Zodiac (soundtrack)

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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," according to the film's sound designer and longtime collaborator Ren Klyce.

Track listing

1. Three Dog Night – "Easy to Be Hard"
2. Eric Burdon and the Animals – "Sky Pilot"
3. Santana – "Soul Sacrifice"
4. Four Tops – "Bernadette"
5. Lynn Anderson – "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden"
6. Sly and the Family Stone – "I Want to Take You Higher"
7. Isaac Hayes – "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic"
8. Marvin Gaye – "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"
9. Stories – "Brother Louie"
10. Donovan – "The Hurdy Gurdy Man"
11. Johnny Mathis – "It's Not for Me to Say"
12. John Coltrane – "Mary's Blues"
13. Miles Davis – "Solar"
14. The Johnny Mann Singers – "The Sound of the City"

David Shire

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At first, Fincher decided that only ten minutes was needed, but 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 Conversation 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.”

Track listing

1. Aftermaths (4:08)
2. Graysmith (1:29)
3. Law & Disorder (4:16)
4. Trailer Park (2:51)
5. Dare to Dream (1:21)
6. Avery & Graysmith, Toschi & Armstrong (3:29)
7. Graysmith Obsessed (4:09)
8. Are You Done? (2:22)
9. Closer & Closer (3:14)
10. Confrontation (3:34)
11. Graysmith's Theme (2:35)
12. Toschi's Theme (Unused) (2:10)
13. 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 Gap – Young Girl (1968)

Robert Graysmith watches Paul Avery et al. having a good time at the hack bar

• Oliver – Jean (1969)

Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard drive to Lake Berryessa

• Vanilla Fudge – Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) (1967)

Played during the taxi overhead shot/Paul Stine murder sequence

• José Feliciano – Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying (1968)

Dave Toschi and Bill Armstrong drive to the Stine murder scene

• Tommy James and the Shondells – Crystal Blue Persuasion (1969)

Avery has been converted to the way of the Aqua Velva

• Perry Como – There is No Christmas Like a Home Christmas (1950)

Melvin Belli discusses his Zodiac letter with the police

• Mario Lanza – Arrivederci, Roma

Played at the Italian restaurant where Robert and Melanie meet for the first time

• Anne Murray – Snowbird (1970)

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):
  • America – A Horse with No Name (1972)
  • The Temptations – Papa Was a Rollin' Stone (1972)
  • Roberta Flack – Killing Me Softly with His Song (1972)
  • Janis Ian – At Seventeen (1975)
  • Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet (1974)
  • Average White Band – Pick Up the Pieces (1974)
  • Ohio Players – Love Rollercoaster (1975)
• Steely Dan – Deacon Blues (1977)

Avery watches Graysmith getting interviewed on TV

• Boz Scaggs – Lowdown (1976)

Graysmith and Toschi discuss Arthur Leigh Allen in a restaurant

• Thomas Chase Jones – Spooky Nights

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• Lalo Schifrin – Tar Sequence

TV news muzak

• Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street (1978)

Graysmith finally meets Allen face to face (his "Sherlock Holmes moment")