5. Flying Dreams
This one comes straight out of my childhood. One of my favorite animated movies of all time, The Secret of N.I.M.H. also has one of the most beautiful songs to play during the credits: Flying Dreams by Paul Williams. The sad part is that the song, which would have been a shoe in for the Best Original Song Oscar that year, was not even in contention for the award because someone forgot to submit it, or some other nonsense like it. The movie came out in 1982, and it's a little tough re-locating news on it to verify, but I swear it happened!
4. Into the West
Some people knock the end of The Return of the King because of the multiple endings. I think those people are nuts. An epic trilogy with so many intertwined stories requires that level of closure to ween the audience off of such an experience. As a tool, Annie Lennox' song, Into the West, strives for the same effect. The song, overlaid on top of pencil sketchings of characters from all three films, really helps bring the viewer full circle. Lyrically, it mirrors the notion that the journey has an end, as it references the ships sailing off into the Elvish final havens.
3. Late Goodbye
If you're a fan of film noir and gaming, then you could do worse than play Max Payne and Max Payne II. Operatic gun battles aside, I've actually played through both a number of times, mainly to relive the story... which is incredibly dark and tragic. The second game ends with credits much like a film, and the song that played surprised me with how spot on it felt. As it turns out, Sam Lake (writer of Max Payne) wrote a poem about the game, which ended up becoming the core of the lyrics to the song Late Goodbye.
As a point of pure fan trivia awesomeness, thousands of gamers beat the game and loved the song enough to seek out information on the band that performed it, Poets of the Fall. As a result, the Finnish band became an overnight sensation, skyrocketing to fame primarily due to their involvement with Max Payne. Who says gamers can't make a difference?
2. May it Be
Are you surprised that two Lord of the Rings songs made it on this list? Well, you shouldn't be. The direction, production values, and overall attention to detail in all three films is near unrivaled. Not surprisingly, May it Be, written and performed by Enya, is a masterpiece. And talk about true integration. The final notes of music from the final scene of The Fellowship of the Ring blend seamlessly into her haunting vocals. The mood is pitch perfect, and the lyrics even contain native Elvish phrases. Talk about commitment to the source material. It really would have taken the number one spot if not for...
1. Still Alive
A year ago, I would never have expected a song from the end credits of a computer game to have made it to the top of this list. And if you have any doubts to its merit, then you really haven't played Portal. I've mentioned Jonathan Coulton (who wrote Still Alive) briefly in my Spotlight Article about him, but you really can't appreciate the song's genius outside of the context of the game... which is exactly why it's so special. The ending song is an extension of the game's storyline, sung by the main antagonist of the game: a childishly sadistic artificial intelligence lady-thing. Really. I can't think of a single better example of story and song integration than Still Alive. The song is self-referential, hilarious, and filled to the brim with in-jokes from the game. And really, isn't that was an end credit song is all about? To induce instant nostalgia for the story you just finished?
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