2014 Best Original Song - Everything Is Awesome at the Oscars!

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WON: "Glory," Selma

SHOULD'VE WON: "I'm Not Gonna Miss You," Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me

At last, a year without a clunker of a nominee!

2014 Best Original Song is actually a pretty remarkable affair, a year in which R&B A-listers John Legend and Common scored Selma its sole Oscar victory; Diane Warren garnered her 7th (!) nomination in the category for Beyond the Lights; country legend Glen Campbell won a nod for his swan song; All in the Family alumnus/child star Danielle Brisebois nabbed a nomination for composing a tune for Begin Again; and, well, the fifth nominee was The Lego Movie, which is just awesome.

With that said, I actually consider Selma's "Glory" one of the lesser efforts of this fivesome, despite the unimpeachable talents of its composers. Legend's vocal is, as always, very nice and I dig the chorus, but the record veers a tad on the bombastic side and lacks the nuance that made Selma such a powerful experience. This was, of course, the Academy's one opportunity to give the picture a consolation prize (unless it could somehow upset in Best Picture - credit Paramount's miserably inept awards campaign for the film's absence on Oscar nominations morning), so it was hardly a stunner when "Glory" triumphed.

My favorite of the five nominees is actually Glen Campbell's "I'm Not Gonna Miss You," a poignant song that is full of immense subtlety. This in fact marked the country superstar's second appearance in Best Original Song, after having performed True Grit's title song, nominated at the 1969 Oscars. While that tune was fine but fleeting, "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" leaves an enormous impact.

I'm not quite as enamored with the remaining three nominees, though all at least have a little something to write home about.

Begin Again's "Lost Stars" is about on-par with most Adam Levine efforts, which is to say it's an agreeable piece of pop-rock that I wouldn't protest hearing on the car radio but otherwise isn't something that blows me away. Likewise, Beyond the Stars' "Grateful" has a rather generic sound - this isn't one of Warren's stronger efforts - though it's lifted a bit by Rita Ora's strong vocal work. And The Lego Movie's "Everything Is Awesome" is a pitch-perfect fit for its film but isn't nearly as fun to just listen to, sans the film's extraordinary visuals.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "Streets of Philadelphia," Philadelphia (1993)
  4. "Lose Yourself," 8 Mile (2002)
  5. "High Hopes," A Hole in the Head (1959)
  6. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  7. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  8. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  9. "(I've Had) the Time of My Life," Dirty Dancing (1987)
  10. "The Windmills of Your Mind," The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
  11. "The Way We Were," The Way We Were (1973)
  12. "Let the River Run," Working Girl (1988)
  13. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  14. "Under the Sea," The Little Mermaid (1989)
  15. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  16. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," The Lion King (1994)
  17. "Beauty and the Beast," Beauty and the Beast (1991)
  18. "I'm Easy," Nashville (1975)
  19. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  20. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  21. "Fame," Fame (1980)
  22. "Theme from Shaft," Shaft (1971)
  23. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  24. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  25. "Moon River," Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
  26. "Take My Breath Away," Top Gun (1986)
  27. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  28. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  29. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  30. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  31. "A Whole New World," Aladdin (1992)
  32. "My Heart Will Go On," Titanic (1997)
  33. "Let It Go," Frozen (2013)
  34. "Flashdance...What a Feeling," Flashdance (1983)
  35. "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," Arthur (1981)
  36. "I Need to Wake Up," An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
  37. "Last Dance," Thank God It's Friday (1978)
  38. "Colors of the Wind," Pocahontas (1995)
  39. "Falling Slowly," Once (2007)
  40. "You Must Love Me," Evita (1996)
  41. "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)," Dick Tracy (1990)
  42. "Days of Wine and Roses," Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
  43. "For All We Know," Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
  44. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  45. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  46. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  47. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  48. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  49. "Skyfall," Skyfall (2012)
  50. "The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart (2009)
  51. "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," Hustle & Flow (2005)
  52. "It Goes Like It Goes," Norma Rae (1979)
  53. "Born Free," Born Free (1966)
  54. "Never on Sunday," Never on Sunday (1960)
  55. "I Just Called to Say I Love You," The Woman in Red (1984)
  56. "Up Where We Belong," An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
  57. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  58. "Chim Chim Cher-ee," Mary Poppins (1964)
  59. "Call Me Irresponsible," Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
  60. "Evergreen (Theme from A Star Is Born)," A Star Is Born (1976)
  61. "Al otro lado del río," The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
  62. "Things Have Changed," Wonder Boys (2000)
  63. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  64. "Into the West," The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
  65. "Glory," Selma (2014)
  66. "Man or Muppet," The Muppets (2011)
  67. "We Belong Together," Toy Story 3 (2010)
  68. "Jai Ho," Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
  69. "If I Didn't Have You," Monsters, Inc. (2001)
  70. "You'll Be in My Heart," Tarzan (1999)
  71. "You Light Up My Life," You Light Up My Life (1977)
  72. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  73. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  74. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  75. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)
  76. "Talk to the Animals," Doctor Dolittle (1967)
  77. "The Shadow of Your Smile," The Sandpiper (1965)
  78. "When You Believe," The Prince of Egypt (1998)
  79. "Say You, Say Me," White Nights (1985)
  80. "The Morning After," The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
  81. "We May Never Love Like This Again," The Towering Inferno (1974)