The music in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood moves through cars, homes, television, and movie theaters. The official album recreates part of that experience through songs and radio snippets, though it does not include everything heard on screen.
The 31 tracks on the official album
The album released by Columbia Records in 2019 brings together songs, ads, and other radio segments. Its order lets you hear a continuous selection of the film's soundscape, but it is not an exhaustive inventory of every musical fragment. There are also differences between a full song, an edited version, and the brief passage that may be heard during a scene. Identifying the performer and the edit avoids confusing recordings of the same song.
The following list corresponds to the album's 31-track program. The commercial segments keep their labels to distinguish them from the songs. That distinction is useful because the listening experience alternates between music and station voices rather than being organized like a conventional compilation, where each track contains only a musical performance.
- 1. Treat Her Right — Roy Head & The Traits.
- 2. Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man — The Bob Seger System.
- 3. Hush — Deep Purple.
- 4. Mug Root Beer Advertisement — ad.
- 5. Hector — The Village Callers.
- 6. Son of a Lovin’ Man — Buchanan Brothers.
- 7. Paxton Quigley’s Had the Course — Chad & Jeremy.
- 8. Tanya Tanning Butter Advertisement — ad.
- 9. Good Thing — Paul Revere & The Raiders.
- 10. Hungry — Paul Revere & The Raiders.
- 11. Choo Choo Train — The Box Tops.
- 12. Jenny Take a Ride — Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.
- 13. Kentucky Woman — Deep Purple.
- 14. The Circle Game — Buffy Sainte-Marie.
- 15. Mrs. Robinson — Simon & Garfunkel.
- 16. Numero Uno Advertisement — ad.
- 17. Bring a Little Lovin’ — Los Bravos.
- 18. Suddenly / Heaven Sent Advertisement — ad.
- 19. Vagabond High School Reunion — radio segment.
- 20. KHJ Los Angeles Weather Report — weather report.
- 21. The Illustrated Man Advertisement / Ready for Action — ad and music.
- 22. Hey Little Girl — Dee Clark.
- 23. Summer Blonde Advertisement — ad.
- 24. Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show — Neil Diamond.
- 25. Don’t Chase Me Around — Robert Corff.
- 26. Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon — Paul Revere & The Raiders, featuring Mark Lindsay.
- 27. California Dreamin’ — José Feliciano.
- 28. Dinamite Jim, English version — I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni.
- 29. You Keep Me Hangin’ On, Quentin Tarantino Edit — Vanilla Fudge.
- 30. Miss Lily Langtry — Maurice Jarre.
- 31. KHJ Batman Promotion — radio promo.
Which recording is heard and what it is used for
Deep Purple appears through Hush and Kentucky Woman. The presence of both reminds us that a band can occupy different places within a selection without being reduced to its best-known song. The sound of the organ, the guitars, and the vocals adds density to a city where music accompanies movement and gatherings. The film does not need to present a full history of the group in order to bring that energy into the characters' motion.
Paul Revere & The Raiders has a particularly visible presence in the repertoire. Good Thing, Hungry, and Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon appear on the album, while the feature film also includes references to the group and its television image. It is worth separating that cultural use from a documentary reconstruction of all their personal ties. Hearing a song inside a fictional house does not prove that it was playing there on a specific historical date.
California Dreamin’ is performed by José Feliciano on the album. The identification matters because the title is usually immediately associated with The Mamas & The Papas. Changing the version changes the texture, the vocal phrasing, and the relationship to the rhythm. A list that mentioned only song titles would lose that information and could lead to a different listening experience from the one you expect when remembering a scene.
The opening finds its momentum in Treat Her Right, by Roy Head & The Traits. At another emotional extreme, You Keep Me Hangin’ On, by Vanilla Fudge, accompanies the final confrontation and appears in an edit identified with Tarantino. The album explicitly recognizes that version. It should not be presented as if every release of the song had the same length or as if it were an original composition written for the film.
What the album leaves out
Out of Time, by The Rolling Stones, is heard in the film and does not appear in the 31 tracks above. The orchestral version associated with Metamorphosis has an important role in the return to Los Angeles and the approach of the August night. Its absence from the album shows why an official compilation and a film's complete soundtrack are related but different sets.
There are also pieces of music from television programs and movies seen within the film. Those fragments belong to images that the characters consume or perform in. Their function can be very brief: to identify a broadcast, change the mood of a room, or preserve the sound of preexisting material. Their short length does not make them irrelevant, though it does make them harder to turn into an independent song list equivalent to the commercial album.
The ads and voices from KHJ create continuity between pieces that, on their own, might seem like a simple retrospective collection. A weather report places the listening in a particular day; a promo brings in the fast talk of commercial radio. That texture helps you imagine a city where several people can share the same broadcast while doing different things. The sound connects spaces without requiring all the characters to meet.
Listening to the full album lets you appreciate that design, while returning to the scenes shows how each piece changes when paired with an image. The same song can feel expansive during a drive or unsettling when the viewer knows what is coming. The album preserves its own musical journey; the film adds looks, silences, noises, and events that change its meaning each time it appears.
More context in the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood guide.