Saturday, October 11, 2025

American History Through Literature

The U.S. Constitution, and Washington's first term, began in the late 1780s, making the 1790s the first truly American decade. Here is one work of literature for each decade of America:

1790s "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
1800s "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Alan Poe*
1810s "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benet
1820s Moby Dick by Herman Melville
1830s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
1840s Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
1850s Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
1860s The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
1870s Beloved by Toni Morrison
1880s Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
1890s The Awakening by Kate Chopin
1900s Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
1910s Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1920s The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1930s All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
1940s Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
1950s A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
1960s Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion
1970s The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
1980s White Noise by Don DeLillo
1990s The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
2000s Averno by Louise Gluck
2010s Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

*The original story is seemingly set in England, but is often associated with New York. Also this is a really tough decade to find anything, so...

This is the only one I've not read, and am going on trust. Weirdly I've not really read any good American books set in the 1980s.

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

100 Movie Songs

Here’s a list: The best movie songs. To make it I put in two caveats: 1) It had to originate with a movie - I wanted to remove songs from Broadway musicals, but ended up removing far more than I imagined, because of it. (Did you know “Singin’ in the Rain” and “As Time Goes By” were originally from stage musicals?) 2) I only picked the best song per movie. Otherwise there’d be a whole slew from Disney movies, etc. Lastly, lyrical songs only, otherwise the lines get blurred with soundtracks. Without further ado:

  1. Over the Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz
  2. Moon River - Breakfast at Tiffany’s
  3. White Christmas - Holiday Inn
  4. Pure Imagination - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
  5. When You Wish Upon a Star - Pinocchio
  6. My Heart Will Go On - Titanic
  7. Mrs. Robinson - The Graduate
  8. When Doves Cry - Purple Rain
  9. You’re the One That I Want - Grease
  10. Let It Go - Frozen
  11. Stayin’ Alive - Saturday Night Fever
  12. The Circle of Life - The Lion King
  13. Superfly - Superfly
  14. Theme from New York, New York - New York, New York
  15. Jailhouse Rock - Jailhouse Rock
  16. See You Again - Furious 7
  17. Rainbow Connection - The Muppet Movie
  18. The Way You Look Tonight - Swing Time
  19. Up Where We Belong - An Officer and a Gentleman
  20. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Meet Me in St. Louis
  21. Lose Yourself - 8 Mile
  22. Eye of the Tiger - Rocky III
  23. I’ve Got You Under My Skin - Born to Dance
  24. 9 to 5 - 9 to 5
  25. Make ‘Em Laugh - Singin’ in the Rain
  26. Someday My Prince Will Come - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  27. Happy - Despicable Me 2
  28. Remember Me - Coco
  29. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  30. Fame - Fame
  31. Theme from Shaft - Shaft
  32. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Mary Poppins
  33. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off - Shall We Dance
  34. Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky) - Rocky
  35. Footloose - Footloose
  36. That’s Amore - The Caddy
  37. The Way We Were - The Way We Were
  38. (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing
  39. Que Sera, Sera - The Man Who Knew Too Much
  40. Swinging on a Star - Going My Way
  41. On the Road Again - Honeysuckle Rose
  42. This Is Me - The Greatest Showman
  43. Call Me - American Gigolo
  44. Can’t Stop the Feeling! - Trolls
  45. You’ve Got a Friend in Me - Toy Story
  46. Gangsta’s Paradise - Dangerous Minds
  47. Suicide Is Painless - M*A*S*H
  48. Beauty and the Beast - Beauty and the Beast
  49. Don’t Worry, Be Happy - Cocktail
  50. Fight the Power - Do the Right Thing
  51. Shining Star - That’s the Way of the World
  52. The Harder They Come - The Harder They Come
  53. Sunflower - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
  54. A Whole New World - Aladdin
  55. On the Good Ship Lollipop - Bright Eyes
  56. High Hopes - A Hole in the Head
  57. I Believe I Can Fly - Space Jam
  58. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy  - Buck Privates
  59. Skyfall - Skyfall
  60. The Ballad of High Noon - High Noon
  61. Flashdance… What a Feeling - Flashdance
  62. I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing - Armageddon
  63. Windmills of Your Mind - The Thomas Crown Affair
  64. Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid
  65. Live and Let Die - Live and Let Die
  66. Blues in the Night - Blues in the Night
  67. Don’t You (Forget About Me) - The Breakfast Club
  68. Hooray for Hollywood - Hollywood Hotel
  69. Springtime for Hitler - The Producers
  70. Come What May - Moulin Rouge!
  71. I’m Easy - Nashville
  72. Cheek to Cheek - Top Hat
  73. Ghostbusters - Ghostbusters
  74. Viva Las Vegas - Viva Las Vegas
  75. We Don’t Talk About Bruno - Encanto
  76. Take My Breath Away - Top Gun
  77. Golden - KPop Demon Hunters
  78. That Thing You Do! - That Thing You Do!
  79. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out - Harold and Maude
  80. Born Free - Born Free
  81. Days of Wine and Roses - Days of Wine and Roses
  82. Everything is Awesome! - The Lego Movie
  83. The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money) - Gold Diggers of 1933
  84. Thanks for the Memory - The Big Broadcast of 1938
  85. The Man Who Got Away - A Star is Born (1954)
  86. Goldfinger - Goldfinger
  87. I’m Just Ken - Barbie
  88. Evergreen - A Star is Born (1976)
  89. Chattanooga Choo Choo - Sun Valley Serenade
  90. (We’re Off on the) Road to Morocco - Road to Morocco
  91. Once Upon a December - Anastasia
  92. Another Day of Sun - La La Land
  93. Buttons and Bows - The Paleface
  94. Streets of Philadelphia - Philadelphia
  95. Be a Man - Mulan 
  96. Shallow - A Star is Born (2018)
  97. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
  98. The Power of Love - Back to the Future
  99. (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again - Rocketman
  100. 42nd Street - 42nd Street