Music & Movie Moments: 29 Songs Defined by Classic Scenes

If you ever drive through Gaviota Tunnel near Santa Barbara, Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" might just pop into your head. Because that's the song that plays during the travel montage in "The Graduate" as Dustin Hoffman's character drives his Alfa Romero through Gaviota Tunnel.

While the pairing of movies and music is nothing new, the most music-minded directors -- your Tarantinos, Scorceses and the like -- blend the two so well, the songs and scenes become inextricably connected in our minds.

As we gear up for this weekend's Academy Awards ceremony, here are some of our favorite songs that bring memorable film scenes to mind.

"IN YOUR EYES," FROM "SAY ANYTHING"

Pssst. Yo, Dudes.

If you want to impress your special lady friend, here's what you do: Get yourself a copy of Peter Gabriel's song "In Your Eyes" -- maybe you already have it -- pop it into a boom box (You might actually need to buy one of those) and hoist that baby over your head, Lloyd Dobler-style, because women love, love, LOVE Lloyd Dobler. Even if they don't remember another scene from "Say Anything," they'll remember the part where John Cusack stands outside his ex's house, doing that very move.


"TWIST AND SHOUT," FROM "FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF"

During an eventful day of playing hooky, high school senior Ferris Bueller takes in a Cubs game, checks out the views from the Sears Tower and crashes the Von Steuben Day Parade (Google it -- has something to do with Germans) in downtown Chicago. During the parade, Ferris hops on a float and lip syncs this Beatles cover as perfectly choreographed parade goers dance along.

Like many older songs that appeared in memorable movie scenes, "Twist and Shout" made a chart comeback in 1986 -- thanks also to its appearance in the Rodney Dangerfield movie "Back to School," which came out the same week.


"THE END" FROM "APOCALYPSE NOW"

When you hear this moody-sounding song by the Doors kick in, you know something bad is going down.

As Martin Sheen's character gets his game face on, preparing to make good on his assassination assignment, the musical tension builds, then gets increasingly chaotic as the blade rises and --

The Horror.


"SURFIN' BIRD" FROM "FULL METAL JACKET"

"Metal" heads might prefer the famous "Me so horny/Love you long time" scene in which a Vietnamese prostitute accosts two American soldiers to the tune of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made for Walking." But this is a movie about dichotomy, as we learn from the character Joker's helmet, featuring a peace sign next to the words "Born to Kill."

In this post-battle scene, we hear this goofy-sounding surf tune (by Minnesota band, the Trashmen) as some soldiers are carried away on stretchers and others appear oddly euphoric.


"LAYLA" FROM "GOODFELLAS"

A montage of corpses might normally seem a bit, oh, let's say macabre. But when backed by the piano coda from this Derek and the Dominos classic, it's downright artful (Maybe even a little beautiful if you're not put off by the whole violent death thing). Director Martin Scorsese has a knack for pairing violence with mellow rock tunes, and this one has a certain grandiosity as we see bodies in a dumpster, an old Cadillac and a meat truck.