What are some songs that were made popular by movies?

rounder wrote:

The days of wine and roses, from film by the same name (just to throw in a jazz classic).

That is an outstanding film rounder.

The same composer gave us The Pink Panther Theme.

Probably just for me, but "More than This" by Roxy Music in the movie "Lost in Translation" (karaoke scene).

"As time goes by" from Casablanca.

Yeah, good call. Forgot about that one. That's what I imagine the spirit of the question entails - it's about songs that were never that popular and were destined to fade from memory until movies brought them back into the public consciousness and helped make them universally influential or landmark hits. That is, we're talking not so much about songs that became hits in CONJUNCTION with a movie, but songs that had their chance at one time and only made it really big later BECAUSE of a movie. These are the songs that wouldn't have been what they were/are without associated movies.

Another one like this is Scott Joplin's 1902 rag "The Entertainer" - made hugely popular by "The Sting" in 1973 (the movie was set in Depression-era Chicago, but ragtime had already been largely forgotten even by then). The ensuing 1970s ragtime fad fizzled out after a few years, as well, but almost everyone today knows this one song, and that's pretty much because of the movie.

Of lesser interest to me are:

1) Songs written specifically for their movies - example: "Stayin' Alive" (Saturday Night Fever). A song like that one no doubt enjoyed way more acclaim by being an integral part of a blockbuster movie, but it probably would have been a fairly big hit on its own. There are tons of songs like that from movies like the "Rocky" series or "Caddyshack" or "Titanic." In the case of "Saturday Night Fever," though, the movie played a huge role in the popularity of the entire disco music genre, so it absolutely enhanced the popularity of "Stayin' Alive," "Night Fever," etc.

2) Songs that had been hits and were never really forgotten prior to their appearance in later movies - examples: "Stuck In The Middle With You" (Reservoir Dogs) and "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Wayne's World) ... these had the converse effects - it was actually the songs that helped make the ear-slicing scene and the headbanging scene so memorable, and those remain the signature scenes of the respective movies.

3) Songs which did enjoy a revival which was short-lived before they were again shelved - examples: "The Rain, The Park And Other Things" (Dumb And Dumber) and "The Only Living Boy In New York" (Garden State) ... this last one has actually been used in a couple of movies and at least one TV commercial, but it still remains a lesser-known and much less influential song compared to "As Time Goes By" or "Rock Around The Clock."