Song from “Cars” movie wins a Grammy

“Our Town,” a song written by Randy Newman and performed by James Taylor for the Pixar movie “Cars,” won the Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media on Sunday night at the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

The other nominees in that category were Melissa Etheridge’s “I Need to Wake Up” from the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” Dolly Parton’s “Travelin’ Thru” from the movie “Transamerica,” Imogen Heap’s “Can’t Take It In” from the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia — The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” and Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick’s “There’s Nothing Like a Show on Broadway” from the movie, “The Producers.”

It was a good victory for “Cars,” as I thought the Etheridge and Parton songs were particularly strong. It also adds to the hope that “Our Town” will win for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards later this month.

If you’ve never heard “Our Town” or seen the scene it’s associated with with “Cars,” here it is:

The “Cars” soundtrack also was nominated for John Mayer‘s propulsive version of the Bobby Troup classic, “Route 66,” but it lost to Bob Dylan’s “Someday Baby.” Other nominees in that category were Beck’s “Nausea,” Tom Petty’s “Saving Grace” and Neil Young’s “Lookin’ for a Leader.”

Also, the late, great folk songwriter Woody Guthrie, a product of Oklahoma and Route 66 if there ever was one, won a Grammy as well. The Klezmatics won a Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album for “Wonder Wheel — Lyrics by Woody Guthrie.”

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