Which Song Won the Oscar-1981

 

It’s freebie week over at Monday Music Moves Me and it’s “Guess which song won the Oscar, which was nominated and which got nuttin’ baby”  for the year, 1981. I hope people visit Cathy’s blog since she helps host this weekly music series. So let’s see who gets this right…

1.  AMERICA SUNG BY NEIL DIAMOND

At the height of Neil Diamond’s fame, Hollywood came calling and placed him in the lead of the film, “The Jazz Singer” that also starred Sir Laurence Olivier as his Jewish dad and Lucy Arnaz( Desi Arnaz’s and Lucille Ball’s daughter) as his wife. This is a remake of the famous film of 1927 that starred over the top Al Jolson, a film that brought in the Talking picture. The song was a great achievement for Diamond who wrote the song and became even bigger as time went on. It was a patriotic song after the 9/11 attacks with Diamond changing one lyric to make it more appropriate for that time.

2. THE BEST THAT YOU CAN DO SUNG BY CHRISTOPHER CROSS

This song was written a host of people including the lead singer, Christopher Cross, and Burt Bacharach for the film Arthur that starred Dudley Moore as a drunken playboy billionaire and Liza Minnelli as his lady love. Sir John Gielgud stole the show as his butler who knows how to deal with this nut of an employer. The song became a big hit and is also known as “Arthur’s Theme.”

3. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY SUNG BY SHEENA EASTON

This song, written by Bill Conti with lyrics by Mick Loeson became a huge hit for this Scottish babe, Shirley Easton, who sang this title song for the James Bond film of the same title that starred Roger Moore. In fact, it’s one of my favourite Bond films ever with great scenes taking place in Meteora, Greece, a place I must visit before I die even if I am scared of heights. I remember when Sheena sang this at the Oscars and her voice was spot on. Yeah, the Oscars must bring back the best songs being sung at the Oscars. That James Bond songfest, done this past year, was totally useless. 

So…do you know which song won, which was nominated and which song came up empty-handed?