I was asked to make a list of my favorite songs from the Star Wars Saga and below are my top 6, one from each movie. As someone who was basically raised on Star Wars I had to limit myself or this list would easily be ten pages long. Each song is special to me for the memory they bring to mind and the feelings they evoke.

Feel free to add your own in the comments and I hope you enjoy!

Movie: The Phantom Menace

Song: Duel Of The Fates 

Why? The minute it begins, slow and menacing, you know that everything from here on out is going to go utterly wrong. It’s the moment that you realize how much one person, in this case Qui-Gon Jinn, can make a difference. Without him around Anakin is pretty much doomed, as Obi-Wan is barely an adult himself and shouldn’t be raising a child, especially one who is a tyke bomb and whom the Jedi Counsel is ambivalent about at best.

 

Movie: Attack of the Clones

Song:  Love Pledge/The Arena

Why? A piece that starts off soft, sweet and innocent and builds to becomes an epic battle score that ends on a bittersweet note. Like the romance of Padme and Anakin that it mirrors it is something beautiful that is actually a death knell to everything the Old Republic holds dear.

 

Movie: Revenge of the Sith

Song: On The Council/We Are Are At War

Why? Just as the strains of the Imperial March seamlessly intertwine with Luke and Leia’s Theme every major characters’ choices are what lead to the downfall of Anakin Skywalker. Padme’s insistence they keep up the lie surrounding their relationship; the Jedi Council’s distrust of Anakin even as they ask him to perform a task that is abhorrent to him as a person and against everything they raised him to be; Yoda and Obi-Wan’s demands that Anakin just do as he’s told, despite everything in him yelling danger and Palpatine’s subtle manipulations that play on all of Anakin’s fears. It signals the official end of an era but also the shadow of a new hope.

 

Movie: A New Hope

Song: Wookie Prisoner/Detention Block Ambush

Why? The tension builds and builds until it’s abruptly broken by Luke and Leia’s theme and you get a chill up your spine. For those of us who grew up with the Original Trilogy it’s not until Return of the Jedi that the significance of the moment truly kicks in, for those who’ve grown up with the Prequels it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: Anakin and Padme’s twins have finally been reunited and the galaxy will never be the same.

 

Movie: The Empire Strikes Back

Song: Training of a Jedi Knight/The Magic Tree

Why? Starting cute and whimsical it gets darker and richer as it goes until the final climactic moment when the main theme kicks in then slowly turns into Vader’s Theme. It’s the musical indicator of what’s to come next and evokes memories of a similar revelation in Le Morte d’Arthur.

 

Movie: Return Of The Jedi

Song: The Lightsaber/The Ewok Battle

Why? The Imperial March begins and dark and rich vocals come up underneath indicating just the amount of danger Luke Skywalker is in. Not just from without but from within, his choices here will change the galaxy. You feel the moment he realises that he is indeed a Jedi, like his father before him, just as his beloved twin is leading the ground forces to victory, it’s thrilling and gets your heart racing. The circle is truly now complete.

Don’t forget, the soundtrack from The Force Awakens releases the same day as the movie!