Masterpiece Songs from Flop Films

Recently, I was playing some of my favorite songs for the kids in the car. At some point, I caught myself thinking that many of these songs are far more famous than the movies they appeared in. Usually, it’s the other way around: the soundtrack (music and songs) fades into the background as we get absorbed by the story. Sometimes, both the film and the songs are great, and we end up happily humming the tunes afterward—or they even become hits.

The latter category includes “Prekrasnoye Daleko” (“The Beautiful Far Away”) from the excellent film “Guest from the Future“ (which deviates significantly from Kir Bulychev’s original story, but as kids, we were glued to the screen, and Natasha Guseva—the lead actress—became every boy’s favorite girl in the USSR for years). Or “Krylatye Kacheli” (“The Swinging Swings”) from “The Adventures of the Electronic“. There are plenty of other examples too.

But let’s think about cases where we remember the songs, but the movies didn’t leave much of an impression. Of course, I can’t name them all, so I invite you to add your examples in the comments. I’ll share a few from my own playlist, and I’ll add any suggestions from the comments to the post.

Alexey Rybnikov, one of my favorite composers, created two remarkable rock operas: “The Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta“ and the universally beloved “Juno and Avos.” Beyond these, he composed a wealth of music for cinema, some of which transformed into songs when paired with lyrics. For instance, nearly all the songs in the film “The Adventures of Buratino“ were set to his music with lyrics by Bulat Okudzhava. Rybnikov’s work deserves a post of its own. There’s also a film called “The Big Space Travel“ from 1974—a fairly well-known children’s movie about three teenagers winning the chance to join an experimental space expedition. I watched it as a kid and revisited it as an adult. And yet, it never resonated with me—a very peculiar film. However, it features two songs that, I believe, are far more famous than the movie itself.

The first is “The Milky Way”:

And the second is “I Believe You, Of Course”:

Both songs are favorites of mine and are in my playlist. But as for the film itself, I have no desire to rewatch it.

Another example is the 1983 film “Neznaika from Our Yard“—a story about Neznaika and some shady wizards, featuring the actors who played Elektronik and Syroezhkin. As a child, I couldn’t get through this mess, and even as an adult, I couldn’t figure out why it was made. However, the songs in this film are nearly all masterpieces. Many people have probably heard them without even realizing they came from a movie. Let me highlight the most famous ones.

1. “Where the Wizards Live”:

2. “Long Live Surprise!“:

3. “We’re Not Afraid of the Rain“:

Honestly, I could happily listen to almost all the songs from that film and even sing along with a smile. But as for rewatching the movie—no, thank you.

What about you? Do you have any examples? To clarify: the song is amazing, thriving on its own, but the movie where it first appeared wasn’t particularly interesting or popular. Songs that were already hits before the film don’t count!