| "Falling Slowly" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Song by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
from the album Once |
||
| Released | April 21, 2006 (The Swell Season) September 22, 2006 (The Cost) May 22, 2007 (Once soundtrack) February 2008 (radio single) |
|
| Genre | Folk Indie rock |
|
| Length | 4:04 | |
| Label | Overcoat Recordings | |
| Writer | Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová | |
| Producer | Glen Hansard | |
"Falling Slowly" is a song written and performed by professional partners Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. It appeared in their 2007 film Once, from which it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 80th Oscars.
Contents |
History
The song was written while Once was in production. John Carney developed the script around songs provided by Hansard and Irglová.[1] In the movie, the duo play the song in Walton's music shop in Dublin, with Hansard on guitar and Irglová on piano. The couple performed it at gigs in various European venues over the next two years.[2] Versions appeared in 2006 on two albums: The Cost by Hansard's band The Frames, and The Swell Season, an album by Hansard and Irglová[3] of songs used in the 2006 Czech movie Beauty in Trouble.
Awards
The song was nominated at the 50th Grammy Awards for Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media; it lost to "Love You I Do" from Dreamgirls.[4]
The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song on 24 February 2008, ahead of the choral gospel song "Raise It Up" from August Rush and three songs from the modern Disney musical Enchanted.[3] The song's win marked the fourth year in a row that the Oscar winner had not been nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. For some time, the song's eligibility for an Oscar was in dispute, because it had been performed and recorded prior to the release of Once[3] The Academy ruled that because the song had been composed for the movie, and the prior public exposure during the long period that the movie took to produce had been minimal, it remained eligible.[2] The Academy had ruled likewise on a similar controversy involving 2004 Best Original Song nominee "In the Deep".
Later appearances
On March 31, 2008, BBC Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman made the song her record of the week. A recording of the song is included on the film's DVD. The song appears on the Feast of Love soundtrack. It is played in The Simpsons episode "In the Name of the Grandfather" as the family looks for something to do in Ireland.
On the eighth season of American Idol, Kris Allen performed the song, "Falling Slowly" during "Songs from the Cinema" week. Kara Dioguardi called the performance "one of his best" and Simon Cowell said "Kris, you were brilliant".
On So You Think You Can Dance (season 5), Jonathan and Karla danced a comtemporary routine to the song during Top 18 week. It was choreographed by Stacey Tookey. Mary Murphy commented that it was "one of her favorite songs ever" and praised the dancers for their work.
Charts
The song charted at #16 in the Irish Singles Chart when it was first released by The Frames. The Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová version charted at #28 in December 2007, before peaking at #2 in March 2008, following the song's Oscar win.
| Chart (2008) | Peak position [5] |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Canadian Hot 100 | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 61 |
References
- ^ Martens, Todd (28 January 2008). "'Once' and the out-of-tune voters". The Envelope-Extended Play. Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/extendedplay/2008/01/onces-glen-hans.html. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
- ^ a b Martens, Todd (30 January 2008). "'Once' song eligible for Oscar". The Envelope-Extended Play. Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/extendedplay/2008/01/report-once-son.html. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
- ^ a b c The Carpetbagger (26 January 2008). "Song Getting the “Once” Over". New York Times. http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/song-getting-the-once-over/. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
- ^ "Grammy 2008 Winners List". MTV Asia. 12 February 2008. http://www.mtvasia.com/News/200802/12015407.html. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ "Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly worldwide chart positions and trajectories". aCharts.us. Retrieved March 15, 2008.
External links
- "Falling Slowly" video on Fox Searchlight's YouTube channel.
- Fox Searchlight's website for Once includes material relating to the song
- music - falling slowly guitar chords and lyics, from The Frames site
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by "I Need To Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth |
Academy Award for Best Original Song 2007 |
Succeeded by "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire |
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