Songs in the Key of Lost
Say what you will about the conclusion, I still miss Lost, I still think about and talk about Lost, and the show is going to stick with me for a long long time. So it’s nice to find small subtle ways, outside of re-watching old episodes, to keep a place for it in my life.
Music has been a pretty easy way, one that I can keep on in the background while I go about my business. Between the show’s score and it’s soundtrack, it deftly underscored the characters and moments with a whole library of great music. But while Michael Giacchino’s excellent score has several CDs worth of material to be had, no one from the network or the production has had the wherewithal to pull together a soundtrack of the varied and excellent pre-existing music the series showcased. For your listening pleasure, I’ve pulled together such a list for those of you willing to seek out and download accordingly.
The Playlist:
1. Moonlight Serenade – Glenn Miller
2. La Mer – Charles Trenet
3. Catch a Falling Star – Perry Como
4. Every Day – Buddy Holly
5. These Arms of Mine – Otis Redding
6. Are You Sure? – Willie Nelson
7. Downtown – Petula Clark
8. Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
9. It’s Getting Better – Mama Cass
10. Make Your Own Kind of Music – Mama Cass
11. Candida – Tony Orlando & Dawn
12. Ride Captain Ride – Blues Image
13. Shotgun Willie – Willie Nelson
14. Shambala – Three Dog Night
15. He’s Evil – The Kinks
16. Search And Destory – Iggy Pop
17. The Dream Police – Cheap Trick
18. Redemption Song – Bob Marley
19. Gouge Away – The Pixies
20. Rump Shaker – Wreckx-N-Effect
21. Scentless Apprentice – Nirvana
22. Wonderwall – Oasis
23. Wash Away (Reprise) – Joe Purdy
Yes, there were a lot more songs than this, some of which are also very aptly picked (I feel particularly guilty about leaving out all the Patsy Cline, though she tends to slow down a whole mix like this). I’ve arranged them chronologically, it seems to be the best way to listen to them. And now, a brief recap each of the moment and why it’s worthy of inclusion.
Moonlight Serenade – Glenn Miller
Season 2 – The Long Con
After jury rigging the Arrow’s radio, Sayid and Hurley sit on the beach listening to this song, not knowing where (or possibly when) the signal comes from. The outside world still exists somewhere, but remains tantalizingly out of reach. Meanwhile, the song brings home the mystery of where they are and what will happen to them in a wistful, melancholy way.
La Mer – Charles Trenet
Season 1 – Whatever the Case May Be
Shannon puzzles together the notes on Rousseau’s map, the lyrics to this French song (for those of you who thought it was Bobby Darin, he wrote new lyrics when he recorded it with the same melody). A little eerie, a little romantic, and appropriately mysterious under the circumstances.
Catch a Falling Star – Perry Como
Season 1 – Raised By Another
Season 6 – Sundown
Claire mentions to Aaron’s adoptive parents that she’d like it if they could sing this song to him (which her dad sung to her) when she first meets them. It’s a sweet sentiment, one the show would later turn on its ear during ‘Sundown’ as the corrupted Claire and Sayid join up with the Man in Black after the massacre of the temple.
Every Day – Buddy Holly
Season 4 – Cabin Fever
Locke’s pregnant teenage mother is getting ready for a night out with Anthony Cooper as this song plays in her room. The bubblegum pop runs towards the sweet and gently romantic, but given the accident that follows soon after (not to mention Locke’s bitter life) it’s deliberately misleading.
These Arms of Mine – Otis Redding
Season 2 – S.O.S.
As the song plays on the Swan record player, the show cuts between several pairs of characters: Rose and Bernard, Libby and Hurley, Sawyer and…Vincent. It’s a moment of tranquility and affection. This being Lost, of course it doesn’t last.
Are You Sure? – Willie Nelson
Season 1 – House of the Rising Sun
Hurley fires up his CD player and chills out to some red-headed stranger as we show our heroes in separation; some at the caves, some at the beach. The song asks ‘Are you sure you’re where you want to be?’ and the characters wonder the same thing. Though if you asked him, Locke would undoubtedly say ‘Yes.’
Downtown – Petula Clark
Season 3 – A Tale of Two Cities
Lost had a great tradition of dropping its audience into a new location with a new or unfamiliar character during its season openers. In Season 3, we meet Juliet. We don’t know where she is or why she’s so upset. The first question gets answered in fairly short order, but the second takes a good chunk of the season to unravel.
Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
Season 3 – Through the Looking Glass, Part 2
While we don’t hear the original song, or hear it sung/performed by any of the characters, ‘Good Vibrations’ plays a pivotal role in one of the show’s seminal moments. The musical notes of the melody serve as the key code for the Looking Glass jamming system. Given the significance everything that happens in that room, it easily deserves a place on this list.
It’s Getting Better – Mama Cass
Season 4 – Meet Kevin Johnson
After the end of Season 2, I officially HATED Michael. Murder and betrayal provoke that kind of reaction from me. Then, in one bravura sequence where he attempts suicide, he gets my empathy back. This is the song on the car radio, and in the wrong mood, the upbeat lyrics and melody could make me want to crash my car too.
Make Your Own Kind of Music – Mama Cass
Season 2 – Man of Science, Man of Faith
After the ending of Season 1, I had no idea what to expect at the start of Season 2. I certainly did NOT expect to watch a stranger go about what appeared to be his morning routine listening to late 60s pop. Then he reaches for an injection gun, an alarm goes off, he runs for a rifle, and we’re back to business. Welcome to the Swan, meet your new buddy, Desmond.
Candida – Tony Orlando & Dawn
Season 5 – LaFleur
The clothes, hair, and TV monitors all say early 70s. The song drives it home. It also adds some context – for the island, this is a happy place, a functional place. This is how it was for Sawyer and his group of transplants, until Jack and the others came back for them.
Ride Captain Ride – Blues Image
Season 5 – Namaste
Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship
Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip
Ride captain ride upon your mystery ship
On your way to a world that others might have missed
Played by the Dharma folks at their welcome picnic, with these lyrics this song could pretty much be the show’s anthem. Or at least maybe for the Dharmies themselves.
Shotgun Willie – Willie Nelson
Season 5 – Because You Left
Once again, Lost opens a season putting us in an unfamiliar place without context, though the man we meet is someone we’ve definitely seen before this. As he looks after his infant son, the record player skips, vaguely foreshadowing what only hindsight will make clear.
Shambala – Three Dog Night
Season 3 – Tricia Tanaka Is Dead
In this season 3 Hurley-centric episode, we first hear Shambala on a radio in the background as Hurley’s dad prepares to leave the family. He says it’s not for the long haul, and Hurley hopes he’s telling the truth, but those hopes get dashed. On the island in the present, Hurley is determined to keep Charlie from losing hope in the face of his impending death. His tool? The rusted out Dharma van he is determined to get running. As it careens dangerously down a steep hill, it finally sparks to life. The 8-track in the player? Shambala, of course. Hope lost, hope regained.
He’s Evil – The Kinks
Season 2 – The 23rd Psalm
While fishing on the beach, Charlie sings this song to Jin in an attempt to connect with him. Moments later, Eko arrives and confronts Charlie over the Virgin Mary statue filled with heroin. The song is about one idea of evil, but the episode drives home the idea of evil as a subtler thing, built often on good intentions and compromise. For a show that liberally played with the idea of who held the moral high ground, knowing who the bad guys were was always a challenge, and never as simple as the song suggests.
Search and Destroy – Iggy Pop
Season 6 – The Substitute
Sawyer’s the one who plays this on his record player in the barracks, so you might think it’s about him. But you’d be wrong. If anyone is the world’s forgotten boy, the one who searches and destroys, it’s the Man in Black. No question.
The Dream Police – Cheap Trick
Season 5 – The Lie
On the run from the cops, Hurley nearly suffers a coronary when one pulls him over. Fortunately, it’s only the ghost of Ana Lucia, who tells him to get some more incognito clothes and take care of a drugged, unconscious Sayid. When he stops at a gas station to take care of step one of that plan (buying a truly dreadful Shih Tzu t-shirt) this song is playing in the shop. At this point, it’s unclear if Ana Lucia lives inside of his head, but Hurley isn’t taking any chances.
Redemption Song – Bob Marley
Season 1 – Exodus
As he, Michael, Walt, and Jin sail away from the island, Sawyer sings this Bob Marley classic. Again, it’s a tranquil moment where the heroes enjoy a bit of well-earned peace. But the song’s first lyrics, which Sawyer pointedly doesn’t sing, are potent foreshadowing of the ultimate fate of one of their group.
Gouge Away – The Pixies
Season 4 – There’s No Place Like Home, Part 2
Jack really likes his grunge. And there’s rarely a better time than going to a funeral home to look at the corpse of Jeremy Bentham. This is a song about being worn down and broken down, and at this point, rejected by everyone, at the nadir of despair, Jack has truly reached his lowest ebb.
Rump Shaker – Wrecks-N-Effect
Season 3 – Expose
Yes, this song belongs on this list about as much as mushroom on top of a wedding cake. But appropriately enough, it comes from the sole episode dedicated to the life and times of Nikki and Paolo, among the least loved of the castaways. Like the characters themselves, the song is entirely incongruous to the show, but then, it’s so weirdly left field to me in that way that pretty much is Lost at its core. We hear it when we see Nikki take the floor to do a striptease on the set of Expose, because, hey, why not? That’s the kind of show Expose is.
Scentless Apprentice – Nirvana
Season 3 – Through the Looking Glass, Part 2
I told you, Jack REALLY likes his grunge. On his way to Jeremy Bentham’s funeral service, wasted out of his mind on booze and pills, Jack is reaching for the bottom. We still don’t know why, but the song seems to offer us a clue, as it refers to someone disadvantaged and ultimately doomed. Someone Jack failed to save, maybe?
Wonderwall – Oasis
Season 3 – Flashes Before Your Eyes
Speaking of people who need saving, in this flashback heavy episode, Desmond returns to his previous life in London with girlfriend Penny while retaining memories of his future on the island. So when he encounters Charlie busking on a London corner, he doesn’t quite know what to do. But once again, the lyrics drop more clues. Someone needs saving, and it isn’t Desmond.
Wash Away (Reprise) – Joe Purdy
Season 1 – Tabula Rasa
At the end of Tabula Rasa, we’re only just beginning to know our characters. Hurley turns on his CD player, the song starts, and we get a nice tableau of them all sharing time together, making the best of their situation. The last lingering shot of Locke lets us know that their future is unknowable, and potentially perilous. But the shots leading up to it show them relaxed, showing kindness to one another and bonding together as a group. There’s serenity to the sequence, an atmosphere of hope, rather than dread, and the source of their hope is each other. One of the simplest, most soothing moments in the whole series.
