2020 OSCAR NOMINEES FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG

This year's Oscar nominations were announced on January 13th and the awards will be presented on February 9th which makes it the earliest the awards have ever been given out. And without any nonsense about eliminating the Best Original Song nominees from the show, that means that all of the singers of these songs have been invited to perform at the 92nd annual ceremony. This year is particularly strong in this category with any of them being a worthy winner. But I have to say I'm leaning towards Elton John's song from "Rocketman". This Motown-inspired, foot-stomper, "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" has John collaborating with his long-time co-writer, Bernie Taupin and this would only be the second award this legendary team has ever won together following their recent Golden Globe win for this song. Here are all five Best Original Song nominees for your listening pleasure:

"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" from "Toy Story 4"; music and lyrics by Randy Newman



"(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from "Rocketman"; music by Elton John; lyrics by Bernie Taupin



"I'm Standing With You" from "Breakthrough"; music and lyrics by Diane Warren



"Into the Unknown" from "Frozen II"; music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez



"Stand Up" from "Harriet"; music and lyrics by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo

2013 OSCAR NOMINEES FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Most of the conversation about this year's Oscar nominations for Best Original Song has been about the disqualification of the tune, "Alone Not Alone". I had found it a little suspect that a song from a film that nobody never heard of (let alone ever seen) managed to earn a nomination but the real news is that the rest of the selections are actually a solid collection of songs. It's been quite a while since music from a motion picture has received serious radio play but two of our nominees have been climbing up the Billboard charts. One of this year's big Grammy winners, Pharrell Williams has a top-ten hit with "Happy" from the animation sequel, "Despicable Me 2" while "Let It Go", the breakout song from another smash animated film, "Frozen" is also moving up the top-forty.

The other two notable songs include rock legends, U2 who received their second Oscar nomination for the moving ballad, "Ordinary Love" which closes out "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom". Karen O from the art-punk band Yeah Yeah Yeah co-wrote "The Moon Song" with the director of the film, "Her", Spike Jones. A version of the song is performed in the film by actors, Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix and by the artist during the end-credits.

The best news is that all of these great artists will be on the Oscar telecast, March 2nd to perform their songs. And the nominees for Best Original Song are:

"Let It Go" from "Frozen" -  Performed by Idina Menzel - (Music and lyric by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez)

"The Moon Song" from "Her" -  Performed by Karen O - (Music by Karen O, Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze)

"Ordinary Love" from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" -  Performed  by U2 -(Music and Lyric by U2)

"Happy" from "Despicable Me 2" -  Performed by Pharrell Williams - (Music and lyric by Pharrell Williams)