Episode 56: Riding on the Water (1988)

01/22/24 • 48 min

Only three songs were nominated for the Academy Award in 1988, the first time the list of nominees was that low since the 1930s. An Academy rule forced the list to be cut to three in that year, and the ones that made the final list gave Oscar voters a tough choice over which should be picked as the best of the year. Host Jeff Commings details those three songs, and mentions a comeback song from The Beach Boys that might have finished in fourth place in nominations voting.

Previous Episode

Episode 55: Let ‘Em Say We’re Crazy (1987)

Only one of the Oscar-nominated songwriters for 1987 had previously been invited to the Academy Awards, giving us 10 men and women getting their first chances to win an Oscar. They all gave us a list of five nominated songs -- many of which have become classics -- that made the competition for the Academy Award very tight that year. The public loved many of the songs as well, with three of the five Oscar nominees earning a spot at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Host Jeff Commings introduces the songwriters of all five songs, and lists a few songs that just missed the cut.

Next Episode

Episode 57: I Guess It Must Be Fate (1989)

Dean Pitchford returns to the show to talk about achieving his fourth Oscar nomination, this time for the love ballad "After All." He discusses writing a more "mature" song than he had written for previous films, why Cher and Peter Cetera didn't record their vocals at the same time, and why he felt his song had little chance to win the Original Song Oscar. After listening to all five nominated songs on this episode, you can decide for yourself which song deserved to win the Academy Award for 1989.