Ferris Bueller’s Day Off soundtrack arrives after skipping the past 30 years

By Sean O'Neal | September 6, 2016 | 5:48pm

Aux Features Film

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off soundtrack arrives after skipping the past 30 years

After three decades of being forced to hire Yello to ride in your backseat, there will soon be an easier way to cruise the streets to the sounds of ’80s lust anthem “Oh Yeah.” La-La Land Records has announced a Sept. 13 debut for the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off soundtrack—the first official release of its kind, following 30 years of cobbled-together mix-tapes, YouTube playlists, Japanese bootlegs, and awkward negotiations with Swiss synthpop musicians. First hinted at back in June, the now-confirmed soundtrack will arrive in a limited edition of just 5,000 copies, and it features not only familiar songs like the aforementioned “Oh Yeah” and Wayne Newton’s “Danke Schoen,” but also Ira Newborn’s score along with alternate and unused source cues.

Here’s the full track list, according to Film Music Reporter:

Most Popular

1. Love Missile F1-11 (Ultraviolence Mix) – Sigue Sigue Sputnik (6:58)
2. Oh Yeah – Yello (3:07)
3. Beat City – The Flowerpot Men (3:37)
4. B.A.D. – Big Audio Dynamite (5:47)
5. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want – The Dream Academy (3:09)
6. Danke Schoen – Wayne Newton (2:35)
7. Radio People – Zapp (5:40)
8. I’m Afraid – Blue Room (4:51)
9. The Edge Of Forever – The Dream Academy (4:21)

Original Score by Ira Newborn

10. Ferris In Bed (0:57)
11. Cameron in Bed/Ferris Goes Hawaiian (1:44)
12. I’ll Go (unused) (1:02)
13. Nurse (0:11)
14. Ferris on Line 2 (0:43)
15. Bueller, Ferris Bueller (0:08
16. Mom Checks on Ferris (1:40)
17. Jeannie Turns Ugly (0:34)
18. Rooney on Patrol (1:26)
19. Save It, Ferris (unused) (0:40)
20. Rooney Sneaks Around/Star Wars (Main Title) (2:25)
21. Going to Take a Stand (unused) (3:30)
22. Cameron Takes the Heat (0:55)
23. Oh Shauna Jeannie (0:46)
24. He’s Gonna Marry Me (unused) (1:22)
25. Dog Food Rooney/Ferris Goes to Bed (0:59)
26. Mom, Dad and Ferris (1:34)

Alternate Score Cues:

27. Ferris on Line 2 (alternate) (0:41)
28. Theme From Star Trek (unused) (0:30)
29. Cameron Takes the Heat (alternate) (0:57)

Source Cues:

30. Coughlin Bros. Mortuary (0:27)
31. Celebrated Minuet (1:37)
32. Ballpark Baloney (1:10)
33. Polka Medley (3:18)

Bonus Tracks:

34. I’m Afraid (instrumental film version) – Blue Room (4:51)
35. Twist and Shout (marching band overlay) (2:35)

Unfortunately, the movie’s most famous music-related scene—the mass sing-along to The Beatles’ “Twist And Shout”—is represented here solely in its marching band version. If you want to hear the original, of course, you’ll simply have to come to Chicago, where it’s still performed as part of the twice-daily parade every resident is required to attend and perform a choreographed dance to, under penalty of law.

As for why it’s taken this long for Ferris Bueller to get a fully authorized release, blame John Hughes, who—despite seeing success with the Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and Pretty In Pink soundtracks—simply didn’t see the appeal in doing one for Ferris. As the late director told Lollipop back in 1999:

The only official soundtrack that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ever had was for the mailing list. A&M was very angry with me over that; they begged me to put one out, but I thought ‘Who’d want all of these songs?’ I mean, would kids want “Danke Schöen” and “Oh Yeah” on the same record? They probably already had “Twist And Shout,” or their parents did, and to put all of those together with the more contemporary stuff, like The (English) Beat—I just didn’t think anybody would like it. But I did put together a 7-inch of the two songs I owned the rights to—Big City” on one side, and… I forget, one of the other English bands on the soundtrack—and sent that to the mailing list. By ’86, ’87, it was costing us $30 apiece to mail out 100,000 packages. But it was a labor of love. I cared about my audience and I cared about these movies.

And with those kids long since grown up and raising little manipulative narcissists of their own, now’s the perfect time for them to revisit the era when Sigue Sigue Sputnik soundtracked their own selfish rebellion.