My Favorite Movie Songs of All-Time

As Will Ferrell said at the 2006 Oscar ceremony, "there's no greater weapon in a director's arsenal than a well-placed song." Okay, he was joking, but songs can nevertheless be devastatingly memorable if placed exactly right. (And oddly enough, I found that it's the non-musical films that place higher in the list.)
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Anyway, the guidelines for the list are as follows:
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-The song can either been written for the film or simply used after the fact, it does not matter so long as it has verbal lyrics. (i.e. not an orchestral piece). 
-Cultural or historical significance has absolutely no bearing on its placement on this list. It is strictly my personal preference. 
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So, without any further hesitations or alterations, the top 25 movie songs:

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#25

"Relax" from 

"BODY DOUBLE" (1984)

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Brian De Palma's skillful, sleazy 80's Hitchcockian porno dream Body Double ('84) has many memorable moments, but it's not until the film introduces Melanie Griffith's porn star character Holly Body that the film really starts to become something tricky, and this well known hit from British dance quattro Frankie Goes to Hollywood cements its place as a VHS-era landmark.

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#24

"Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" from 

"MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS" (1944)

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There are more lively and showstopping tunes in Vincente Minnelli's classic American musical ("The Trolley Song", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"), but around the holidays, I always start humming "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" and am therefore compelled to pop it in. 

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#23

"Le Tourbillon" from

"JULES AND JIM" (1962)

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Francois Truffaut's beautiful and complex love triangle Jules and Jim has a centerpiece moment (for this viewer anyway) in which French icon Jeanne Moreau casually sings along to Henri Serre's steady plucking, producing one of the more indelible moments in this careful, tragic relationship.

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#22

"Leaning" from

"THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER" (1955)

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Robert Mitchum's unforgettable Reverend Harry Powell (borrowing a cue from obvious inspiration, Fritz Lang's M) hums the song "Leaning on Everlasting Arms" throughout Charles Laughton's expressionistic masterpiece, but the dueling finale between he and Lillian Gish, so comfortably seated on her porch, shotgun in hand, is enough to get it on this list.

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#21

"I'm Tired" from

"BLAZING SADDLES" (1973)

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Mel Brooks shoehorned plenty of original tunes into his string of hit-and-miss spoofs of the 70's, but "I'm Tired", performed by stock actress Madeline Kahn, is a real hoot-and-a-half. It's not the funniest thing in Blazing Saddles, but as a tongue-in-cheek Marlene Dietrich saloon ditty, it's pretty brilliant.

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#20

"Go Down, Moses" from

"SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS" (1942)

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After recently revisiting Preston Sturges' masterful Hollywood satire Sullivan's Travels, I  was particularly taken with the church scene near the end in which a line of prisoners march into a black church to take their seats for a "picture show". The old Negro spiritual is well-served here in the film's more dour, yet surprisingly reverent, final act. 

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#19

"The Desert Song" from

"THE DESERT SONG" (1953)

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This classic Sigmund Romberg operetta has some truly beautiful music, which I've only heard thanks to the Warner Bros. 1953 version starring Kathryn Grayson and Gordon MacRae. It's not a particularly "great" film, but this sandswept superhero musical of sorts has got some serious pipes and the title song is the best of them all.

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#18

"Somebody to Love" from

"A SERIOUS MAN" (2009)

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The Coen Brothers absolutely reinvented this classic Jefferson Airplane track off of "Surrealistic Pillow", molding the song's alienated lyrics into their fatalistic tale of a guy who, for no particular reason, has been belittled by fate. 

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#17

"When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" from

"STALAG 17" (1953)

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Billy Wilder's humorously paranoiac prisoner-of-war drama Stalag 17 hinges around the question: "Who is the informant of Barracks Fours?" The cynical, entrepreneurial Sefton, played by William Holden, is the one everyone suspects due to his apathetic demeanor, yet during the film's most expertly directed scene, the true traitor is revealed as the men march around the barracks singing the infamous Civil War song. 

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#16

"Lullaby" from

"ROSEMARY'S BABY" (1968)

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Roman Polanksi brought his peculiar brand of urban paranoia stateside with Rosemary's Baby in 1968, and with it came one of the more sinister, breathy lullabies in film history, I can safely announce. Farrow's motherly vocals accompany the opening titles, but they flat-out haunt the closing credits.

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#15

"Would You?" from

"SINGIN' IN THE RAIN" (1952)

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It's such a trivial aspect of Stanley Donen's defining film, the jolly, satirical Singin' in the Rain - but this lovely little duet not only graces our eardrums, but accompanies the most well-directed montage of the film, taking "Would You?" from the soundstage to the projector. 

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#14

"Hurdy Gurdy Man" from

"ZODIAC" (2007)

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David Fincher's 21st century masterwork was perhaps, among other things, the director's greatest showcase for his musical ingenuity. Three Dog Night and Marvin Gaye leave their impacts, but ultimately, it's Donovan's psychedelic rock-anthem "Hurdy Gurdy Man" that steals the show, becoming as much a part of Fincher's 70's California landscape as the Golden Gate Bridge.  

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#13

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" from

"PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID" (1973)

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Sam Peckinpah's films, or more specifically, his westerns, are bleak, violent outbursts of traditional values against modern age corruption, but they're also very lyrical and even beautiful, as evidenced by Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", which plays as Slim Pickens limps to his death at the river bend with his wife, Katy Jurado, closely behind him. 

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#12

"Wise Up" from

"MAGNOLIA" (2000)

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Paul Thomas Anderson's mosaic of unrelenting misfits and heartache takes a bit of a reprieve - a welcome one at that - during the montage of Aimee Mann's rendition of "Wise Up", a collective turning point in the film that sees every character singing the lyrics on screen. It's a gutsy scene, but it works brilliantly. 

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#11

"It Only Takes a Moment" from

"WALL-E" (2008)

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For me, Pixar reached their creative peak with 2008's Wall-E, the junk-bot post-apocalyptic love saga, which brilliantly tears at your heart with this nostalgic duet "It Only Takes a Moment" from Jerry Herman's 1964 musical, "Hello Dolly". 

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#10

"Colonel Bogey March" from

"THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI" (1957)

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Yes, I suppose it doesn't technically have lyrics, but this whistling "Colonel Bogey March", originally written in 1941, is not only a memorable tune, but a shining example of the kind of ignorant British pride that makes up the film.

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#9

"Singin' in the Rain" from

"A CLOCKWORK ORANGE" (1971)

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What a surprise to find that the title song from my favorite musical of all-time makes this list, but not under the sub-title of its own nurturing biosphere. No, I went with Malcolm McDowell's indelibly sadistic rendering as he sexually assaults a woman during an apparently routine break-in. The wonderfully ironic twist is that it's that very tune that will eventually condemn him in the film's third act. 

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#8

"The Piccolino" from

"TOP HAT" (1934)

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No real explanation needed here, this is just a flat-out glorious show-tunes piece, which serves as the finale in the wonderful 1934 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical. The fact that I can recite the song's first verse is enough to get it on here. 

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#7

"Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin" from

"HIGH NOON" (1952)

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Most westerns have obligatory title songs that play over the opening and closing credits, almost assuredly crooning the film's title in the chorus, but Tex Ritter's effort from Fred Zinneman's classic western is the kind of folksy, porch-swing tune to match the film's themes of honorable self-motivation and sheepish small-town apathy. 

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#6

"Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" from

"THE WIZARD OF OZ" (1939)

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The everlasting children's musical-fantasy certainly has more iconic songs, but for me, this playful, catchy sing-a-long, which ushers in the film's Technicolor magnificence, is the most vibrant and joyous moment in the film.

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#5

"In Dreams" from 

"BLUE VELVET" (1984)

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David Lynch's disturbing odyssey through the shadows of small-town America in Blue Velvet comes to a surrealistic apex with Dean Stockwell's memorable lip-syncing rendition of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams". The only thing holding it back is the fact that the masochistic Frank Booth cuts it short.

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#4

"The Stranger Song" from

"McCABE AND MRS. MILLER" (1971)

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Leonard Cohen's soundtrack is as much a part of Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller as Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography or any other aspect of the indubitably crafted "anti-western". The fact that Coen's songs were simply lifted from the Canadian's debut album of four years prior only elevates its status on this list as a shrewd selection.

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#3

"The Faithful Hussar" from

"PATHS OF GLORY" (1957)

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It's literally impossible not to well-up at least a little during this German folk song, sung during the final scene of Stanley Kubrick's stirring anti-war film, Paths of Glory. It's one of the director's more distinguished moments, not only in his filmography, but in his personal life - the woman singing the song on film would go on to be his wife of over forty years.

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#2 

"Que Sera, Sera" from

"THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH" (1956)

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The song that would become greatly attached to the lifework of Doris Day, "Que Sera, Sera" was, in fact, introduced during this 1956 Hitchcock film, another example of why it is a superior work to his own 1934 original starring Peter Lorre. The song becomes more than a publicity campaign throughout the course of the film, eventually leading to the reunion between mother and child.

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#1

"Risseldy, Rosseldy" from

"THE BIRDS" (1963)

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This piece of music, an Americanized version of the Scottish folk song, "Wee Cooper O'Fife," not only accompanies one of Alfred Hitchcock's more memorable suspense set-pieces, but it introduced a young Chase Kahn as to how music can be implemented into film, creating an effective whole. 

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It's the song (and the scene) that I always think of when I think of The Birds and encapsulates the masterful, undervalued sound design of one of the master's more brash technical accomplishments.