Favorite Songs From Movies: Jailhouse Rock

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Back in January, when I was doing songs that had been nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Original Song,” you may have noticed someone conspicuous by his absence. That’s one of the reasons I’m revisiting the topic of songs in movies this month: there were a lot of great songs that were never nominated. Case in point….. Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley Or, for his Grouchiness….. Jailhouse Rock - The Blues Brothers Yes, this classic song has been in two different movies. With generally the same setting, though. We’ll talk about Elvis first. He made a ton of musicals and not one of them ever got a “Best Original Song” nomination. What, too easy to nominate him? There must have been some sort of anti-rock sentiment in the nominating/voting process back then. It looks like the first song nominated with any rock feel to it was “What’s New, Pussycat,” and the first song with real gonads was the “Theme From Shaft” (which won an Oscar for Isaac Hayes). That’s the only thing I can think of to explain the King of Rock and Roll having a big oh-fer in Oscar nominations for songs from his movies. And, of course, by the time the Blues Brothers closed out their classic 1980 film with the song, it wasn’t eligible because it wasn’t an “original song” by then. A little trivia about the Blues Brothers version: the prisoner who starts the dancing riot by jumping up on the table is none other than Joe Walsh. As for the song, it’s a certified classic, regardless of the movie you see it in! Jailhouse Rock Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Recorded by Elvis Presley From Jailhouse Rock, 1957 Also recorded by the Blues Brothers From The Blues Brothers, 1980 Use a wooden chair!