1. Once Upon a Time. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams (Echo Torriven from The Pain of a Memory's theme).
2. My Heart Will Go On, also known as Il Mio Cuore Va, or the theme of Titanic. Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Sarah Brightman (if you prefer it wholly in English, Celine Dion's original is not my personal favorite, but it's not bad).
3. I Will Always Love You. Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Katherine Jenkins (and Whitney Houston's isn't bad).
4. Sempre Sempre, translated as Always, Always. Best version(s) by: Il Divo (just so you know, they have the best version of most songs). ;)
5. What Now, My Love?. Best version(s) by: Vic Damone; Andy Williams.
6. My Own True Love, also known as the theme of Gone With The Wind. Best version(s) by: Original movie soundtrack*; Jose Carreras (his is the only good one with lyrics I've heard).
7. The Stag. Best version(s) by: Patrick Doyle*.
8. Adagio, also known as Anytime, Anywhere. Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Sarah Brightman.
9. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again (from Phantom of the Opera). Best version(s) by: Sarah Brightman.
10. Anthem (from Chess). Best version(s) by: Josh Groban.
12. Time To Say Goodbye, also known as Con Te Partiro. Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Il Divo and Lea Salonga; David and Sarah Joy Miller; Katherine Jenkins (I personally don't care for the rather overrated original by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, but if you like it, then it's plenty good for writing as well. It's just that I don't like Bocelli).
13. Hooked On A Feeling. Best version(s) by: Blue Swede.
14. Remember When It Rained. Best version(s) by: Josh Groban. (Percy and Celeise from Alomina's theme).
15. La Traviata Prelude/Overture. Best version(s): Any version true to the original music is good*.
16. What I Did For Love (from A Chorus Line). Best version(s) by: Josh Groban.
17. An Old-Fashioned Walk. Best version(s) by: Doris Day and Frank Sinatra.
18.A Time For Us, also known as Un Giorno Per Noi, or the theme to Romeo and Juliet. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams; Vic Damone; Josh Groban.
19. If I Can't Love Her (from Beauty and the Beast). Best version(s) by: Thomas Hampson!!!; Josh Groban.
20. Bring Him Home (from Les Miserables). Best version(s) by: David Miller (I regret to say that his version is even better than Il Divo's, actually); Il Divo; Thomas Hampson.
21. Old-Fashioned Wedding (from Annie get Your Gun). Best version(s) by: 1992 Revival Cast; Thomas Hampson and Kathleen Battle; (warning - this song has a high comedy content!). :)
22. Ten Minutes Ago (from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella). Best version(s) by: Santino Fontana and Laura Osnes.
23. All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera). Best version(s) by: Il Divo and Kristen Chenoweth; Michael Ball and Sarah Brightman.
24. Who Can I Turn To?. Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Andy Williams.
25. Can't Help Falling In Love. Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Chris Isaac; Elvis Presley; Andy Williams.
26. The World Will Know (from Newsies). Best version(s) by: Original movie soundtrack; Original Broadway cast.
27. La Valse L'Amour, translated as The Waltz of Love. Best version(s) by: Patrick Doyle*.
28. She'll Never Know. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams (you're going to see a lot of Andy Williams, because - while Il Divo has the best music of all time - Andy Williams has the best writing music of all time).
29. When I Look In Your Eyes. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams (surprisingly dramatic considering both the cheesy title and the fact that it came from the movie Doctor Doolittle).
30. Solitaire. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams (oh man, I listened to that song like a dozen times a day - actually... I don't think that's an exaggeration, sadly - during Camp NaNoWriMo. Captain Orlando Rogan from The Pain of a Memory's unofficial theme).
32. The Flower Duet (from the opera Lakme). Best version(s) by: Anybody that can sing it. The only specific version that comes to mind presently is Anna Netrebko's, which is very good (trust me, this song is so good, even a non-opera lover won't be disappointed, and might even still recognize it - it's one of the best known duets in the opera world).
33. I Won't Dance. Best version(s) by: Frank Sinatra; Fred Astaire (make sure it's Fred Astaire alone! - the duet with Ginger Rogers is terrible).
34. When The Band Goes By (from Sweethearts... which you really must check out). Best version(s) by: Nelson Eddy.
35. Sweet Surrender. Best version(s) by: Thomas Hampson.
36. Alone, also known as Solo. Best version(s) by: Il Divo (the still quite enjoyable original is by Heart, but if you don't like 80's music, then that's okay).
37. What a Wonderful World. Best version(s) by: David Miller (ha! I bet you thought I was going to list the Louis Armstrong original, didn't you? Well I threw ya for a loop. I wasn't ever a fan of that song - especially not that version - until I heard Mr. Miller's rendition. Now... I LOVE THAT SONG!).
38. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (from Les Miserables). Best version(s) by: Michael Ball; Josh Groban; Carlos Marin (just warning you so you won't have a shock attack when you look up Mr. Marin's version; it has some of the best voice inflection and voice-acting I've ever heard in any version, but it is in Spanish, because it's from the Madrid performance).
39. Red Roses For a Blue Lady. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams (I have never heard anyone else sing it, though).
40. Without You. Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Andy Williams.
42. Stranger on the Shore. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams.
43. Roses and Roses. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams.
44. Sway, also known as Quien Sera. Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Rosemary Clooney.
45. Fly By Night. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams.
46. Senza Parole. Best version(s) by: Il Divo.
47. Caruso (a song dedicated to the great tenor, Caruso, but the lyrics would work for a character as well, seeing as they don't mention Caruso by name specifically in it). Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Katherine Jenkins; Josh Groban.
48. More. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams (Blakely from Alagna's official theme).
49. It's Impossible. Best version(s) by: Andy Williams; Vic Damone (Blakely from Alagna's original but unofficial theme, as I love the song but rather disagree with one particular line of lyrics from it).
50. Beautiful Dreamer. Best version(s) by: Thomas Hampson.
51. The Grande Hall. Best version(s) by: Nox Arcana*.
52. Belladonna. Best version(s) by: Nox Arcana*.
53. Music Box. Best version(s) by: Nox Arcana* (these three Nox Arcana songs are good for really sad or scary writing, because they are very haunting and even come from an album of music meant to be a soundtrack to a haunted house).
54. Shenendoah. Best version(s) by: Thomas Hampson.
55. Don't Cry For Me Argentina (from Evita). Best version(s) by: Il Divo; Sarah Brightman.
And that about wraps it up! There were many others I could have mentioned, but I think that fifty-five is quite enough. ;)
What did you think? Are you interested in any of the above songs? Will you check them out? Any questions concerning their genre, where to find them, or how I found them? I would love to chat! :D Also, I am back to blogging now!... hopefully! ;)
Lovely, lovely song list! Some are old classics I've completely forgotten about and just had to listen to again! And thanks for providing the links as well! I will have to check out the rest, and I still need to listen to the OST of Cinderella.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm glad it helped any! :) And I provided link to all the ones I could find on youtube except the ones that are so painfully popular it would be a piece of cake to find them (such as Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"). Haha, don't feel as though you HAVE to check them out. Only the ones that catch you fancy. Because they are all amazing writing music for me, but as you know very well we have somewhat different writing and so they may not have the same enchantment for everyone. Personally, there were dozens of others I wanted to list, but most of them were opera - which doesn't appeal to everyone as it's not in English - so I didn't list them. "Nessun Dorma" from "Turandot" in particular. Can't get enough of that song. :)
DeleteThat's a nice, long song list!
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to write by music with lyrics, though. My favourite version of 'Time to Say Goodbye' has no words, just bagpipes.
But now and then I'll find a song with words that inspire a story. 'Silver', by the Gray Havens is one such song.
Thanks!
DeleteOoh, that sounds enchanting, and brilliant for writing! Would you send me a link maybe...? :)
Ooh, I will have to look that song up! (even the name is rather chilling and inspiring)
If so, then I suggest to you a youtube user called Derek and Brandon Fiechter - they make hour-long instrumental track-by-tracks they compose themselves for various scenarios (like Western; jungle; fantasy elf; fantasy dwarf; steampunk; fairy-tale; dinosaurs; pirate; plus a bunch of others. They're really good! Their hour of dark waltz is my personal favorite. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QD8kZMYDvA
ReplyDeleteThere's the link, and I hope you enjoy it.
Silver is more of an adventurous sailing song, inspired by a conversation between Lewis and Tolkien. I sing it all the time. Here's the link for that as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beQLvTNW9y0
I've never heard of Derek and Brandon Fiechter, but I see they have a wide variety of music. I'll have to use them sometime. Thanks for the recommendation!
Thank you very much! I will check out both of these! And lol, that's awesome that that's what inspired the song. :)
DeleteI never had heard of them either until a few days ago, when - having an Dinosaurs of the Lost World board-game session with my folks my dad decided we needed cool background music - I heard their hour of jungle music, and then my dad and I liked them so much we checked out a few others (like their great Greek mythology one), and now I'm hooked. ;)
Wow, Belle! How long did it take you to put this list together??? This is awesome. I'll certainly be coming back to take a look and explore some of these! I'm sure I'll love them! I already know I love Les Mis and songs written by Stephen Foster, so...
ReplyDeleteHaha, a few days or so. :)
DeleteGood! I think in particular you might like those labeled as being sung by Thomas Hampson (one is by Copeland and another by Foster), especially Beautiful Dreamer. And the Andy Williams ones might strike your fancy as well, at least a few of them. :)
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