When Harry Met Sally: Music From The Motion Picture [Soundtrack]

Harry Connick Jr.

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 13, 1989)
• Original Release Date: July 25, 1989
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000026V6
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,003 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Soundtracks > By Decade > 1980s

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Plucked from the piano bars of New Orleans, Harry Connick Jr. was an unlikely choice to pen the soundtrack for a major Hollywood release. But everyone concerned hit the jackpot. As with the best of Connick's music, When Harry Met Sally resonates with a whimsical yet sophisticated and urbane energy. That smooth, breathy tenor, combined with some inventive arrangements, brought color and setting to the film, playing a plum supporting role for Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Beyond the film, this collection of reworked standards stands on its own quite well. A lustrous vocal line bookends the hopping instrumental swing in the middle of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," playing that song's central melancholy up with a Nelson Riddle-esque big-band sweep. Connick's take on "Love Is Here to Stay" puts a gentle cha-cha behind the familiar verses, slowly working in a lazily wandering tenor sax. By the time the record fades out in a hushed, tender rendition of "Where or When," Connick has managed to thoroughly charm us, whether we'd seen the movie or not. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Okay, so it's not THE soundtrack....but it's good, November 26, 2003

By	Alex Diaz-Granados "fardreaming writer" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Fans of Rob Reiner's 1989 romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally..." will tell you that this Harry Connick, Jr. album that's sold in the Movie Soundtrack section of most music emporiums (including online stores such as this) is not, in fact, from the original motion picture soundtrack. Instead, Columbia Records released this non-soundtrack as When Harry Met Sally...Music From the Motion Picture. Yes, the songs played and sung here by Connick were heard in the movie...but most of them were performed by other artists.
This doesn't mean the album is bad; it's not. It just isn't an "original soundtrack album."

That having been said, this 10-track set is an enjoyable collection of romantic standards, some of them now over six decades old yet sounding timeless. Some of them are cheerful and peppy ("It Had To Be You," which is heard in two versions here), some are riffs on loneliness and separation ("But Not For Me" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"),others still are odes to romance ("I Could Write a Book" and the gently reflective "Where or When"). There is even a little bit of the holiday spirit added in for good measure (a solo piano rendition of "Winter Wonderland").

Connick pulls double duty as vocalist and piano player in most of the tracks (with the exception of "But Not For Me," with Marc Shaiman doing the honors at the piano), ably reflecting each song's emotional context with his old-fashioned stylings and New Orleans accent. Listen carefully to the World War II-era "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" and there's a sense of longing there for an absent spouse or lover. In his rendition of "Where or When," Connick conveys the feeling of awe everyone feels when he or she has fallen in love with someone, yet can't figure out "where or when" the transition occurred.

I suppose I like this album because I am, as Louis Renault said of Rick Blaine in Casablanca, a "rank sentimentalist" -- a charge to which I cheerfully plead guilty. The fact that these songs were around 30 or more years before my birth over 40 years ago and can still touch people's hearts and minds is proof that some things are indeed timeless. Connick and Shaiman (who also produced the album) chose their material well, making When Harry Met Sally....Music From the Motion Picture a fine addition to anyone's library of jazz and easy listening CDs.

53 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The songs in the movie and their whereabout, June 7, 2003

By	Long Distance Voyager (Hong Kong, China) - See all my reviews

"Music from the motion picture", what a misleading title. If you do not pay particular attention to this, you might think that the songs in it are those heard in the movie. In fact, none of them is, including those songs sung by Harry Connick, Jr., the versions here are different from those in the movie.
The followings are the songs featured in the movie and their origin:
1. Our love is here to stay - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
2. Let's call the whole thing off - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (the above two comes from the Verve CD "Ella & Louis Again")
3. Don't pull your love - Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds (From the MCA CD "Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds - Greatest Hits)
4. Rambling man - Allman Brothers (From the Polygram CD "A Decade of Hits 1969-1979)
5. Right time of the night - Jennifer Warnes (From the Arista CD "The best of Jennifer Warnes)
6. Where or when - Ella Fitzgerald (From the Verve CD (1) "Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]" (2) "The very best of Rodgers and Hart Song Book" released in 2007. (Updated on 29 Feb 2008)
7. Winter Wonderland - Ray Charles (From the CBS CD "The spirit of Christmas")
8. Have yourself a Merry little Christmas - Bing Crosby (From the Capitol CD " Bing Crosby's Christmas Classics [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED])
9. It had to be you - Frank Sinatra (From the WEA International CD "Romance"[IMPORT])

Two songs were sung by Billy Crystal in the movie:
1. The Surrey with the fringe on top (with Meg Ryan when singing thru the Karaoke machine)(originally a song featured in "Oklahoma! by Gordon MacRae/Shirley Jones/Charlotte Greenwood ", my choice is Frank Sinatra's version from "Sinatra Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein" which I think is the most appropriate version)
2. Call me (singing to the answering machine of Sally)(originally a hit by Petula Clark in the 60's)

The following are the music heard in the movie:
Songs sung by Harry Connick, Jr. featured in the movie included:
1. Don't get around much anymore
2. The Tables have turned (Composed by Marc Shaiman)
3. Medley : It had to be you/Let's call the whole thing off/But not for me (heard at the end credit sequence)

Adante of Mozart's String Quintet in E Flat, KV 614 is performed during the wedding ceremony of Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby. "Autumn in New York","Isn't it romantic", "I could write a book", "Stomping at the Savoy", "But not for me", "Say it isn't so" and "Don't be that way" all featured in the movie as score and are beautifully played (as shown in the end credit, some of these songs are performed by Harry Connick, Jr Trio, Orchestrations by Marc Shaiman and Thom Sharp), but you can only hear them in the movie.
Lastly, Amazon should remove the misleading word [Soundtrack] from its product description, this CD is not THE SOUNDTRACK.

49 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Buyer beware! It's not really the movie soundtrack!, February 11, 1999

By A Customer

I was very disappointed to receive this CD only to find out that the movie's original artists were replaced with Harry Connick Jr.'s interpretations of their music. Although I like Connick's music, it was the soundtrack I was after. Be a better shopper than I was, and be sure you're getting what you want.