In Contention

Tag: Beth Rowley

  • Listen to Beth Rowley’s ‘You’ve Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger’ from ‘An Education’

    Beth Rowley in An EducationWe skipped one of these on Monday so we’ll double up today with a pair of tunes from Lone Scherfig’s “An Education.”

    “You’ve Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger” from singer Beth Rowley featured prominently in the trailer for Scherfig’s film and, frankly, given the breezy, nostalgic flavor of the tune, most may not have realized that it was an original song.  But it is, and one of the more beautiful entries in the category this year.

    The song’s usage in the film hits the subtext on the nose but it’s a rather beautiful moment nevertheless.  Carey Mulligan’s young, unassuming Jenny begins to fall hard for Peter Sarsgaard’s David as Rowley ramps up her vocals in the background via live performance.  The contextual implementation (and the fact that Rowley gets to sing her tune on screen — quite the unique circumstance) leads me to believe this could be more of a contender than we think at the moment.

    Have a listen to the track below and tell us what you think.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Song

    Jeff Bridges in Crazy HeartOver the last five months, Gerard has diligently canvassed and re-canvassed the various crafts categories here at In Contention.  The one category we have held back on all this time, as contenders have slowly fallen into place, was Best Original Song.  Today, it’s time to dig into the field.

    This has turned into something of a banner year for original songs in feature films.  We’ve had the great pleasure of bringing a number of hopefuls to you via our “listen to” posts, and look forward to continuing that into the new year.  But inevitably, frontrunners are bound to show up, and I think we can successfully narrow the field now.

    Before diving in, it’s worth reiterating the voting process in this category.  I’ll simply let the Academy’s rule book speak for itself:

    “An original song consists of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the motion picture. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the motion picture or as the first music cue in the end credits.

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  • ‘An Education’ for Best Original Song?

    Beth RowleyThis morning I highlighted a few areas where the “An Education” team might want to angle for nominations beyond the slam-dunk that is the Carey Mulligan Express. What I forgot to suggest is that the film could theoretically put itself in the hunt for Best Original Song.

    You could be forgiven for thinking that the lovely, woozy torch ballad “You’ve Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger” — which features prominently in the trailer, as well as twice in the film itself — is a dusty archive find from the early 1960s.

    However, it’s actually a contemporary track co-written and performed especially for the film by 28 year-old British jazz-pop chanteuse Beth Rowley (who appears as a nightclub singer in the film).

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