Summary

• Goodfellas boasts an impressive soundtrack with Italian crooners, pop-rock hits, and American classics.
• Scorsese's clever use of music enhances the film's themes and character development.
• The movie's soundtrack features 12 mainstream songs, while the credits reveal a total of 43 tracks used.

As with most of Martin Scorsese's movies, the Goodfellas soundtrack adds to the brilliance of the movie with perfectly placed songs. It features a relentless soundtrack full of Italian crooners, American standards, and several classic pop-rock songs. The featured music at once provides a sense of familiarity while underscoring thematic elements and character personalities. Released in 1990, Goodfellas is based on Nicholas Pileggi's 1985 book Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family.

In Goodfellas, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) recounts 25 years of working for the Lucchese crime family, working alongside mob colleagues Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), but knows that he'll never become a "Made Man" due to his lack of pure Italian blood. The official Goodfellas soundtrack includes 12 songs, all of which are mainstream recordings. But the film's credits sequence lists the entire group of tracks that director Martin Scorsese uses from beginning to end.

Every Song In Goodfellas

The Goodfellas soundtrack packs in 12 songs and 43 overall tracks, including:

Here are the rest of the songs from the Goodfellas soundtrack:

• "Can't We Be Sweethearts" - The Cleftones
• "Firenze Sogna" - Giuseppe di Stefano
• "Hearts of Stone" - Otis Williams and the Charms
• "Parlami d'Amore Mario" - Giuseppe di Stefano
• "Playboy" - The Marvellettes
• "It's Not for Me to Say" - Johnny Mathis
• "This World We Live In (Il Cielo in Una Stanza)" - Mina
• "I Will Follow Him (Chariot)" - Betty Curtis
• "Then He Kissed Me" - The Crystals
• "Leader of the Pack" - The Shangri-Las
• "Roses are Red" - Bobby Vinton
• "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye" - Written by Ernie Erdman, Ted Fiorito, and Gus Kahn
• "Happy Birthday to You" - Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill
• "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" - Dean Martin
• "Pretend You Don't See Her" - Jerry Vale
• "He's Sure the Boy I Love" - The Crystals
• "Atlantis" - Donovan
• "Wives and Lovers" - Jack Jones
• "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Tony Bennett
• "Monkey Man" - The Rolling Stones
• "Gimme Shelter" - The Rolling Stones
• "Frosty the Snowman" - The Ronettes
• "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" - Darlene Love
• "Danny Boy" - Written by Frederick E. Weatherly
• "Bells of St. Marys" - The Drifters
• "Unchained Melody" - Vito and the Salutations
• "Jump Into the Fire" - Harry Nilsson
• "What Is Life" - George Harrison
• "Memo from Turner" - The Rolling Stones
• "The Magic Bus" - The Who
• "My Way" - Sid Vicious

When Each Song On The Goodfellas Soundtrack Appears In The Movie

The Goodfellas music soundtrack opens with "Rags to Riches" as Henry delivers the now-iconic line "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." For Robert De Niro's Jimmy Conway introduction, "Speedo" scores the moment that references Joey Gallo (a character in The Irishman).

"It's Not for Me to Say" sets in during Henry's first date with Karen (Lorraine Bracco), and "Then He Kissed Me" plays over the famous tracking shot at the Copacabana. Once the couple marries, "Life Is But a Dream" is the featured song.

For Billy Batts' homecoming party, Scorsese uses "He's Sure the Boy I Love." And when Pesci orchestrates the character's murder, "Atlantis" plays over an extended sequence. "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)" is also heard when the crew disposes of Batts' body.

As Goodfellas reaches its climax, "Gimme Shelter" scores a cocaine-themed sequence, while "Monkey Man" drops in as Henry becomes more paranoid. "Layla" plays during a montage of dead bodies, and "Jump Into the Fire" revs up various sequences involving a cocaine-influenced Henry. The Goodfellas' ending plays out with "My Way," a Frank Sinatra cover by punk rock icon Sid Vicious.

Scorsese's 2 Strict Rules That Kept The Goodfellas Soundtrack Amazing

Martin Scorsese is known for his soundtracks, which almost always include classics and pieces by The Rolling Stones. The Goodfellas soundtrack is no different, especially when it provides not one but three Rolling Stones songs. What isn't widely known is that Scorsese follows two strict rules when it comes to picking the songs for his movies. The first rule is avoidance of anachronisms. Whenever a scene occurs, the song that's playing in the background must be from the same era — with no exceptions.

The song must convey the direct or subtle meaning of the scene in which it's played.

This way, the scenes feature songs that the characters would've known about, and it usually ends up scoring the moment perfectly. The second of Scorsese's soundtrack rules is that the song must convey the direct or subtle meaning of the scene in which it's played. This creates more poignant moments in Goodfellas, in which the audience can derive meaning from the song that's being played in the background, while the tune itself directly describes what's happening during the story beats.

His rules bridge the characters' lived experiences and the non-diegetic sounds of the film, both directly telling the movie's story and allowing the audience to feel what the characters are feeling. They also create an acute sense of time and place – an important aspect of Scorsese's often-real-life-inspired work — and Goodfellas certainly benefited from these creative red lines.

How Music Editor Chris Brooks Recalls Working On The Goodfellas Soundtrack

Everyone agrees Martin Scorsese is the reason for the Goodfellas music soundtrack working, but other collaborators helped shape it. Working alongside Scorsese was music editor Chris Brooks. In discussing the iconic Goodfellas soundtrack (via Esquire), Brooks admitted a music editor's job tends to change depending on the project. While he usually finds himself as the liaison between the director and the composer, Brooks found himself in a unique position in which Scorsese was the one with all the songs.

Brooks asserts that what makes the Goodfellas soundtrack a perfect example of using songs to tell the story is all because of Scorsese, who mapped out each song before the cameras started to roll. "I asked him early on 'How did this come about?' and he said he knew every one of those songs two years before he shot a frame of film." With each song selected, Brooks came in during editing and helped Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker fit the songs in when they were having trouble.

The result of Scorsese's perfectly chosen songs and the work of Schoonmaker and Brooks in placing them in the scenes made for some of Goodfellas' most iconic moments. While Brooks claims it is hard for him to choose a favorite, he admits the "Layla" sequence jumps to mind. Brooks praises the movie's ability to use songs to establish the time and place of the story as well as the dramatic need. Brooks still marvels at how Goodfellas can be "so thoroughly fulfilling and not have a bit of underscore."