To play or not to play the list of Best Song Oscar nominees?

This year's Oscars are a bit shaky in their set-up, what with the whole "host-less" deal and talk about cutting down the number of awards being presented during the TV broadcast.

There were even plans to only have two out of the five Best Original Song nominees perform on stage(the two being preferred are the numbers from A Star Is Born and Black Panther).

Fortunately, Lady Gaga used her considerable clout to have the other nominees included, although there is still talk of them being only allowed ninety second versions. What is this nonsense? Bad enough that this is one of the categories that gets short changed regularly by the Academy with lackluster nominations(one year, only three songs were selected for consideration!) but shortening the time for the tunes that are not major hits is insulting to say the least.

In case they do go through with the mini version of these songs, I'm going to give all of the Best Song nominees a full outing here:

"THE PLACE WHERE THE LOST THINGS GO"

One of the things that amazes me about this attempt to limit the Best Song performances is that a tune from Mary Poppins Returns is on the chopping block.


Uh, folks, you do remember that this show is airing on a network owned by Disney,right?  Not a smart move to knock one of their major releases out of contention here,plus you ticked off Lin-Manuel Miranda(a pivotal MPR co-star and musical influencer) and he's pretty hard to bring down there.

As to the song itself, this is a melancholy melody that Mary Poppins sings to the new generation of Banks children in order to help them reconcile their grief over the loss of their mother and other changes in their lives. Sad but sweet, which makes me feel as if this is not going to be a winner in this category yet nevertheless it deserves to be heard:

"I'LL FIGHT"

This anthem for the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary RBG(which is nominated in that category) does have a lot going for it.

It's sung by Oscar winning singer/actress Jennifer Hudson and was written by multi-award winning composer Diane Warren, not to mention it's a solidly strong tribute to all people striving for a better tomorrow.

However, wins in the Best Song arena for documentaries are few and far between. The last time was back in 2006 for Melissa Etheridge's contribution to An Inconvenient Truth. Hudson has agreed to perform on Oscar night and she must be given a full amount of time to do proper justice to this song:

"WHEN A COWBOY TRADES HIS SPURS FOR WINGS"

This tune from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the true underdog here. While the movie has gotten two other Oscar noms(Best Adapted Screenplay and Costume Design), it's mostly been available on Netflix, with a very limited theatrical run at best.

The song does have a hokey charm mixed with a touch of humor(as I suspect the movie does as well) and is nicely done. Yet, even with fans of the Coen brothers on board, I don't see this number riding home with the big prize.

It should provide a nice change of pace during the Oscar performances and yes, it needs to be given it's full running time. This is a less than three minutes song, come on, guys!:

"ALL THE STARS"

There was no doubt about this song from Black Panther being showcased on Oscar night and rightly so.

 Director Ryan Coogler(who was robbed of a Best Director nom, in my opinion) chose Kendrick Lamar as the producer of the Marvel movie soundtrack and having SZA as one of the singers along with Lamar brings a perfect harmony here.

This song is also up for the Grammys, which will be awarded this upcoming weekend, and a win for either Record or Song of the Year will heighten it's chances for that Oscar gold. Regardless of that, this is a beautifully engaging number that captures the spirit of the film it was created for elegantly:

"SHALLOW"

Yes, this signature piece from A Star Is Born is the front runner and also a big nominee at the Grammys as well. Honestly, I'll be happy with either this or All The Stars getting the Oscar(third choice would be "I'll Fight").

Yet, this song has struck a serious chord with audiences and even those of us who haven't seen the movie yet. The lyrics perfectly encapsulate the doomed romance between our leads and Bradley Cooper has a damn good range that compliments Gaga's powerhouse vocals to the extreme.

At the moment, Cooper has agreed to perform with Gaga at the Oscars but word is that he's feeling a bit shy about doing this song live. Since he did sing in Vegas with her recently, I think that Cooper will manage just fine that night. Academy, do not try and cheat anyone out of their performance time or he might suddenly get too tense to sing and we know you don't want that!:

So, Academy, let the songs be sung and stop trying to cut what you think is boring short. Plenty of people are just as invested in seeing who wins Best Sound Editing, Best Short Film and the other technical awards. Instead of worrying about how long the show is, commit to giving your international viewers some incredible entertainment which is appropriate for a night that's supposed to celebrate the best in cinema! Quality over quantity , that's the ticket.

To wrap things up, I'd like to give an honorable mention to The Hate U Give, which had a wonderful theme song that deserved consideration. "We Won't Move" by Arlissa is well suited to this heartfelt yet realistic cinematic reflection of the times we live in now and it's a shame that it won't be among the Oscar contenders that night: