Movie Songs That Almost Got Cut From the Film

About These Movie Songs That Almost Got Cut

Some of the most beloved movie songs that almost got cut are now so famous it is hard to picture their films without them. A director doubted one, a studio boss wanted another gone, and one classic survived only because an actress had already changed her hair.

This episode counts down ten of those close calls. Each story below was checked against film histories, chart records and Academy Awards data, and details that could not be confirmed were left out.

The Countdown: 10 Movie Songs That Nearly Disappeared

#10: My Heart Will Go On — Celine Dion (1997)

James Horner first wrote this melody as an instrumental theme inside his Titanic score. James Cameron felt that ending his film with a pop song would be inappropriate, so Horner, with lyricist Will Jennings, had a demo made and waited for a good moment to play it. Cameron listened several times before he agreed.

Celine Dion was not eager either, but her husband and manager, René Angélil, talked her into a demo. According to music executive Tommy Mottola, she sang it in one take, and that vocal is the one heard in the film.

It was the best-selling single of 1998 worldwide. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song and four Grammys, including Record of the Year, and the soundtrack spent sixteen straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

#9: I Will Always Love You — Whitney Houston (1992)

For The Bodyguard, Kevin Costner first suggested Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted." That idea was dropped after Paul Young's version became a hit in another film. The team turned instead to Dolly Parton's song, inspired by Linda Ronstadt's 1975 recording.

Costner suggested that Whitney Houston open the song with no music at all. Producer David Foster at first thought the a cappella start was ridiculous. Parton herself suggested that Houston include the third verse, which had been left off many radio versions.

The single spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a record at the time. The soundtrack has sold some 45 million copies, the best-selling soundtrack ever. Parton later joked that she made enough from it to buy Graceland.

#8: Can You Feel the Love Tonight — Elton John (1994)

For The Lion King, Elton John and Tim Rice wrote a love song, but early plans had Timon and Pumbaa sing the whole thing as a comic number. Nathan Lane, the voice of Timon, later said Elton was mortified.

Then came a bigger surprise. Elton has said Disney showed him a rough cut of the nearly finished film, and the song was not in it. He argued that every great Disney animated film has a great love song, and the studio found a spot for it.

The single reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. In March 1995, it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

#7: Eye of the Tiger — Survivor (1982)

Sylvester Stallone wanted Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" for Rocky III, but Queen would not give him permission. He turned to Survivor, a band with two unsuccessful albums behind it, and asked for something "street" with a beat that matched the punches.

Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik wrote the song. Stallone loved the band's February 1982 demo and insisted on using it in the film.

It spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also nominated for the Oscar.

#6: Moon River — Audrey Hepburn (1961)

Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer wrote "Moon River" for Audrey Hepburn to sing in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Mercer drew on his boyhood in Savannah, Georgia. In the film, Hepburn sings it softly with a guitar at her apartment window.

After a lukewarm preview in Los Angeles, Paramount executive Martin Rackin suggested cutting the song. Accounts of Hepburn's reply differ. The best-known version is "Over my dead body."

The song stayed and won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Hundreds of versions have been recorded since, and Andy Williams made it the theme of his television show.

#5: Don't You (Forget About Me) — Simple Minds (1985)

Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff wrote this song for John Hughes's The Breakfast Club. Bryan Ferry turned it down, and so did Billy Idol. Simple Minds said no too, because they preferred to record their own songs.

Their manager, Bruce Findlay, set up a private screening of the film, but the band still said no. Singer Jim Kerr's wife at the time, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, liked the song and urged him to record it.

They finally did. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1985 and in Canada that June, and it became the band's biggest American hit.

#4: (I've Had) The Time of My Life — Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (1987)

By 1986, Franke Previte was without a record deal. When producer Jimmy Ienner asked him to write for Dirty Dancing, Previte first said no, partly because he thought the title sounded like an adult film. Ienner kept asking.

The title phrase came to Previte while he was driving on the Garden State Parkway. A Lionel Richie song had first been planned for the finale, but choreographer Kenny Ortega and his assistant Miranda Garrison chose this one instead.

The single came out on July 10, 1987, but the film's American release was moved to August, and radio was slow to play it. It reached No. 1 that November and won the Oscar, the Golden Globe and a Grammy.

#3: Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head — B.J. Thomas (1969)

Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote this song for a playful bicycle scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Some critics felt a pop song did not suit a Western, but director George Roy Hill insisted on keeping it.

Ray Stevens was offered the song first and turned it down. B.J. Thomas, recovering from laryngitis, recorded the film version on his seventh take, after Bacharach was unhappy with the first six.

The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in January 1970, the first American No. 1 of the decade, and won the Oscar.

#2: As Time Goes By — Dooley Wilson (1942)

Herman Hupfeld wrote this song for the 1931 Broadway musical Everybody's Welcome, where Frances Williams sang it. It was already part of the unproduced play that Casablanca was based on, and in the film Dooley Wilson sings it as Sam.

Composer Max Steiner wanted to replace it with a piece of his own. That would have meant reshooting scenes, but Ingrid Bergman had already cut her hair short for her next role. Steiner built his score around the song and "La Marseillaise" instead.

A wartime musicians' strike kept Wilson from making a record, so Rudy Vallée's 1931 version was reissued and became a No. 1 hit.

#1: Over the Rainbow — Judy Garland (1939)

The Wizard of Oz first ran nearly two hours, and the filmmakers had to cut at least 15 minutes. The Jitterbug number and a long Scarecrow dance were among the cuts.

MGM felt the song made the Kansas section too long, and some found it beneath a star to sing in a barnyard. It was pulled at a preview in June 1939. Producer Mervyn LeRoy, director Victor Fleming and uncredited associate producer Arthur Freed fought to keep it, and Freed reportedly said that if the song went, he would go too.

The song won the Oscar and became Garland's signature. In 2004, the American Film Institute named it the greatest movie song of all time. A 1714 Stradivarius owned by MGM concertmaster Toscha Seidel, widely believed to be heard on the score, sold for $15.3 million in 2022.

Why These Songs Were Almost Lost

The reasons were rarely about quality. Films ran long, tastes clashed, music rights fell through, and some artists did not want to sing someone else's song. In nearly every case, one stubborn person changed the outcome.

How Movie Songs Still Carry Us Back

Many of these songs now outshine their films. People who have never seen Breakfast at Tiffany's can still hum "Moon River," and "Over the Rainbow" is sung at graduations and farewells everywhere.

Which of these movie songs that almost got cut means the most to you, and where were you the first time you heard it?

Sources and Further Reading

• "My Heart Will Go On" — Wikipedia
• "I Will Always Love You" (Whitney Houston recording) — Wikipedia
• "Moon River" — Wikipedia
• The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) — Wikipedia
• "Over the Rainbow": The Story Behind the Song of the Century — Columbia News