Star Wars I-IX Playlist, or: How I Learned to Stop Socializing and Love John Williams

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Curious if anyone else has been working on something like this. I wanted to try and make an abridged listen of the complete saga and since "May the 4th" is coming -- the first one after he has completed it all -- no better time. Also I’m stuck inside a lot by myself lately for some reason.

 

My playlist is 63 tracks coming in at 3 hours and 41 minutes. Could be tighter but I feel like I just start losing the scope of the thing, while letting it draw out too much longer tests even my patience. Your mileage may vary. I also placed an optional "act break" between ESB and ROTJ. 

 

There are different ways to approach this, of course. Seemed equally pointless to either do a Greatest Hits or get too into the deep cuts. 

 

My goals have been:

 

- to focus on the major thematic and character arcs

- juggle as much of the glossary as I can in between

- keep things moving with some sort of flow between episodes and trilogies

- stay true to important moments without bastardizing Mr. Williams’s original intentions too much

 

Made a few big exceptions to that last point but I did give a version of it a full listen a few weeks ago after working on it in chunks and I like it. I can't help pruning it here and there but wanna save listening to SW music too much again before May 4! 

 

Anyway, this is giving me insane thoughts and who else am I gonna share them with. A lot of babbling under spoiler tags to save space.

 

PLAYLIST

Spoiler

    OVERTURE (3 minutes)

1. 20th Century Fox Fanfare
2. Main Title and the Arrival at Naboo

 

    ACT ONE (1 hour, 22 minutes)

1. Talk of Podracing
2. Anakin’s Theme
3. Across the Stars
4. Anakin’s Dream
5. Rise Lord Vader (Trent’s edit)
6. Anakin's Dark Deeds
7. Anakin's Betrayal
8. Anakin vs. Obi-Wan
9. The Immolation Scene
10. The High Council Meeting; Qui-Gon’s Funeral
11. The Imperial March
12. The Princess Appears
13. The Return Home
14. Cantina Band
15. Rescue of the Princess
16. Ben’s Death and TIE Fighter Attack
17. Han Solo and the Princess (Gerhardt)
18. The Asteroid Field
19. The Training of a Jedi Knight
20. Yoda and the Force
21. Lando’s Palace
22. The Duel

 

    ENTR'ACTE (2 minutes)

1. Main Title / Rebel Blockade Runner - Medley 

 

    ACT TWO (1 hour, 55 minutes)

1. Jabba the Hutt
2. The Return of the Jedi (Sail Barge Assault)
3. The Emperor Arrives 
4. Heroic Ewok / The Fleet Goes Into Hyperspace 
5. Into the Trap
6. Luke and Leia
7. Final Duel / Into the Death Star
8. The Emperor’s Death
9. Darth Vader’s Death
10. Leia Breaks the News / Funeral Pyre for a Jedi
11. Finn’s Confession
12. The Scavenger
13. Han and Leia
14. Torn Apart
15. The Ways of the Force
16. Rey's Theme 
17. The Jedi Steps (Concert Version)
18. The Supremacy
19. Scherzo for X-Wings
20. The Spark
21. The Last Jedi (FYC)
22. Peace and Purpose
23. Enter Darth Maul
24. We Go Together
25. Falcon Flight
26. The Old Death Star (FYC)
27. The Final Saber Duel
28. They Will Come
29. Approaching the Throne
30. Battle of the Resistance
31. Parents
32. Coming Together
33. Duel of the Fates
34. Seeing Sights
35. Farewell

 

    CODA (19 minutes) 

1. Reunion
2. A New Home
3. A New Hope and End Credits

 

MUSIC EDITS

Spoiler

 

 

 

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1

Everything is from an official release or FYC, except “Rise Lord Vader” 

 

Four music edits:

 

- “Rise Lord Vader” - added clean ending from “Padme’s Ruminations”

- “The Last Jedi” - only used the FYC portion for Rey’s Theme and then cross-faded into the OST, slightly more expedient listen without losing anything interesting

- “Enter Darth Maul” - begins directly with the Emperor’s theme. 

- "End Credits" uses the Force theme ending tag from Force Awakens/Rise of Skywalker into credits

 

For the curious. NOT a pro but whatever. 

 

I also personally find it effective to leave about five seconds of silence in between "Seeing Sights" and "Farewell" 

 

Everything else I left alone

 

CUTS, BUTS, COCONUTS

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

2

Biggest omissions are probably the action setpieces like Coruscant Chase, Death Star, Hoth, Endor, Falcon Chase, Crait….generally avoided extremely lengthy tracks (over 5 minutes) and tried to build to each trilogy’s most cathartic moments gradually. I couldn’t let it get too resolute too early so inevitably favored the third installments.

 

For the most part, the action pieces just felt like detours from the heart of the saga, but I feel that stuff is still well-represented. Battle of Yavin climax is the biggest loss but “TIE Fighter Attack” gets the job done and even ends with a big Death Star motif so just pretend it exploded, why don’t ya? It all circles back around to ANH in the end so I had to spread the love.

 

Poor Rose’s theme. She just got shafted by IX, sorry Kelly Marie, you are a non-essential worker. Han Solo gets a little gypped too but that’s always been an issue with him, musically. No “Carbon Freeze” since "Han Solo and the Princess" gets its time to shine and “The Duel” includes a big reprise while also accomplishing so much else. I looked for those kinds of things to condense.

 

DUEL OF THE FATES

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

This had a weird journey. I had it in for the longest time as the first track after the Main Title, like a prologue, but I just preferred the cleaner arc of starting with a pure, warm pastoral innocence descending into madness. It also diluted Battle of the Heroes. So I thought about leaving it out entirely but that seemed...wrong. 

 

In the end I think it serves to give Rise of Skywalker some apocalyptic excitement. I always kinda wanted to hear it in the score, anyway, and it’s uhhhh a tribute to Colin Trevorrow? Anyway I think it actually works, fully capitalizing on the growing momentum in 9's finale to make the emotional conclusions more rewarding and helps create some extra dialogue with the prequels. And then "Enter Darth Maul" sets up Korah Rahtahmah with Emperor's Theme, voila.

 

TALK OF PODRACING / THE HIGH COUNCIL MEETING; QUI-GON’S FUNERAL / FINN’S CONFESSION

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

I am proud of this! I’ve used the melody as a refrain, announcing the beginning of one trilogy and the end of another. It makes me think "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." It’s also nice that all three develop that melody in slightly different ways.

 

Plus “Talk of Podracing” includes those first hints of Anakin’s theme and an extra cheerful Imperial March to be further darkened by the “Anakin’s Theme” piece. 

 

“The High Council Meeting; Qui-Gon’s Funeral” ends with the funeral lament which honors Episode III’s score with its placement in the playlist, while additionally setting up Imperial March, Yoda’s Theme, and the Force Theme for the OT, and evokes conflicting emotions including hope and dread and war. I absolutely love hearing this track as a transition between the PT and OT.

 

I also want to mention that the Force Theme is only hinted at in the prequel section -- its first appearance is in Anakin's Dream which kinda blows me away in context --while reserving the first full statement for Binary Sunset in "The Princess Appears," as it should be. From there I tried to be conservative with it but it's kind of unavoidable to just have it everywhere.

 

Anyway, “Finn’s Confession”...I wasn't sure it would work as the first sequel track but when it comes around and blossoms into Rey’s Theme like an overture, I did not expect that would feel like such a breath of fresh air. It was one of a handful of times where recontextualizing a track I’d heard a million times made me hear it with new ears. 

 

To me “Finn’s Confession” also evokes the feeling of peace after Return of the Jedi before segueing into darkness at the end of the track, leading nicely into "The Scavenger." Ultimately, again, it just helps better integrate the prequels into the full picture along with “Enter Darth Maul,” “Duel of the Fates,” that callback in “Approaching the Throne,” and using Ep III’s credit suite as the finale. It’s a repurposed mish-mash and the biggest liberty I’ve taken with JW’s masterwork but to me a nearly convincing one.

 

SEQUEL TRILOGY

Spoiler

 

 

 

1

I had so much trouble with this. The prequels and the OT distilled pretty easily once I figured out what I wanted to streamline. The sequels have so much to consider, I didn’t really know what to do with them. 

 

Ultimately I had to recognize that the OT is such a dominant and satisfying narrative that what I wanted was to just establish the new themes as quickly as possible and move toward the ending. 

 

The music really felt overstuffed trying to get too many of the new themes in, especially TLJ I just had to cut all the fat. It still feels very unwieldy to me and I think that perhaps a complete release of the sequel trilogy and especially Rise of Skywalker would help with structuring, but for now this seems to cover all bases.

 

FINALE

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

2

I thought about where to put "A New Home" and decided it really works best in concert with "Farewell" as a way to actually say The End, while "Reunion" and "A New Hope and End Credits" are your big curtain calls, standing ovations, encores etc. Changed my mind here, I think there's something about giving Rey as close to the last word as possible. If this playlist were a Star Wars ballet, then it's like Rey coming out for a little pas seul. Even continuing the curtain call metaphor, I like the imagery of everyone coming out for Reunion, then dispersing leaving just Rey, and then Luke and Leia return. And I also think it works literally as a lead into "A New Hope and End Credits" which begins with both Luke and Leia's themes, illustrating IX's ending. 

 

In all, these four concluding tracks really made me reflect on the spirit of John’s finales through all three trilogies. I wanted to acknowledge all of his approaches to what he once thought was the “end” of Star Wars in 1977, 1983, 2005, and 2019. Between his Rise of Skywalker themes, all those final statements of Rey’s Theme, A New Home, Reunion (including Luke and Leia), Battle of the Heroes, that extended-to-infinity Throne Room and the ROTJ version of the original credits ending…yikes.

 

It’s a very long drink to take. By the end you’re suffocating and spilling all over yourself but hell, it’s STAR WARS BY JOHN WILLIAMS. When I listened to the playlist and it finally got to the last two minutes with the classic reprise of the Main Title and Rebel Fanfare, I actually did say "fucking shit" out loud because I’ve heard it a million times, I’ve been jaded to it for years and it was like I had never heard it before. It’s truly an overwhelming bit of music. Carries all that weight. He really got it right the first time, man.

 

I wanna know if I’m the only crazy one here. Feedback is welcome, things that could be improved, I’ve looked at it every way to Sunday... (here in 2022 to make further edits and say thank you to everyone below who contributed)

 

Anyway, just hanging around preparing to celebrate John’s achievement in style for Star Wars Day while we’re all losing our minds in quarantine. Thank you.

[Bellosh 3,385]

Very nice playlist, of course.

 

My additions would be:

 

The Sail Barge Assault - ROTJ

I think it really showcases Luke's heroism and maturity from the ending of ESB.  He's even the only one mindful of the droids "Let's go, and don't forget the droids."  It's also just one hell of an action cue.

 

Parade of the Ewoks - ROTJ

People might dislike the Ewoks, but it's hard denying their lovely theme.  But so much of that movie takes place on Endor, that it's hard to not have their theme in an ultimate playlist.

 

Han and Leia - TFA

It's the last time they are together before Han is killed and has some really warm moments with Poe and Finn reunited.

[Fabulin 3,510]

.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

On 4/28/2020 at 7:39 PM, Bellosh said:

Very nice playlist, of course.

 

My additions would be:

 

The Sail Barge Assault - ROTJ

I think it really showcases Luke's heroism and maturity from the ending of ESB.  He's even the only one mindful of the droids "Let's go, and don't forget the droids."  It's also just one hell of an action cue.

 

Parade of the Ewoks - ROTJ

People might dislike the Ewoks, but it's hard denying their lovely theme.  But so much of that movie takes place on Endor, that it's hard to not have their theme in an ultimate playlist.

 

Han and Leia - TFA

It's the last time they are together before Han is killed and has some really warm moments with Poe and Finn reunited.

 

I do want to reconsider those ROTJ tracks. I think with Sail Barge Assault, I took it out when I took out “Carbon Freeze” and then just forgot about it. It is on the longer side and at that point in the listen I do just feel like I want to get to the Emperor, but you are right that my list is lacking in actual Luke heroics and it is silly not to feature Endor. Maybe will try swapping out Into the Trap. It's like a house of cards or Jenga...

 

"Han and Leia" is definitely one of those that's gone back and forth. I think the reason I decided to leave it out was because the theme has just recently finished "Leia Breaks the News" and ends unresolved, so I like that it leaves you hanging, then "The Jedi Steps" hints at his death scene, and finally the sad reprisal in "The Spark" sort of says it all to me. This is just how I hear it and I can fill in the blanks. The 2018 arrangement tells so much of that story for me and I was mostly looking for a single callback per OT theme in the sequels where possible since there are so many.

 

Also for pacing, I found "Han and Leia" slows things down too early, Kylo Arrives, Resistance, Abduction, Ways/Force is a really exciting sequence and I wanted to keep that momentum. Then Jedi Steps is a good breather. Also like that the Force Theme with Rey getting the lightsaber is the first re-introduction of an OT theme.

 

On 4/28/2020 at 8:12 PM, Fabulin said:

The Tide Turns / The Death of Darth Maul

Victory Celebration

And the use of "They Will Come" with the a clean edit of the concert March of the Resistance ending.

 

Yeah, with those first two it's just about the sequencing. I really like how "Anakin's Theme" leads into "Across the Stars" into "Anakin's Dream" and so then it's just too late lol. I decided I just wanted to hear the music illustrate Anakin's fall. Also the big Force Theme in Tide Turns spoils hearing it for the first time at the end of Anakin’s Dream which I found kinda amazing.

 

And then Victory Celebration, I felt like I just needed to give the sequels space for the Emperor to not really be dead, for things to not actually be that great haha. It is what it is. I like how "Funeral Pyre" ends the story in a big but also unresolved-sounding way, it leads me to expect more.

 

And I like the Victory theme in "They Will Come"! The way it tails off, I think it leads into the beginning of "Approaching the Throne" well. Also any opportunity to set it up for "Farewell," I like how he brings it in alongside the Resistance March in both "They Will Come" and "Approaching the Throne" back to back, it feels natural and exciting to me. That's a really good edit, though, hmmmmm.

[Matt S. 492]

1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

Han Solo also gets a little gypped but that’s always been an issue with him, musically.

 

You COULD always include "The Adventures of Han."  It's definitely an outlier in the musical landscape; it makes sense that you left it off, since it doesn't really have a place in the Skywalker Saga, but I thought I'd mention it.  I also wouldn't end with A New Hope and End Credits, but that's just a personal preference; I know it's controversial but I would probably go with the Finale track from Episode IX.  

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Haha yeah, it occurred to me at some point but mm, never tried it. I dunno where it would even go, really. 

[Matt S. 492]

3 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Haha yeah, it occurred to me at some point but mm, never tried it. I dunno where it would even go, really. 

 

Yeah, I'm looking now and I don't know where I would put it, either... maybe before Han Solo and the Princess?  But you're probably right just to leave it off.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

57 minutes ago, Matt S. said:

I also wouldn't end with A New Hope and End Credits, but that's just a personal preference; I know it's controversial but I would probably go with the Finale track from Episode IX.  

 

Yeah, the "A New Hope and End Credits" choice had several parts to it. I knew I'd have to leave out Throne Room from the New Hope section, and I'm still considering just going to the Skywalker Symphony recording or just the original. However I do like having Binary Sunset (plus Leia and Luke, it's sort of faithful to Ep IX's ending in a way) and I also think it's valuable to have a callback to "Battle of the Heroes" in its full arrangement, in context it's a unique reprisal from "Anakin vs Obi-Wan" and referencing the most pivotal moment from the beginning of the story, generally makes sense to me. And as I mentioned, it honors the fact that it was a critical part of JW's final word on Star Wars for 10 years. But idk. I also think the Throne Room arrangement itself is both brilliant and ridiculous haha. At that point, it's just Star Wars baby. 

 

I've considered the finale from Ep IX but I think it's a nah for me.

[crumbs 14,300]

59 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

However I do like having Binary Sunset

 

Boy, are you spoiled for choice on that front! 

 

It does make a logical bookend though, assuming the original cue goes somewhere near the start. 

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Yeah I mean, it does and doesn’t. I’ve largely kept the Force Theme out of the prequels and limited the actual Binary Sunset arrangement itself to really the original and the final reprise. Then you can count Vader’s funeral pyre, and maybe a half dozen other full statements that are quieter or just don’t follow that exact arrangement, plus all the random half statements and things. So it’s spaced out where I feel like I appreciate it at the end. 

 

But the way I kinda hear the structure of this thing as it’s suited me is that you have a prologue (I-III), then basically a novel (IV-VI), then like a final chapter which is a self-contained short story that skips 30 years ahead (VII-VIII), and a long epilogue and acknowledgments (IX)  so in that sense I made it so Binary Sunset essentially bookends the OT portion, plus a final reprisal.

[Bellosh 3,385]

17 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

Maybe will try swapping out Into the Trap.

 

No!  Into the Trap must stay.  That cue is phenomenal.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

I knowwww but it's just so much Return of the Jedi lmao. What a great score.

 

I think I will just go for it, though, and slot in Sail Barge and Ewoks before Into the Trap, edited the main post. You do need Luke’s heroism and it occurred to me Ewoks sort of works as a light fun precursor of sorts to Resistance March as well, marshaling the troops etc. with Trap quickly getting you through some Rebel action.  Those three together carry momentum to the throne room pretty well.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

@Bellosh so I was reasoning out why I didn't really care for "Han and Leia" in the playlist and had a thought....

 

Because what I really like about the run of Scavenger through Ways of the Force is that it gives Rey and Kylo Ren a clear musical runway to establish themselves, uninterrupted, and it has a really steady development that "Han and Leia" always messed with for me.

 

But then I considered the fact that what's nice about going to "Jedi Steps" and "The Spark" is that then dials it back, slows down, and really focuses on the OT heroes.

 

So even though it breaks with a literal timeline, it occurred to me that, actually, "Han and Leia" could flow really nicely following "The Ways of the Force". Because after the new stuff has basically gotten its own suite, then you would get this run of Leia's theme, Han/Leia's theme, Leia's role in the Resistance, Ben's conflict through Han/Leia's eyes, Force theme, Luke on Ahch-To, the motif from Han's death, and finally reprisals of Force, Luke/Leia, Han/Leia, all building up to the ghost of Imperial March.

 

So it's splitting those threads where you get separate musical rundowns of the sequel characters followed by the OT characters, then a return back to Rey and Kylo.

[Smeltington 1,436]

You really worked hard on this! And I enjoyed reading all your reasoning for your choices. The question of how to curate the "Story of Star Wars" from the music of all 9 episodes is daunting. But I've also been thinking about what to listen to in honor of May the Fourth.

 

I'm thinking I'll just make a quick playlist of one or two pieces per film, so it's manageable, not to tell the whole story, but just to have something I can listen to in a reasonable amount of time to celebrate the occasion. Maybe I'll add some stuff from outside the films, like Adventures of Han, Galaxy's Edge, and the new Han Solo and the Princess. I wish it was practical to listen to ALL NINE scores this weekend... but that's a bit much. I'm considering listening to one score per day on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I've been meaning to listen to both ROTJ and TROS, so maybe I'll add ROTS and make my theme "the third movie in each trilogy".

[danbeck 123]

I did a 2 hour Spotify playlist focusing mainly on the concert arrangements. Some difficulties to prepare it as not all the albuns are available in Spotify (Force Awakens is not, so I had to use tracks from a compilation).

Here's the link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2FPslwPXOBcHNglKgwlBSn?si=ud4tfx7-RL-nqx8r0UYJOA

 

[Jay 37,287]

It must vary from country to country because The Force Awakens is definitely on Spotify US