AFI's 100 All-Time Movie Songs

The American Film Institute's tribute to the top 100 movie songs of all time was an entertaining special, televised last night on the CBS network. One could quibble with the inclusion or exclusion of this or that song. Indeed, I was very sorry that my favorite Michel Legrand song (with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman),"What are you doing the rest of your life?, from the movie,"The Happy Ending" was totally overlooked ... even in the nominations list! Legrand's masterpiece, which was recently revisited by American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, lost the 1969 Best Song Oscar to"Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" from"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," but it remains one of the classics of the Great American Songbook.

In any event, one certainly cannot quibble with a list that includes everything from Harold Arlen's"Wizard of Oz" perennial,"Over the Rainbow" to Johnny Mandel's"Sandpiper" theme,"The Shadow of Your Smile." Three Cheers to AFI for a poignant trip down memory lane.