On June 22, 2004, CBS aired a 3 hour special called “AFI – 100 Years, 100 Songs. Hosted by John Travolta, the countdown from the American Film Institute featured clips of 100 songs.
Clay Aiken joined Burt Bacharach, Celine Dion, Barry Gibb, Barbra Streisand, and Paul Simon who commented on the songs in the Top 100.
The 100 songs were chosen by 1,500 “industry experts”; songs were evaluated on quality of music and lyrics as well as their cultural impact and legacy. “Over the Rainbow” – the Judy Garland anthem from “The Wizard of Oz” – was voted the greatest movie song ever.
The top ten list of greatest movie tunes follows:
Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz
As Time Goes By from Casablanca
Singin’ in the Rain from Singin’ in the Rain
Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s
White Christmas from Holiday Inn
Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate
When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinnochio
The Way We Were from The Way We Were
Stayin’ Alive from Saturday Night Fever
The Sound of Music from The Sound of Music
Commenting on “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, Clay said:
“Movie music does not have to be soaring love ballads. Lose Yourself is definitely an example of a movie song that makes a movie much more hip and much more popular for today’s culture.”
When commenting on “Unchained Melody” from Ghost, Clay said his mother had a dream that Clay would record a cover of Unchained Melody and it would be a big hit. One week later, LeAnn Rimes came out with the recording and it became a big hit. The hopes of Clay’s mom were dashed. Clay also commented that he was in 4th grade when Ghost was released and that he did not understand the significance of the hands on the potter’s wheel during the song.
Little did anyone know that Clay would record the very best arrangement of Unchained Melody seven years later. A big thank you to Clay and Ben Cohn.
Another of Clay’s comments brought a laugh when he shared that he tried hard to learn to spell supercalifragalisticexpialidocious.
100 Years, 100 Songs, with the American Film Institute, had an audience of 12.3 million people. How many of those people were fans of Clay Aiken?
Watch the video below to see Clay’s part of the AFI show.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUUzhRJnC7g
I certainly was a fan at that time and remember the show well. I have Clay's parts all on tape and
have watched it many times. When I look now at how many tapes I have, it is amazing!! Then
my son put a lot of them on Cds so the collection is huge as Clay was on so many shows.
I would get so excited everytime I knew he would be on the TV once again. It's 8yr. later and I still
get just as excited for every new announcement or performance.
How fun that Clay got to participate in this show. Lol, about Ghost. Movies have indeed had some great music. through the years.
musicfan123 – Thanks for the AFI's 100Years – 100 Songs video. I do remember seeing a part of it a long while back, but did not remember all of it. Very interesting. Clay, as usual was his wonderful and informative self in his commentary role.
Note: Oops! Your spelling of "supercalifragalisticexpialidocious" is missing an i after supercal …….
It's no small wonder that Clay had a difficult time trying to spell it. Definitely a mind boggler. It is hard to imagine how that word came to be made up!
Thanks for the spelling check! I did add the i!!
OPPS!!! I fixed it !!
It's always nice going back and seeing clips that Clay had done. You kind of forget, but once the video starts, it all comes back to mind. I wonder at the time he recorded this, if he really ever thought that he would have his own version of "Unchained Melody"? Thanks to Ben Cohn for arranging a newer version of UM…It is the best version of that song out there…and I so wish that more people could hear what a wonderful job Clay did on his recording.
When You Wish Upon a Star always makes me cry, always. It's a great song (gosh, I'd love to hear Clay sing it).
Thanks for the AFI memories!!!!
I so remember this show. I think it was about 3 hours long…and, of course, I had to stay up and watch all of it to get Clay's parts. I wonder if Clay had an inkling then that he would record his own version of UM. Well, he did…and to me it is the best version out there. He covered a lot..even Eminem. Thanks so much for that video…I never d/l that particular show..so, it was nice to refresh my memory.
I remember watching that show . It was so entertaining-I loved all the music. I am so glad Clay has his own rendition of Unchained Melody. I love the new version and no one can sing it better than Clay. Thanks for the interesting article.
That was a really enjoyable show. It's great when Clay is on a show I might not watch if it wasn't for his participation. I've been exposed to many different enjoyable things such as this special because of Clay.