Mike’s Favorite Original Songs of the Decade: #78 – “A Lovely Night,” from La La Land

78. “A Lovely Night,” from La La Land

And look who enters the fray. Almost forgot about this one, didn’t you? On the one hand, I feel weird having this as the lowest ranked song from the movie, but on the other hand, all the songs from this movie are in the top 80 of the list. That’s immense respect in and of itself.

This is the weakest of the songs in the movie, to me, because it’s not really about the lyrics so much as it’s about the gorgeous pre-dawn setting and the dancing. This is the Fred and Ginger song. And if only they set up this part of the relationship a bit better (the meet-cute and the initial ‘dislike’), then the song lyrics that talk about how the lovely night is wasted on the two of them, who aren’t in love, might work a bit better. But like I said, it’s not really about the lyrics so much as it’s about the two of them performing the song, doing the tap dancing and the gorgeous view behind them. It’s one of the most memorable film music moments of the decade, but on a pure song level… this spot feels about right for it.