I always felt the final song at the end of JUNO, where the main characters sing a duet, fit nicely with the theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBDbUVXXp-U

It's a great Denouement beat, Nick. To me, it shows Juno ending up where she should: As a teenager. Not as a the faux super-adult she had been trying to be, cooler than cool, in effect skipping her adolescence, reinforced by the fact she and Paulie went straight to intercourse, then pregnancy before she had a chance to be a real teen. In the Denouement, she doesn't drive, she rides her bike. She doesn't have sex with Paulie, instead a chaste little peck on the cheek at the end of the song. Great choice for a scene and song.

Scott, I'm assuming you want songs that were not specifically written for a film's soundtrack? Which was tough because there are a lot of great songs in movies but they were written for that movie so they should tie things together. I came up with 2 that were recorded before the movies came out. 1. Born to Wild by Steppenwolf from the movie Easy Rider. Absolutely classic song that sets the tone for the whole movie. 2. Wind Beneath My Wings sung by Bette Midler from the movie Beaches. Tearjerker of a song that speaks to the whole theme of the movie.

Drive (2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfoLqZ-gtwU It wasn't used for the soundtrack, but here's the lyrics for The Best Thing by Electric Youth: [verse 1] Monkeys on their back, a scorpian's on yours, You know their hearts are black, they can follow the course, You'd only take a life, that was already over to save another, No guns or bombs or knives, your hammer your handle, heart is full Chorus And you, and you, are the best thing that's ever happened to me x4 [Verse 2] They say you have no name, they say you show no signs, And who you are by day isn't the same in the night, But you'd only take a life, that was already over to save another, No guns or bombs or knives, your hammer your handle, heart is full Chorus And you, and you, are the best thing that's ever happened to me x4

Great pairing of songs, James, couldn't be more disparate. But reflective of two distinct movies. I have screened Easy Rider for 4 years running for my History of American Screenwriting class and yes, Born to Be Wild is the opening credit sequence song post-drug deal. The success of the movie was one of the reasons studios started to really think about music soundtracks for youth-oriented films.

Nice, jem. And here is Driver's jacket... with a scorpion on it.

The one that stands out for me is Carter Burwell's 'Blood Trails' over the end credits of No Country for Old Men. And that was the only music in the whole film (though there was an on screen marache band, and some sound effects sort of pieces I think he did). The screen cuts to black at the end, and you basically sit there in awe (I did anyway). And then this one piece of music comes up slowly breaking the silence. It's absolutely classic. The powerful opening (with no music) also amazed me in the theatre, where all you hear is the wind whipping through the prairie as Llewelyn Moss takes a long time to aim his rifle at a deer. I've never seen anything like it.

Jon, that's a great call. The Coens are masterful in their use of music. Another great example: "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" which plays throughout True Grit. I have a post somewhere on the blog about how perfect that hymn is relative to Maddie's arc and relationship with Rooster Cogburn. I mean, look at this. The hymn, which by the way is the very first thing you hear in the movie (instrumental), sets up this dramatic rescue sequence which ends with Rooster carrying Maddie to safety. And then over closing credits, the hymn sung by the glorious Iris DeMent. God, I love the Coen brothers...

Rejoice in the Sun - Joan Baez Silent Running (1972) In a dystopian future mankind has defoliated earth. In a last-ditch effort to preserve the diversity of plant and animal life for a hoped-for return once earth has been cleansed, a fleet of spaceships carried the remains of earth's biodiversity into space to await their recall at some future time. While most of the crews aboard these ships saw their duty tours as a waste of time, Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) was committed to the preservation effort and hoped for the re-forestation of earth. However, both the plan and Lowell were doomed from the start. Early in the film Joan Baez's haunting "Rejoice in the Sun" plays over scenes of Lowell as we get a feel for his passion and commitment to preserve these last remains of earth's forests for future generations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkF05D-NJMU Fields of children running wild in the sun Like a forest is your child growing wild in the sun Doomed in his innocence in the sun Gather your children to your side in the sun Tell them what they love will die, Tell them why in the sun Tell them it's not too late For today one by one Tell them to harvest and rejoice in the sun As Baez intones "Doomed in his innocence" we see Lowell in profile, a lone figure against the forest backdrop. It's a prophetic lyric. Lowell believes in the program, and is probably the only one who does. His shipmates see their tour of duty as a hardship and the backers of the effort aren't committed to its longevity. Lowell will, over the course of the story, become estranged from his shipmates. In the service of preserving life, Lowell will become the messenger of death. Eventually the ships are notified that the preservation plan has been abandoned. The domes are to be jettisoned and destroyed using nuclear warheads and the crews and ships returned to earth. Lowell becomes a vigilante who murders his shipmates to preserve the domes. After the loss of his shipmates he turns to three maintenance drones for comfort, giving them names (Huey, Dewey, and Louie). They become his children and companions. Fearing what will happen if his murders are discovered, Lowell tries to fake a shipboard disaster and sends his ship through Saturn's rings thinking the other ships won't follow. One of the maintenance drones is lost and another drone is damaged when Lowell hits it accidentally with one of the ATVs. Lowell's escape plan fails as one of the other ships went around the rings on a rescue mission. When Lowell learns the rescue ship will shortly arrive, he decides to cut the one remaining dome loose and allow it to orbit the sun. He charges the one good remaining drone with caring for the forest, and sends it on its way. His final act is to take the damaged drone with him ("Gather your children to your side") and activates the remaining nuclear warheads and lines them up on the floor. He tells the damaged bot, "When I was a kid, I put a note into a bottle, and it had my name and address on it. And then I threw the bottle into the ocean. And I never knew if anyone ever found it." Lowell detonates the bombs destroying himself and the ship. Under the ending credits we watch as the sole remaining maintenance drone waters and cares for the plants in the dome as it floats away into space ("Tell them to harvest and rejoice in the sun"). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ0JGjKYVdU

Great call, Will, and I totally remember this movie. Bruce Dern, along with the robots, Huey, Looey, and Dewey (sp?). You have to figure that Andrew Stanton drew some inspiration for Wall-E from Silent Running. In 1972, I took an environmental science class as an undergraduate and one of the texts was "The Population Bomb" by Paul Ehrlich. So Silent Running was spot-on in terms of concerns my generation had about our Earth, reflected beautifully in the Joan Baez song. Again great call, a song that definitely conveys one of the movie's key themes.

Another example is Simon&Garfunkel's Mrs Robinson in Mike Nichol's The Graduate.

David, S&G's work on that movie is great. I seemed to recall something about the song "Mrs. Robinson", so looked up trivia on IMDb and found this: "The song "Mrs. Robinson" was not written for the movie; it was the working title of a song Simon was then writing (originally called "Mrs. Roosvelt", and about Eleanor Roosevelt) and Nichols decided to include it. Simon and Art Garfunkel only sing the chorus but none of the verses of the later hit song. Additionally, the chorus portion sung contains some lyrics not featured in the more popular "final" version of the song." I wonder if the reference to Mrs. Roosevelt was the former president's wife? With music in The Graduate and Easy Rider, released in '67 and '69 respectively, we see the foundation of contemporary song soundtrack approach which became a staple for filmmaking, not only a way to enhance entertainment experience, but also create an ancillary form of revenue.