And the nominees for Best Original Song are...

"Do the Hippogriff" from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
"I'd Have It All (If I Had Drew)" from My Date With Drew
"I'll Whip Ya Head Boy" from Get Rich or Die Tryin'
"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow
"Nobody Jesus But You" from Palindromes
"You're Gonna Die Soon" from Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic

Hey, it could happen—and, yes, monkeys could fly out of my butt (excellent)—because all of these songs are on the "shortlist" of original songs eligible for Oscar consideration.

Lists like this are common for other categories (from special effects to documentary film) but this is the first time it's been done for original song and the results are kind of surprising. Only two of the five songs nominated for a Golden Globe are even eligible (although the Globes had their own bizarre selection in Christmas In Love, a movie that apparently has no U.S. release date).

Of course what would awards talk be without a mention of Brokeback Mountain? The movie applies here because its original song "A Love That Will Never Grow Old," written by the esteemed Gustavo Santaolalla and Bernie Taupin and sung by the magnificent Emmylou Harris, is not eligible. Apparently the music branch who judged the submissions decided that the song was not featured prominently enough in the film and is therefore not eligible for a nomination (it plays, very briefly and quietly, on the radio in Jack Twist/Jake Gyllenhaal's truck).

So there's one Oscar Brokeback Mountain definitely won't win (the situation is a bit reminiscent of the way scores from nomination-favorites The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby were left out of contention last year).

Actually, I'm kind of glad because I'm hoping all of the attention of the category will shift to Dolly Parton's "Travelin' Thru" from Transamerica. I have yet to really discuss the film here and I doubt I ever will (there simply isn't much to say other than it's well intentioned but a little too indie, and entirely too broad, to be effective), but Dolly's song is one of the year's cinematic highlights and deserves recognition. I love her to death and when that song unexpectedly rolled over the end credits it made sitting through the whole damn movie worthwhile (I was similarly grateful for Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" at the end of Jarhead, but that song, of course, is not original to the film).

Without Brokeback in the running I expect Parton's song may be joined by the eligible song from Narnia (which is not Alanis Morissette's Globe-nominated "Wunderkind"), the original song from The Producers, the song from Dreamer and possibly a song from Hustle & Flow.

But I swear to God if the pimp beats Dolly... well, "I'll Whip Ya Head Boy!"

Then again there's the song from Crash, some bizarre thing from Constant Gardener, a song from Corpse Bride (I wonder why just one?), a Carly Simon song from Pooh's Huffalump Movie (if they aren't embarrassed enough to nominate something from Pooh's Huffalump Movie) and various other possibilities. They also may choose to only nominate three songs. Or they may just decide life simply isn't worth living after listening to all the eligible songs from Palindromes.

My own wish is that Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy's "So Long and Thanks For All the Fish" joins Dolly as a finalist.

But what was I saying about monkeys flying out of my butt?