen weeks.
“True Love” was written by Cole Porter. The song was introduced by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the musical film High Society. The Crosby-Kelly version of the song proved to be very popular on the pop charts, peaking at #3 on the Disc Jockey chart, #4 on the Top 100, and #5 on the Best Seller chart. It spent 22 weeks in the top 40.
The film stars Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm with Louis Armstrong, John Lund, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, and Margalo Gillmore.
It was based on the play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. In the story, successful jazz musician C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing Crosby) had married and divorced rich Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly), but remains in love with her. She, however, is about to get married to a bland gentleman of good standing, George Kittredge (John Lund). The intense and edgy reporter by the name of Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) covers the nuptials for Spy Magazine, and falls for her as well. She must choose between the three very different men in a course of self-discovery.
High Society · Movie DVD 
High Society marked the final acting role for Grace Kelly before she became Princess Grace of Monaco (the film was actually released three months after her marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco).
True Love · Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly · 1956
Buy MP3 · Bing Crosby CDs
In 1968, I was a junior in high school, and I was fortunate to have, as an American Literature teacher, a young woman who was teaching her inaugural professional year. She had vowed to herself in college, that along with the usual curriculum of Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain, she would teach us the new artists of the day. So we got to study, in class, the poetry of Paul Simon and Rod McKuen and others. I remember studying the tracks from Simon and Garfunkel’s Wednesday Morning, 3 AM album, for example. As a result, I owned most of their LPs in those days. —Dee Jay 
Mrs Robinson · Simon and Garfunkel · 1968
The song was in the top spot for three weeks and in the top 40 for twelve weeks.
Dustin Hoffman starred in The Graduate as Ben Braddock, a young man advised to take up plastics as a career by Mr. Roninson, father of the girl he loves (Katharine Ross) and husband of the woman who first seduces him—Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft).
The Graduate · Movie DVD
The Graduate is a frozen moment of the 1960s. It is a motion picture that specifically evokes memories of a troubled year, 1968. In the summer, the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago were an outlet for a smouldering rage that had been building since the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy in the spring.
On the day RFK was shot in Los Angeles, the number one single in America was “Mrs. Robinson.” Another hero was gone, and the prophetic lines in Paul Simon’s song echoed the loss:
“Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you…”
