SONG OF THE DAY
“Falling Slowly” by Swell Season (Once, Overcoat Recordings, 2006). Written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.
WHERE I HEARD IT
ABC’s now-defunct “Detroit 1-8-7”, Episode 117: “Motor City Blues”, first aired: March 8, 2011.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Falling Slowly” is a song written and performed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, as well as by Hansard’s band, The Frames.
– It appeared in their 2007 film Once, from which it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 80th Oscars.
– The song was written while Once was in production. John Carney developed the script around songs provided by Hansard and Irglová. 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.
– 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 of songs used in the 2006 Czech movie Beauty in Trouble.
– 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.
– 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. 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. 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. The Academy had ruled likewise on a similar controversy involving 2004 Best Original Song nominee “In the Deep”.
– 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 during “Songs from the Cinema” week. On the fifth season of So You Think You Can Dance, Jonathan and Karla danced a contemporary routine to the song during Top 18 week. On the ninth season of American Idol, Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox performed the song, “Falling Slowly” during “Songs from the Cinema” week as a duet and were highly praised from the judges.
– A cover version is included on Emma’s Imagination’s debut album in January of 2011.
– 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.