List of Music and Songs from ABC's Lost

Geoffrey Latham once said, "Music is the vernacular of the human soul." Another saying goes something like this: "Music is what feeling sounds like." If these statements are true, then Michael Giacchino, in his scores for ABC's smash hit LOST, most own a glossary of the soul's language, and has seen fit to share with us the sound of feelings that cannot be expressed in the show's script.

As Gustav Mahler said, "If a composer could say what he had to say in words, he would not bother trying to say it in music." I don't know if Michael Giacchino knows these words, but they ring true for his LOST soundtrack. Giacchino admits that he never watches full episodes of LOST before scoring it. He watches one scene at a time, writing music when scenes call for music.

One thing that makes Giacchino's LOST score unique is his use of a live orchestra. In an age when many composers for television and film use synthesizers or automated sounds, Giacchino's use of an orchestra makes his music raw and emotional on many different levels. In each song selected from the LOST original soundtrack for this list, Giacchino uses the orchestra to express what the words of the scenes could not quite express, the feelings you get in the pit of your stomach when listening to the songs, both in and out of context with the show.

Songs of Sorrow

"Life and Death" is one of several death themes that play throughout the LOST score. What is fascinating about Giacchino's creation of these themes is that in each death scene, life and death is truly paralleled; typically, in the midst of one person's sorrow someone else experiences a small snatch of genuine joy or hope. In this track, which I believe was featured during the scene in which series regular and favored-figure Charlie sacrifices himself to save his friends on the island, the melody is graced by soft piano keys in tandem with somber violins. Several soft moments of silence filter into the song, each a pause leading to an even more emotive set of notes. The surprise at the end of this track, however, is the sharp eerie set of notes Giacchino is now known for putting at the end of scenes and songs by way of climactic, unexpected twists.

One of the first major moments of sorrow on the show was the death of Boone. Boone was the first series regular to die, making it a very emotional moment for many fans. Giacchino matched that sorrow dead-on with a track titled "Booneral". This song, which was featured during Boone's funeral scene, is short and sweet, sorrowful, and anything but simple; it's rising violins create a somber mood, matching the sorrow that pervaded the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors-particularly Shannon, Boone's troubled sister-and their mourning fans here in the real world.

One of the more recent tracks that was extremely powerful is "Journey's End, New Beginning". This track mirrors "Life and Death" without being so repetitive you'll regret adding it to your music collection. It played in the current season, when [SPOILER ALERT] Sun visits the gravestone of her husband, Jin. There is a third parallel track, titled "Win One for the Reaper", that equally matches the beauty and somber tones of the latter two, with the added touch of a guitar that makes it more acoustic.

Speaking of Oceanic Flight 815 and those who boarded it . . . Another fantastic theme featured in snippets throughout the show is "Oceanic 815". This track plays in a flashback scene showing all our favorite castaways first boarding their fateful flight. We see several characters as they were before landing on the island: Locke in his wheelchair exchanges glances with a morose Walt; Kate led onto the plane in handcuffs; Sayid enduring the awkward glances of passengers, etc. The song elicits the peacefulness of those last peaceful moments in our survivors' lives, before ending, once more, in a Giacchino trademark eerie tone.

Songs of Hope

One of the first songs I hunted down from the LOST original soundtrack was "Parting Words." This song plays during the casting off of a raft built by several of the Oceanic Flight 815 crash survivors in hopes of finding rescue for themselves and their fellow castaways. As the music plays, several characters say farewell to those left behind. Among the most powerful goodbyes, and that featured during this song, is that which transpires between Jin and Sun, one of the most provocative couples of the show. Their relationship was frequently strained; yet at this scene, the emotional bond between them is made almost painfully clear. The song captures the love between husband and wife, and all the friendships formed on the island, in soft, subtle piano notes and sweeping violins whose vibrations match the tingle in my heart every time I hear the song.

One of the most moving scenes in the LOST canon of tear-jerkers is titled "Rose and Bernard." This song beautifully blends many of the same collections of notes heard in "Parting Words" (the first few notes are exactly the same) with more piano and violins that linger in the background. This song evokes all the emotions we've seen running through the powerful love relationship between Rose and Bernard, two figures separated in the crash in Season One of LOST and reunited in Season Two (a scene, by the way, heightened by another powerful song, titled "The Gathering"). If you've ever listened to love themes by Ennio Morricone, you'll love this theme; though I hate to compare the two, I must say this track seemed very Morricone-ish, a true love theme in any context.

Some of the most moving tracks of LOST's soundtrack are surprising, considering the titles. Giacchino has come up with some pretty hilarious ones; among them is "Locke'd Out". This song, despite a humorous title, tells the story of John Locke's transformation on the island. It plays during the scene where we've just learned he was in a wheel chair-he was refused admittance to a safari because of it, left behind screaming "Don't tell me what I can't do!"-and see his first realization that, on the island, he can stand and walk. The rising crescendo of the music comes just at the moment of realization, as he takes his first tentative moves to stand up. The song has several rising moments in which the music peaks in utter tension, only to fall back into softer tones. Again, it ends with a Giacchino-creepy-tone. Very similar to this track is another song on my list, "Shannonigans", that sounds almost exactly the same with some slight variations; it's higher on my list of favorites simply because it's much softer and milder in tone.

Songs of Joy

On many tracks, Michael Giacchino allows the title to tell a story. This next track is titled "I've Got a Plane to Catch," and is played when Hurley is . . . you guessed it, trying to catch a plane (Flight 815, to be exact). The song captures all the humor of the scene in which Hurley runs across town, pays someone a large sum of money to borrow their scooter, and feverishly waits in horror as he learns he may not be able to board his plane. The song is jumpy, quirky, and up-beat, a nice turn-away from the traditional sweeping scores or pulsing tense themes that run throughout the soundtrack.

A fan-favorite track from the LOST soundtrack is titled "Hurley's Handouts". Describing this track results in a bit of redundancy: "Hurley's Handouts" plays as Hurley hands out food to the other survivors in Season Two of LOST. This song plays on some of the series' most popular themes, which are played here on piano with an accompanying guitar; it almost sounds like a ukulele or mandolin is accompanying, though I couldn't say for sure. The song is light, upbeat, and heart-warming, evoking a lot of smiles from fans as it played in one of the series' happier moments. With this track, and so many more, Michael Giacchino reveals a talent for evoking any emotion, joys and sorrows, through music that speaks the "vernacular of the soul" of so many of our favorite characters on LOST.