Awards Watch: The Songs

The Academy has just announced the 59 songs that are in the running for this year's Best Original Song Oscar, and among the expected tunes (such as "That's How You Know" from Enchanted) are quite a few head-scratchers and one notable omission: "Ladies' Choice" from Hairspray.

But don't blame the music branch of the Academy, blame New Line. As you can see by their "For Your Consideration" ads, the studio chose to pin all their hopes on "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)". Is this a mistake, or a wise decision to secure a nomination and, eventually, the award? Especially considering that such films as August Rush, Dan in Real Life and something called 56 Drops of Blood (?) submitted three or even four songs for consideration, it is surprising that a very high-profile, actual musical number from one of the biggest hits of the year was deliberately left out of the running. So much for seeing Zac Efron rockin' out on the Oscar telecast solo, although if "Come So Far" is nominated, he will likely join Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky and Elijah Kelley for the live performance.

Looking through the song list, there are an awful lot of unheard of songs from some pretty random movies. "I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow" from Good Luck Chuck, anyone? How about "The Tale of the Horny Frog" from The Heartbreak Kid or "First Amendment Blues" from Larry Flynt: The Right To Be Left Alone? And who knew that Transformers had a love song?

Links via Oscars.org and AwardsDaily.com.