What Plays When – Twilight: The Score
Filed Under (music) by Mike Wilton on 23-05-2009
Tagged Under : twilight, twilight movie, twilight score, Twilight Soundtrack
After the success of my Twilight Soundtrack What Plays When post I got a ton of requests to identify other songs from the film, songs that weren’t on the soundtrack, but on the motion picture score. For sometime now I have been meaning to do this post, but just hadn’t had the time to sit down and compare Carter Burwell’s score to the DVD. Finally with the help of fellow Where Is Edward Cullen staffer, Kristina Sanchez, I have been able to complete this post. One of the annoying things about the Twilight score is that the album release of the score doesn’t follow the order of the film, so keep that in mind as you run down the song list in this post.
How I Would Die: ‘Twilight’ is quick to get into the score of the film, and How I Would Die starts immediately. As soon as the Summit logo fills the screen Burwell’s composition begins. The song continues through Bella’s monologue until Full Moon by The Black Ghosts begins. How I Would Die also introduces us to a theme from Bella’s Lullaby which reoccurs through songs in the film.
Who Are They: Who Are They is the intro song for everyone’s favorite vampire family, The Cullen’s. As the Cullen’s walk by the cafeteria window before making their big movie entrance the song starts.
Treaty: Treaty is the name of the song which plays in the background as Jacob tells Bella the Quilieute legend about the Cullen’s first coming to Forks and the treaty, which was established between the Quilieute tribe and the Cullen’s at that time. The song starts out really faint, so you barely notice it at first, but picks up as the story progresses.
Phascination Phase: Phascination Phase sets the tone for the relationship between Bella and Edward. The song plays in science class as Bella and Edward first start getting to know each other. The song starts right as Bella tells Edward, “It’s complicated” in regards to why she moved to Forks.
Humans Are Predators Too: Humans Are Predators Too, as the title suggests, brings us to the one point in the film where humans really are the danger to Bella. The song begins playing as soon as we see the front of Thunderbird and Whale, the book store Bella visits in Port Angeles. The song continues through Bella’s confrontation with the drunken men in the alley.
I Dreamt of Edward: Don’t most of you die hard female Twilighters? I Dreamt of Edward doesn’t actually begin when Bella thinks she’s having hallucinations of her vampire love interest, it actually starts at the hospital when her and Edward are discussing him saving her and he says, “I hope you enjoy disappointment.”
I Know What You Are: Most people would think this is the song that plays in the background when Bella says those same famous five words, but actually this song begins playing when Bella puts all the pieces together and realizes what Edward is. This song begins as soon as the body of Walon is wheeled away in front of Chief Swan’s station.
The Most Dangerous Predator: The Most Dangerous Predator is the follow up song to shiny, sparkly Edward in the forest. After Edward “exposes himself” to Bella and they enter the cover of the forest again song starts.
The Skin of A Killer: The skin of a killer is a fitting title for this song because of when it begins in the film. In the forest when Bella says to Edward, “You don’t go out in the sunlight” the song begins. Obviously we find out that he doesn’t go out into the sunlight because the skin of a killer is glittery.
The Lion Fell In Love With The Lamb: “And so the lion fell in love with the lamb”; one of the classic lines from the Twilight novel and the tie in to the song that begins playing while Edward is in the tree and Bella gets up in his face as he tries to explain to her what he is and why she should fear him.
Complications: That thing that happens when the love of your life’s father is best friends with a member of a tribe that wants to kill you and your family…Complications begins playing as Bella and Edward are discussing her coming over to meet his family and he stops suddenly. Bella asks him what is wrong and he simply says, “Complications”. That complication of course is the arrival of Billy and Jacob.
Dinner With His Family: Dinner With His Family begins as we see Edward and Bella in the silver Volvo making their way down the windy path to the Cullen household for dinner.
I Would Be The Meal: This one is a bit more obvious since it starts right when Bella says the line, “I would become the meal.” When addressing Rosalie and Emmett’s concerns about Edward and Bella being a couple.
Bella’s Lullaby: The romantic piano piece which finds its way into a number of other songs on the score plays in its entirety starting when Edward jumps out of his bedroom window with Bella on his back. This of course is also the song which we see Edward play on the piano.
Nomads: Much like Bella’s Lullaby themes from Nomads can be heard throughout the film, but it doesn’t actually play until we are introduced to Laurent, James, and Victoria in the baseball field. The song begins right as Alice yells out, “Stop!”
Stuck Here Like Mom: Stuck Here Like Mom begins right after Bella tells Charlie she has to go home during the scene where she pretends her and Edward broke up leading her to want to leave Forks for good.
Bella is Part of the Family: Bella is Part of the Family is the climactic piece that begins after Bella and Edward leave Charlie’s house. The song starts as soon as Emmett lands in the bed of the truck.
Tracking: Tracking mixes a bit of romance and suspense by bringing themes from Bella’s Lullaby and Bella is Part of the Family together along with a number of other themes from the film. Tracking begins as soon as Edward closes the trunk of the car in the garage and continues through the scenes of the Cullen’s helping Bella escape forks.
The Place of Someone You Love: When Bella gets the call from James while at the hotel in Arizona this song begins. It of course leads up to the big showdown at the ballet studio. Interesting thing to note is that it carries themes from How I Would Die and in the monologue that is recited by Bella during How I Would Die she says, “I’d never thought about how I was going to die, but dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go.” see the tie in?

Showdown in the Ballet Studio: This one, again, is pretty obvious. It’s the song that plays during the confrontation at the ballet studio and starts right when Bella enters the studio.
Edward At Her Bed: Edward At Her Bed is the song that begins while Bella is in the hospital after her mom leaves the room. Right after Edward tells Bella she needs to go to Jacksonville the song begins.



Love the score in many ways, and of course I had a blast watching Twilight again, kinda sorta. Great images and score analysis. Now let’s see if the New Moon score can keep up.