Songs for Home Movies?

May 10, 2011 11:09 AM

My parents have finally converted their old 8mm home movies to digital format and I've been tasked with adding music and editing. What are some good songs to use for background music for movies shot from roughly 1960 through 1983?

Examples:

"With a Little Help From My Friends," Joe Cocker (a la Wonder Years)
"We Are Family," Sly & the Family Stone
"Time in a Bottle," Jim Croce

Modern songs if particularly appropriate would be acceptable too.

posted by entropicamericana to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

TV theme songs from the appropriate era, like "The Greatest American Hero," "The Fall Guy," "Dukes of Hazzard," etc. for the early eighties, "Charlie's Angels," "Barney Miller," "Three's Company," etc. for the seventies, "Bonanza," "The Munsters," "That Girl," etc. for the sixties. Doctor Who, of course, would be appropriate for all eras.
posted by Gator at 11:24 AM on May 10, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks, but I should have been more explicit: I'm looking for songs that are more lyrically about family and such.
posted by entropicamericana at 11:29 AM on May 10, 2011

The 1982 hit Our House by Madness is a great one.
posted by bubukaba at 11:37 AM on May 10, 2011

Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun
posted by knile at 11:39 AM on May 10, 2011

I'd recommend avoiding Kansas's "Dust in the Wind." I used it as the background music in a homemade video photo album back when that was the most insanely awesome thing in the world (1988?), and though it seemed to my eight-year-old ears like a touching, nostalgia-inducing ballad, it left anyone who watched the video in a state of speechless existential shock.

Nothing but the Earth and sky may last forever, but watching Nick's Adorable Hallowe'en Costumes Through the Years is not the appropriate time to be reminded of this.

Similarly, I'd avoid "When I'm Sixty-Four", though it has a good beat.

I like the idea of using songs contemporary with each scene, but I would also consider using purely instrumental pieces, perhaps even sticking to classical. By adding music to silent film, you're forever tying the two works together in the minds of everyone who watches. The chances that you'll catch the emotion and character of a scene by sampling lyric-heavy pop hits from the 60s and 70s are slimmer than you might think, and you might find that the songs colour the scenes untowardly.

There are still photos I hate looking at from my youth, for example, and I still hate Kansas. It's just a thought.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 11:42 AM on May 10, 2011

Like, see, here:

Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun

This is such a great song in theory, but I can assure you that once you're sitting around the TV with the family and the lyrics "Good bye, Papa, it's hard to die..." are heard, uncomfortable sweat will appear on your brow.

This song/filmstrip mash-up will outlive your parents and probably you, and it may come to define them in the minds of future generations. I would definitely give the playlist an insane amount of thought.

(Which, yes, is why an AskMe is a good idea! :D No offence intended to knile, upthread.)
posted by tapesonthefloor at 11:47 AM on May 10, 2011

Along the lines of what tapesonthefloor said, you could also consider leaving it silent in order to leave room for people to reminisce out loud over the footage (this is something like what they do at Home Movie Day). Or - maybe even better - sit down with your parents and record them talking about what's in the footage and then use that as a soundtrack for later viewings.
posted by bubukaba at 11:49 AM on May 10, 2011

Beatles "I Will" has a nice home-movie soundtrack vibe. Specifically for scenes with Mom & Dad.
posted by archivist at 11:56 AM on May 10, 2011

Response by poster: To be honest, I'm doing one set for my parents with the pop music (they've made it quite clear that's what they want) and another set that'll be a little less obvious for the future. I also intend to have my dad narrate the film he shot while he was in the Navy.
posted by entropicamericana at 12:52 PM on May 10, 2011

"In My Life," The Beatles
posted by Knappster at 12:58 PM on May 10, 2011

Seconding bubukaba. I took the rough tape around to different family members and played it for them while recording their comments. Who's that, where is this, what are they doing. It took about a year to pull it all together. In the end for music I just used some stereotypical generic instrumental tracks. Barrelhouse piano for the old b+w footage, 60's stuff got "Telstar," 70's got some funky bass stuff. I added some titles to ID who was in the picture and where it was shot.
posted by Marky at 1:02 PM on May 10, 2011

When we did this with my grandfather's old 8mm movies, I got a book from the library that listed the Billboard Top 100 from something like the early 1950s (so, just before the films started) to the time we did the editing. It was fun picking out songs that would have been contemporary to the footage to lay over the video!
posted by OneMonkeysUncle at 2:58 PM on May 10, 2011

I did this with my parents' stuff back in VHS days. After a long and rather animated discussion with my younger brother (who absolutely lacks a sentimentality gene), we agreed that songs with lyrics would be problematic as they tended to be too specific, and often as not carried connotations that just weren't appropriate. So we went with instrumentals, and mid-tempo to upbeat ones at that. Stuff like Dave Brubeck ("Take 5") for the 50s, Herb Alpert ("Memories of Madrid") and the Ventures ("Walk Don't Run") for the 60s, Allman Brothers ("Jessica") and Billy Preston ("Outa Space") for the 70s, which is as far as the footage went.

It worked wonderfully. We still haul them out most Christmases.
posted by philip-random at 4:33 PM on May 10, 2011