Zodiac (2007 soundtrack)
Encyclopedia
Two soundtrack albums were released from the 2007 film Zodiac
.
The first album, Zodiac: Songs from the Motion Picture, was released by Lakeshore Records on February 27, 2007 and features various popular music pertaining to the time periods covered in the film.
The second album, Zodiac: Original Motion Picture Score, was released by Varèse Sarabande
on March 13, 2007 and features the music of David Shire
.
Originally the film's director, David Fincher
, envisioned the film’s soundtrack to be composed of 40 cues of vintage music spanning the nearly three decades of the Zodiac story. However, the director felt that an original score was also needed “to take the emotional part of the film to another level,” remembers the film’s sound designer and longtime collaborator Ren Klyce.
and All the President's Men
for the film’s temp track, it was decided that they should get David Shire
(composer of both of these films) to do it. Fincher was eager to work with Shire as All the President’s Men was one of his favorite films and one of the primary cinematic influences on Zodiac. Shire composed 27 minutes of music performed by the San Francisco Orchestra and said, “There are 12 signs of the Zodiac and there is a way of using atonal and tonal music. So we used 12 tones, never repeating any of them but manipulating them.” He used specific instruments to represent the characters: “the trumpet was Toschi, the solo piano was Graysmith and the dissonant strings were the serial killer Zodiac.”
The last track on the score album is only a minute and a half long. After the music is done, thirty seconds of silence plays and then a snippet of a conversation between director David Fincher and composer David Shire is heard.
Zodiac (film)
Zodiac is a 2007 American mystery-thriller film directed by David Fincher and based on Robert Graysmith's non-fiction book of the same name. The Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros...
.
The first album, Zodiac: Songs from the Motion Picture, was released by Lakeshore Records on February 27, 2007 and features various popular music pertaining to the time periods covered in the film.
The second album, Zodiac: Original Motion Picture Score, was released by Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
on March 13, 2007 and features the music of David Shire
David Shire
David Lee Shire is an American songwriter and the composer of stage musicals, film and television scores. The soundtrack to the movie The Taking of Pelham 123 and parts of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack such as Night on Disco Mountain, an adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald...
.
Originally the film's director, David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
, envisioned the film’s soundtrack to be composed of 40 cues of vintage music spanning the nearly three decades of the Zodiac story. However, the director felt that an original score was also needed “to take the emotional part of the film to another level,” remembers the film’s sound designer and longtime collaborator Ren Klyce.
Track listing
- Three Dog NightThree Dog NightThree Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
– "Easy to Be Hard" - Eric Burdon and the Animals – "Sky PilotSky Pilot (song)"Sky Pilot" is a 1968 song by Eric Burdon & The Animals, released on the album The Twain Shall Meet. When released as a single the song was split across both sides, due to its length. As "Sky Pilot " it reached number 14 on the U.S...
" - SantanaSantana (band)Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
– "Soul Sacrifice" - Four TopsFour TopsThe Four Tops are an American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes...
– "BernadetteBernadette (song)"Bernadette" is a 1967 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s...
" - Lynn AndersonLynn AndersonLynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...
– "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" - Sly and the Family Stone – "I Want to Take You HigherI Want to Take You Higher"I Want to Take You Higher" is a 1969 song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, the B-side to their Top 30 hit Stand!". Unlike most of the other tracks on the Stand! album, "I Want to Take You Higher" is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one...
" - Isaac HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
– "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" - Marvin GayeMarvin GayeMarvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
– "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"Inner City Blues ", often shortened to "Inner City Blues", is a song by Marvin Gaye, released as the third and final single from and the climactic song of his 1971 landmark album, What's Going On...
" - StoriesStories (band)Stories was a rock and pop music band, based out of New York in the early 1970s. The band consisted of keyboardist Michael Brown, bassist/vocalist Ian Lloyd, guitarist Steve Love, and drummer Bryan Madey, and had a Number 1 hit with a cover of Hot Chocolate's "Brother Louie."-Band history:Lloyd ...
– "Brother Louie" - DonovanDonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
– "The Hurdy Gurdy ManThe Hurdy Gurdy Man (song)"Hurdy Gurdy Man" is a song by the Scottish musician Donovan. It was written and recorded in early 1968 and released in May as a single and gave name to the album The Hurdy Gurdy Man, which was released in October of that year. It reached #5 in the U.S. and #4 in the UK pop charts. The song was...
" - Johnny MathisJohnny MathisJohn Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
– "It's Not For Me To SayIt's Not for Me to Say"It's Not for Me to Say" is a 1957 popular song with music by Robert Allen and lyrics by Al Stillman. It was written for the 1957 movie Lizzie , and was sung by Johnny Mathis....
" - John ColtraneJohn ColtraneJohn William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
– "Mary's Blues" - Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
– "Solar" - The Johnny Mann SingersJohnny MannJohnny Mann is an American arranger, composer, conductor, entertainer, and recording artist.-Career:...
– "The Sound of the City" - Tears for FearsTears for FearsTears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
– "I Believe" - Gary Puckett & The Union GapGary Puckett & The Union GapGary Puckett & The Union Gap was an American pop rock group operating in the late 1960s...
– Young Girl
David Shire
At first, it was decided that only ten minutes was needed and this gradually increased until he realized that there was no money for the score, just for the 40 musical cues. After using music from The ConversationThe Conversation
The Conversation is a 1974 American psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman...
and All the President's Men
All the President's Men (film)
All the President's Men is a 1976 Academy Award-winning political thriller film based on the 1974 non-fiction book of the same name by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two journalists investigating the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post...
for the film’s temp track, it was decided that they should get David Shire
David Shire
David Lee Shire is an American songwriter and the composer of stage musicals, film and television scores. The soundtrack to the movie The Taking of Pelham 123 and parts of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack such as Night on Disco Mountain, an adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald...
(composer of both of these films) to do it. Fincher was eager to work with Shire as All the President’s Men was one of his favorite films and one of the primary cinematic influences on Zodiac. Shire composed 27 minutes of music performed by the San Francisco Orchestra and said, “There are 12 signs of the Zodiac and there is a way of using atonal and tonal music. So we used 12 tones, never repeating any of them but manipulating them.” He used specific instruments to represent the characters: “the trumpet was Toschi, the solo piano was Graysmith and the dissonant strings were the serial killer Zodiac.”
Track listing
- Aftermaths (4:08)
- Graysmith (1:29)
- Law & Disorder (4:16)
- Trailer Park (2:51)
- Dare to Dream (1:21)
- Avery & Graysmith, Toschi & Armstrong (3:29)
- Graysmith Obsessed (4:09)
- Are You Done? (2:22)
- Closer & Closer (3:14)
- Confrontation (3:34)
- Graysmith's Theme (2:35)
- Toschi's Theme (Unused) (2:10)
- Graysmith's Theme (Piano version) (4:19)
The last track on the score album is only a minute and a half long. After the music is done, thirty seconds of silence plays and then a snippet of a conversation between director David Fincher and composer David Shire is heard.
Additional songs in the film
- Gary Puckett and the Union GapGary Puckett & The Union GapGary Puckett & The Union Gap was an American pop rock group operating in the late 1960s...
– Young GirlYoung Girl (Gary Puckett & The Union Gap song)"Young Girl" was a song performed by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap released in 1968. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it reached #1 on the UK Singles chart and Cash Box...
(1968)
- Robert Graysmith watches Paul Avery et al. having a good time at the hack bar
- Oliver – JeanJean (song)"Jean" is the title of a popular song from 1969 . It was written by the American poet and composer Rod McKuen, who also recorded a version of the song....
(1969)
- Oliver – Jean
- Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard drive to Lake BerryessaLake BerryessaLake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. This reservoir is formed by the Monticello Dam, which provides water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area....
- Vanilla FudgeVanilla FudgeVanilla Fudge is an American rock band. The band's original lineup – vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice – recorded five albums during the years 1966–69, before disbanding in 1970...
– Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"Bang Bang " is the second single by singer-actress Cher from her second studio album The Sonny Side of Chér. The song was written by Sonny Bono and released in 1966. The song reached number three in the UK Singles Chart and number two on the Billboard Hot 100...
(1967)
- Vanilla Fudge
- Played during the taxi overhead shot/Paul Stine murder sequence
- José FelicianoJosé FelicianoJosé Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
– Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying (1968)
- José Feliciano
- Dave Toschi and Bill Armstrong drive to the Stine murder scene
- Tommy James and the Shondells – Crystal Blue PersuasionCrystal Blue Persuasion"Crystal Blue Persuasion" is a 1969 song originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells and composed by Eddie Gray, Tommy James and Mike Vale....
(1969)
- Tommy James and the Shondells – Crystal Blue Persuasion
- Avery has been converted to the way of the Aqua Velva
- Perry ComoPerry ComoPierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
– There is No Christmas Like a Home Christmas (1950)
- Perry Como
- Melvin Belli discusses his Zodiac letter with the police
- Mario LanzaMario Lanzaright|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....
– Arrivederci, Roma
- Mario Lanza
- Played at the Italian restaurant where Robert and Melanie meet for the first time
- Anne MurrayAnne MurrayMorna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....
– SnowbirdSnowbird (song)"Snowbird" is a song by the Canadian songwriter Gene MacLellan. Though it has been recorded by many performers , it is best known through Anne Murray's 1970 version, which launched her into a long career of international exposure. It was a #2 hit on Canada's pop chart and went to #1 on both the...
(1970)
- Anne Murray
- Played during the restaurant scene where Armstrong is sharing his BLT with Toschi
- Songs featured in the "four years later" montage (director's cut only):
- AmericaAmerica (band)America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
– A Horse with No NameA Horse with No Name“A Horse with No Name” is a song written by Dewey Bunnell and originally recorded by the band America. It was the band's first and most successful single, released in early 1972, topping the charts in several countries...
(1972) - The TemptationsThe TemptationsThe Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
– Papa Was a Rollin' StonePapa Was a Rollin' Stone"Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" is a soul song, written by Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong as a single for Motown act The Undisputed Truth in 1971...
(1972) - Roberta FlackRoberta FlackRoberta Flack is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for jazz, soul, R&B, and folk music...
– Killing Me Softly with His SongKilling Me Softly with His Song"Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a 1971 song composed by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. It has been covered by numerous artists, most notably by Roberta Flack whose version topped the U.S...
(1972) - Janis IanJanis IanJanis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...
– At SeventeenAt Seventeen"At Seventeen" is a song by Janis Ian, released in 1975 on Between the Lines and as a single. Ian's most successful recording, the song is a commentary on adolescent cruelty, the illusion of popularity, and teenage angst, as reflected upon from the maturity of adulthood...
(1975) - Bachman-Turner OverdriveBachman-Turner OverdriveBachman–Turner Overdrive is a Canadian rock group from Winnipeg, Manitoba, that had a series of hit albums and singles in the 1970s, selling over 7 million albums in that decade alone. Their 1970s catalog included five Top 40 albums and six Top 40 singles...
– You Ain't Seen Nothing YetYou Ain't Seen Nothing Yet"You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" is a rock song written by Randy Bachman and performed by Bachman–Turner Overdrive on the album Not Fragile. It was released as a single in 1974 with an instrumental track "Free Wheelin'" as the B-side...
(1974) - Average White Band – Pick Up the Pieces (1974)
- Ohio PlayersOhio PlayersThe Ohio Players were an American funk and R&B band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their double #1 hit songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster".- Biography :...
– Love RollercoasterLove Rollercoaster"Love Rollercoaster" is a song by American funk/R&B band The Ohio Players, originally featured on their 1975 album Honey. The song was a hit upon its initial release, reaching the top of both the R&B and pop charts. It still sees wide airplay on classic funk and R&B stations...
(1975)
- America
- Steely DanSteely DanSteely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
– Deacon BluesDeacon Blues"Deacon Blues" is a song by Steely Dan from their 1977 album Aja.The song contains the lines:In a 1994 AOL chat interview with Becker, someone asked him about the inspiration for "Deacon Blues"...
(1977)
- Songs featured in the "four years later" montage (director's cut only):
- Avery watches Graysmith getting interviewed on TV
- Boz ScaggsBoz ScaggsWilliam Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...
– LowdownLowdown (Boz Scaggs song)"Lowdown" is a Billboard hit originally recorded in 1976 by Boz Scaggs for his mainstream-breakthrough album, Silk Degrees. The song was co-written by Scaggs and David Paich...
(1976)
- Boz Scaggs
- Graysmith and Toschi discuss Arthur Leigh Allen in a restaurant
- Thomas Chase Jones – Spooky Nights
- ?
- Lalo SchifrinLalo SchifrinLalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...
– Tar Sequence
- Lalo Schifrin
- TV news muzak
- Gerry RaffertyGerry RaffertyGerald "Gerry" Rafferty was a Scottish singer songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working-class family in...
– Baker StreetBaker Street (song)"Baker Street" is a ballad written and first recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. Released as a single in 1978, it reached #1 in Canada, #2 in the US, #3 in the UK, #1 in Australia and #9 in the Netherlands...
(1978)
- Gerry Rafferty
- Graysmith finally meets Allen face to face (his "Sherlock Holmes moment")