It’s the most maligned category of all the Oscars and deservedly so. I’d guess 90 per cent of most movies don’t even have songs and rare indeed is the movie in which a song is central to it. You might as well have a best use of a cocker spaniel award, or how about the best use of rain?

But even granting legitimacy to a best song category, the Academy has made so many egregious errors over the years that it seems the award is something of a mockery of itself. A decade or two ago, the Academy even did a song and dance number during the Oscar ceremony called “NOT EVEN NOMINATED,” which listed all the great movie songs that didn’t even get a nomination. My favorite omission? “New York, New York,” from the Martin Scorsese film of the same name. It’s an anthem for the ages, an instant classic, and yet it didn’t even make the nomination cut the year it was released. And the most ridiculous win in recent years? How about the song from the last Lord of the Rings movie, a song even Tolkein fanatics probably couldn’t hum a few bars of today.

Even so, some of the best Oscar moments ever happened thanks to the Best Song category. Do you remember the Oscar version of the SOUTH PARK song “BLAME CANADA!”, when dozens upon dozens of singing marchers paraded on stage denouncing our neighbor to the North? And how about the year when HUSTLE AND FLOW’s “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” not only was nominated but actually won the Oscar. That win lead to the immortal Jon Stewart line tallying up the Oscars: “Three 6 Mafia – one; Martin Scorsese – zero.” Actually, “Pimp” was the rare song that actually merited an Oscar because it was absolutely essential to the movie. Last year’s winner “Falling Slowly” was equally deserving because it too was central to its film, ONCE. But even so, because of some arcane qualification rules, “Falling Slowly” was almost denied its nomination. It flirted with disqualification thanks to concerns it might have been written before the film was made, a concern that took weeks of high-level negotiations to finally resolve.

And speaking of odd rules, remember the infamous swan outfit singer Bjork wore the year her song from DANCER IN THE DARK was nominated. It was an eerie and mesmerizing song but it was a duet and the Academy only allowed a single performer per song. So Bjork gamely performed exactly half of the nominated song! The audience was no doubt as puzzled by the song as it was by her swan.

A similar idiocy is popping up this year as well. For some odd reason, only three songs, instead of the usual five, were nominated for an Oscar this year. (Curiously, the Golden Globe winner for Best Song, Bruce Springsteen’s THE WRESTLER didn’t make the cut.) But despite the fact that there are two fewer songs than normal, the Academy show organizers have decided to cram all three songs into a single three minute medley. As a result, Peter Gabriel has turned down an offer to perform his nominated song from WALL*E, “Down To Earth.” He says 60 seconds is insufficient time “to do the song justice.” Even more absurd than the time constraints is the medley notion. Since the other two songs, “Jai Ho” and “O Saya” are from the same movie (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE),the Gabriel work would no doubt seem, if not discordant, at least out of place.

The Oscar Ceremony organizers are promising to shake things up this year, but if the song category is any indication, the show may be different but just as screwy as ever. JAI HO!