Music Monday (on a Tuesday) - Best Movie Ending Songs

I believe it was watching the end of Stranger Things season 3 that inspired me to figure out my top 10 favorite songs that come up at the end of movies.

Admittedly this is a bit obscure but again, Stranger Things' finale had a powerful moment with Peter Gabriel's "Hero" and it got my mind wandering down this rabbit hole. My evaluation is based off how well the song fits with the overall tenor of the movie. A fun movie ought to have a memorably fun song. A dramatic movie should have a powerfully evocative number to punctuate the finale.

This week, I'll cover songs 10-6 and finish it off next week. By the way, a lot of the videos I'm including have spoilers...so you've been properly alerted.

10. Edge of Tomorrow, "Love Me Again", John Newman.

Ok, I'm going to cheat on #9-10 because these songs technically play right as the credits roll. But especially in this case, it's a fun song that matches what was a surprisingly great movie. I first liked the song because of it's original music video which is an homage to Romeo and Juliet. And while this movie really doesn't have any romance, the song just fits the energy of the Tom Cruise pic.

9. Oceans 11/ The Bourne Identity - "69 Police" David Holmes, "Extreme Ways" Moby. 

Up until I fact-checked this five minutes ago, I was under the impression that Moby wrote both of these songs. Whatever genre it is, you can inject it straight into my veins at the end of these movies because they just ooze "cool".

8. The Graduate - "The Sound of Silence", Simon and Garfunkel

This is a classic final scene well staged and well acted. And the cherry on top is Simon and Garfunkel's classic ballad.

7. Heat - "God moving over the face of the waters" - Moby

This is one of my all-time favorite movies (don't watch the first five minutes of the video below if you don't want it spoiled though). There's something gratifying, honorable, and powerful about this instrumental by Moby. The movie earned this ending and this ending earns this song...if that makes any sense.

6. Drive - "A Real Hero", College Electric Youth

Drive is an unique movie to say the least. But it's really more stylish than strange because of it's soundtrack. It's capped off perfectly by this song. I don't know who College Electric Youth are or where they are from, but it feels like this song was created to play during this exact scene and at the conclusion of this particular movie.

Thank you for indulging me in this little vanity project. More to come next week!

Music Mondays

The term "shawshanked" has become a cultural reference to describe the situation when you are channel surfing and get totally caught up in watching a particular movie you hadn't been looking for. It is derived from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" which has had that effect on many people due to its constant playing on various cable stations. 

Personally, I enjoy that movie but don't feel obligated to watch it when I see it on the channel guide. The mid-nineties movie, "Heat" however, absolutely sucks me in when I see it on. I can't recall ever seeing it on DVD, so I am sure it has plenty of objectionable material, but given the FCC edits cable stations make, I find it acceptable viewing as a thoroughly compelling and dramatic movie. Twice this weekend I ran across it and twice I forgot what I had been watching and let myself get into this classic cops-and-robbers film.

What I've grown to appreciate more and more in each successive viewing is the musical score. It matches the tension and mood of each scene. And in the climactic ending, when the protagonist and antagonist square off in a shoot-out and chase, one particular song captures the scene perfectly and ends the movie exquisitely. 

That song is lyric-less but mesmerizing "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" by Moby.

This weekend, I started to ponder both the content and title of this song- because apparently repeated viewings makes you think about such details. 

I thought about perfectly the song matched the title when you remove it from the context of the movie and apply it to Genesis 1, which describes how "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" at the beginning of Creation. Listen to that song, think of Genesis, and see if your mind isn't entranced by beauty, transcendence, and the glory of God.
 
I don't think all of this is just coincidence either. Moby has made a number of different statements about his belief in Christ (though His views on the Church and organized Christianity, while true in many ways, miss the point). It seems likely that Moby, being familiar with Scripture's introductory scene, was inspired to compose this piece. A piece that ended up a fitting ending to the final scene of a really entertaining (though spiritually meaningless) movie. Such is the essence of Music Monday, sometimes spiritual truth is found in what is trite.