Music Video Friday: Aimee Mann – Save Me (1999 Oscar Nominee)

Today’s Oscar nominated song is Aimee Mann’s Save Me from the film Magnolia.

Ah, Magnolia… That was a weird one, wasn’t it? I watched it at the time and I liked it a lot (especially the ending) but I’ve not watched it since and it’s one where I wonder if I’d just find it pretentious now in my bitter old age. However, I still love the Magnolia soundtrack! Okay, the use of Supertramp helped a lot but I also really liked the Aimee Mann songs even though I’m very rarely a fan of the singer/songwriter thing.

I suppose I liked Mann’s voice thanks to ‘Til Tuesday’s Voices Carry (ha – I loved that video! her boyfriend was such an asshole). But, from Magnolia, I preferred Wise Up – I think it’s weird that Save Me was nominated instead of that one considering that was the one used for the movie’s big sing-along.

Phil Collins actually won the Oscar in 1999 for You’ll Be in My Heart from Tarzan. Meh – it’s okay for your typical, lame 1990’s Phil Collins song but it didn’t deserve the win. Besides Save Me, the other nominees were Music Of My Heart, Blame Canada & When She Loved Me. Okay, I admit that I don’t know Music Of My Heart but I’d choose all the others over the Collins song. And, let’s be honest, the one that most deserved to win was When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2! Come on – you know you’re all feeling tearful now just thinking about Jesse being abandoned. 😦

But Save Me deserved its nomination & I’m glad a soundtrack I really like got some recognition. Like the movie, the video was also directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. During the filming of the movie, he’d have the actors stay in place while he filmed Mann performing next to them. Yeah, I read that at Wikipedia – I thought they’d inserted her into the scenes later with special effects magic. I also love this little tidbit at Wikipedia:

“By way of introduction to a live performance, Mann has referred to Save Me as “the song that lost an Oscar to Phil Collins and his cartoon monkey love song.” Furthermore, Mann has occasionally dedicated her song to Collins in several different venues, albeit in jest.”

Haha! I’ll now forever think of Phil Collins as the “cartoon monkey love song guy”. Anyway, here’s Aimee Mann’s video for Save Me: 🙂