Rumours that a stagehand can be seen committing suicide on screen as Dorothy trots down the Yellow Brick Road are baloney (it's a bird stretching its wings), but have simply added to the film's growing cult cache. Other recognisable hits from the movie include 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road', 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead', and 'We're Off to See the Wizard', all of which have since passed into popular parlance, ensuring that everyone (not just Elton John) can call themselves a true friend of Dorothy.Įarly soundtrack fans had to make do with a Judy Garland 78rpm disc and a creaky Decca LP which featured key songs re-recorded by the Ken Darby Singers, but today's buyers can enjoy all the remastered originals, alongside outtakes like the 'Jitterbug' song. Covered by everyone from Gene Vincent to Kylie Minogue, it was No 1 in the Recording Industry Association of America's 'Songs of the Century'. Certainly a reprise of the song was trimmed from the final cut, but 'Rainbow' survived to become one of the most memorable anthems of the century. Legend has it that studio executives wanted to cut Judy Garland's 'Over the Rainbow' because it dragged out the downbeat Kansas opening. Fitting, then, that our number one contender is a cross-generic masterpiece (is it a jolly kids' singalong? A dark adult fairy tale? A subversive camp classic? Even a snuff movie?) which won Oscars for both original score (for Herbert Stothart) and best original song (Arlen and Harburg).

So we'll be having none of this 'incidental scores only' snobbery in our list. Film soundtracks are a broad church, encompassing classic orchestral scores and pop jukebox compilations, spoken word and sonic effects.

Soft sitar background music