"Falling Slowly" is an indie folk/indie rock song written, composed and performed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. It was featured on the soundtrack of the 2007 Irish musical romance film Once, which starred Hansard and Irglová, and for which it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 80th Academy Awards. The song was also recorded by Hansard's band The Frames.
Contents
History
The song was written and composed while Once was in production. The film's director and screenwriter, John Carney, developed the script around songs which Hansard and Irglová had provided to him. In the movie, the duo play the song in the Waltons Music shop across from the George's Street Arcade in Dublin, with Hansard on guitar and Irglová on piano. The couple performed it at gigs in various European venues over the next two years. Versions appeared in 2006 on two albums: The Cost, which Hansard's band The Frames recorded and released, and The Swell Season, an album on which Hansard and Irglová collaborated.
According to the "First Showing" article:
After almost getting her acceptance speech skipped and almost not getting to say a word for her acceptance at the 2008 ceremony after their Oscar win, Irglova made a speech about the song in which at the end of the speech she says, "This song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are..."
Charts
The song charted at #16 in the Irish Singles Chart when The Frames first released it. The Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová version charted at #28 in December 2007, before peaking at #2 in March 2008, following the song's Oscar win. It sold 944,000 digital downloads in the United States.
Awards
"Falling Slowly" was nominated for a 2008 Grammy, for Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media; it lost to "Love You I Do" from Dreamgirls.
The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song on 24 February 2008, beating out the choral gospel song "Raise It Up" from August Rush and three songs from the Disney musical Enchanted. The win marked the fourth consecutive year that the Oscar-winning song was not nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
The song's Oscar eligibility had been disputed because it was performed and recorded prior to the release of Once and it was even the title song of the movie Beauty in Trouble released in 2006. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ruled, however, that because the song had been written and composed for the movie, and because any public exposure during the long movie development had been minimal, it remained eligible.