La Grande Illusion - Soundtrack

Soundtrack

The effective and integral score was written by the Hungarian composer Joseph Kosma, who also wrote the famous song "Autumn Leaves." The soundrack also includes many well-known songs of the day from French, English, and German cultures.

• Frou-Frou (1897) lyrics written by Montréal and Blondeau, music by Henri Chatau, performed by Lucile Panis.
• "Il était un petit navire" (There Once was a Little Ship), played by de Boeldieu with his penny whistle to distract the German guards from Rosenthal and Maréchal's escape, a traditional French song about a shipwrecked sailor that must cannibalize another sailor to survive. Later in the film, the fugitives Rosenthal and Maréchal shout the song sarcastically at one another as they have a near falling out. Ironically, the lyrics speak to their own condition of running out of food. As Maréchal realizes this, his singing trails off.
• Frère Jacques, a French nursery rhyme
• It's a Long Way to Tipperary
• Si tu veux Marguerite (1913) by Harry Fragson
• La Marseillaise, the French national anthem