January 20 and 27 are red-letter movie days for me. My first two songs ever to be included in movies are in films opening those days. On Jan. 20 it's Carol Channing: Larger Than Life and on the 27th it's After Fall, Winter. Wow; amazing.

What are the songs?

Carol Channing sings a song I wrote 46 years ago called "Anyone Who's Anyone (Is Jewish)." It was written for a show at a cabaret called Upstairs at the Downstairs, where I was a semi-resident songwriter and where I came to the attention of Tom Lehrer, whose help led me to get an agent who got me to Carol Channing. She optioned a version of the song and included it in her act. Little did I know that 46 years later a clip of the act would pop up in a doc about Channing. Will wonders never cease?

The other song is "Chanson d'Hiver," which I sing on the soundtrack of After Fall, Winter. I had an in here, inasmuch as my stepson Eric Schaeffer wrote and directed (and stars in) the film. He needed a substitute for a song he recorded in Paris as sung by a streetsinger. Turned out the song couldn't be used without paying exorbitant rights. Eric asked me to write something which would match the singer's lip movements and sing it like he did. You only hear me for about three or four seconds, but I wrote the whole song (in French, no less), so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Carol Channing sings a song I wrote 46 years ago called "Anyone Who's Anyone (Is Jewish)." It was written for a show at a cabaret called Upstairs at the Downstairs, where I was a semi-resident songwriter and where I came to the attention of Tom Lehrer, whose help led me to get an agent who got me to Carol Channing. She optioned a version of the song and included it in her act. Little did I know that 46 years later a clip of the act would pop up in a doc about Channing. Will wonders never cease?

The other song is "Chanson d'Hiver," which I sing on the soundtrack of After Fall, Winter. I had an in here, inasmuch as my stepson Eric Schaeffer wrote and directed (and stars in) the film. He needed a substitute for a song he recorded in Paris as sung by a streetsinger. Turned out the song couldn't be used without paying exorbitant rights. Eric asked me to write something which would match the singer's lip movements and sing it like he did. You only hear me for about three or four seconds, but I wrote the whole song (in French, no less), so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Billy, speaking as one whose "songwriting" consists of inventing crude lyrics for already existing songs: nice going.

I find the casting of this upcoming film sort of improbable, somehow:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1307068/

Of course, given the theme, it's probably not the only improbable thing about it.

Billy, speaking as one whose "songwriting" consists of inventing crude lyrics for already existing songs: nice going.

I find the casting of this upcoming film sort of improbable, somehow:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1307068/

Of course, given the theme, it's probably not the only improbable thing about it.

"Le Havre" -- on my list.

Keira Knightley gives the worst performance of 2011 in A Dangerous Method. She's so bad it's almost funny, but not quite.