Grease (film) - Soundtrack

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best selling album of the year in the United States, exceeded only by another soundtrack album, from the film Saturday Night Fever, which also starred Travolta. The song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music—Original Song. The song "You're the One That I Want" was released as a single prior to the film's release and became an immediate chart-topper, despite not being in the stage show or having been seen in the film at that time. Additionally, the dance number to "You're the One That I Want" was nominated for TV Land's award for "Movie Dance Sequence You Reenacted in Your Living Room" in 2008. In the United Kingdom, the two Travolta/Newton-John duets, "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights", were both number one hits and as of 2011 are still among the 20 best-selling singles of all time (at Nos. 6 and 19 respectively). The movie's title song was also a number-one hit single for Frankie Valli.

The song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" references Sal Mineo in the original stage version. Mineo was stabbed to death a year before filming, so the line was changed to refer to Elvis Presley instead. The Troy Donahue reference is in the original stage version. Coincidentally, this scene, and the scene before and after that were filmed on August 16, 1977, the date of Elvis Presley's death.

Some of the songs were not present in the film; songs that appear in the film but not in the soundtrack are "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens, "Whole Lotta Shaking Going On" by Jerry Lee Lewis, "Alma Mater", "Alma Mater Parody", and "Rydell Fight Song". "Alone at a Drive-in Movie (instrumental)", "Mooning", and "Freddy My Love" are not present in the film, although all three are listed in the end credits in-addition to being on the soundtrack.

The songs appear in the film in the following order:

  1. "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing"
  2. "Grease"
  3. "Alma Mater"
  4. "Summer Nights" — performed by Danny, Sandy, the Pink Ladies and the T-Birds
  5. "Rydell Fight Song" — Rydell Marching Band
  6. "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" — Rizzo and the Pink Ladies
  7. "Alma Mater Parody" — T-Birds
  8. "Hopelessly Devoted to You" — Sandy
  9. "Greased Lightnin'" — Danny and the T-Birds
  10. "La Bamba"
  11. "It's Raining on Prom Night"
  12. "Whole Lotta Shaking Going Going On"
  13. "Beauty School Dropout" — Teen Angel and Female Angels
  14. "Rock n' Roll Party Queen"
  15. "Rock n' Roll is Here to Stay" — Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  16. "Those Magic Changes" — Johnny Casino and the Gamblers; Danny sings along onscreen
  17. "Tears on My Pillow" — Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  18. "Hound Dog" — Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  19. "Born to Hand Jive" — Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  20. "Blue Moon" — Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  21. "Sandy" — Danny
  22. "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" — Rizzo
  23. "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise)" — Sandy
  24. "You're the One That I Want" — Danny, Sandy, the Pink Ladies, and the T-Birds
  25. "We Go Together" — Cast
  26. "Grease (Reprise)"

The song order on the soundtrack album does not match the order in the film, a common practice at the time, when balancing the length of each program—each side of an LP or cassette, or each program of an 8-track tape—was important for effective cost management.

Read more about this topic:  Grease (film)