One Tree Hill Soundtrack, One Tree Hill Theme Song and Other Songs on the hit CW Show

The music on One Tree Hill is one of the main reasons people love this show.  The One Tree Hill soundtrack for each show is one of the things that caught my attention when I first started watching it and has been one of the contributing factors for bringing me back week after week at its time on the CW Schedule. I'm going to try and go over the 3 One Tree Hill Soundtracks that have been released on CD and then highlight some other songs they also air on the TV Show.

*** Quick Update*** For anyone wondering if they are hearing things at the start of One Tree Hill, you aren't. The One Tree Hill Theme Song for Season 8 is being covered by many of the various artists that have been popular on the show. Originially sung by Gavin DeGraw, " I don't Wanna Be" is being sung this season by many different artists including Kate Voegele.***

 The One Tree Hill Theme Song, "I Don't Wanna Be" has gotten new life this season by being covered by various artists.  Don't Be Suprised that most of these hardest have already been heard before singing the Season 8 Theme Song

 Episode 2: Kate Voegele Episode 3: Fall Out Boy Patrick Stump Episode 4: Susie Suh  Episode 5: Matthew Ryan  Episode 6: Laura Izibor 7: Low vs. Diamond's Lucas Field  8: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals 9: Wakey Wakey 10. Aimee Mann 12. Tegan & Sarah 13. Augustana 14. So &So

Mark Schwann, the shows creator is a big fan of music himself and has mentioned many times  in his podcasts and interviews how much he loves music and wanted to incorporate that into the show.  The most obvious way to do so was to have a character who listened and loved the music themselves, in the case of One Tree Hill, Peyton is the character.  She has an extensive record collection and went on to start her own record label called Red Bedroom which is a tribute to her old room which we got to watch evolve as the seasons went on.

The first official soundtrack was released in 2005. The 1st song on the album is "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw. One Tree Hill fans will recognize the song as the theme song of One Tree Hill. This cd was released during the 2nd season of the show where Haley started to pursue a music career.

List of the songs on the cd are:

1. I Don't Wanna Be- Gavin DeGraw

2. The Good Kind song by the Wreckers

3. Kill song by Jimmy Eat World

4. Re-Offender by Travis

5. Overdue by The Get Up Kids

6. Funny Little Feeling by Rock 'N' Roll Soldiers

7. Glad the acoustic version by Tyler Hilton who played Chris on the show.

8. Shoot Your Gun by 22-20s

9. Sidewalks acoustic version by Story of the Year

10. When the Stars Go Blue sung by Tyler Hilton and Bethany Joy Lenz (Haley on the show)

11. Everybody's Changing- Keane

12. Mixtape- Butch Walker

13. The First Cut is the Deepest (acoustic) by Sheryl Crow

14.Lie in the Sound- Trespassers William

 This soundtrack was inspired by Peyton's mom and her fight with breast cancer.  Peyton wanted to find a way to raise money for the cause while her mom was struggling with it and the Friends with Benefits CD was the result.  They than released the CD off the show as well and quite a bit of the money earned from buying it goes to National Breast Cancer Association.

1. Feeling a Moment by Feeder

2. The Mixed Tape- Jack's Mannequin

3. Be Yourself- Audioslave

4. Always love by Nada Surf.  I really enjoy this song and have used it quite a few times on my own mix tapes. 

5. Jealous Guy- Gavin DeGraw, for those of you who don't know Gavin DeGraw also sings the show's theme song, "I Don't Wanna Be."

6. Son's Gonna Rise- Citizen Cope, this is another one of my favorites on the cd.

7. Middle of Nowhere by Hot Hot Heat

8. Missing You-  Tyler Hilton.  I was surprised to see how much I actually liked this song.  Not a big fan of Chris Keller on the show but this is a good song.

9. Light Years Away- Mozella

10. Please Please Please- Shout Out Louds

11. I've Got A Dark Alley and a Bad Idea.. Fall Out Boy

12. 23- Jimmy Eat World

13. Halo- Hayley James Scott.  This song is probably a must have for any fans of the character Haley.

14. Coffee and Cigarettes by Michelle Featherstone  A lot of songs of Michelle's get showcased on the show, including We Are Man and Wife that played at Hayley and Nathan's Wedding.  I like all of her songs and have downloaded many of her songs.  This is one of my favorite ones.

15. For Blue Skies- Strays Don't Sleep

They also used Tric and attracted stars like Tyler Hilton, Kate Voegle, Jack’s Mannequin and the Fall Out Boy’s to guest star on their shows.  Since music has become one of the trademarks of the show they have released 3 soundtracks featuring some of the songs played on the show.

I’m just going to talk about the first 4 seasons because that is the music I am most familiar with and also when they released the One Tree Hill Soundtracks on CD. I’m not going to talk about every single song, there are some websites dedicated to that so these are just some of my favorite song highlighted throughout the scenes and some of the ones on the soundtrack that you can get on CD. I’ve also downloaded some of my favorites and made my own soundtrack with them. Some characters like Haley, Mia (Kate Voegel), Jake and Chris (Tyler Hilton) have sung their own songs.

Obviously season 1 is what sets the scene for what was to come and how they used music. The first song that should come to mind to anyone who has watched the show is, “I Don’t Want to Be” by Gavin DeGraw, its featured in the opening credits of the show as Lucas dribbles his basketball across the bridge and is One Tree Hill's Theme Song.
I’m starting with episode 8 because it is the first episode in season 1 that the music REALLY stood out to me.
Sarah McLachlan’s Fallen- This is during a scene with Haley and Nathan and I remember it being the first time I had heard this song. It was on my Christmas list as soon as I heard it.
Travis- Re-Offender- This was the ending scenes with Dan walking out of the house and a lot of drama going on. I thought it was the perfect choice for the mood of the scene.
Any fan of Jake, should check out Bryan Greenberg’s “Lonely World,” that his character sings in episode 9.
Nada Surf is a group often talked about on One Tree Hill and you can check out the song, “Inside of Love,” in episode 12.
Sheryl Crow- I shall Believe episode 13
Ben Jelen- Come On
Sheryl Crow- Home and the First Cut is the Deepest episode 15
Five for Fighting- 100 years episode 16
The Fire Theft- Heaven
Gavin DeGraw- More than Anyone
Michelle Featherstone- Stay. They feature a lot of Michelle Featherstone’s music and if you haven’t heard her stuff definitely listen to it. She is awesome and one of my favorite artists the show introduced me to.
Snow Patrol- Run

The Perishers- Sway 2.04
Howie Day- I would say this is one of my favorite songs from here but I used to have a neighbor below me in an apartment who played it constantly at high volumes. It also became too overplayed. 2.05
Rock N Roll Soldiers- Funny little feeling. Great song full of energy. Played this when I had to wake up early in the morning and drive somewhere. Cranked it up and it would usually wake me up. 2.05
When the stars go blue, Tyler Hilton and Bethany Joy. Also, check out the Tim McGraw version.
Citizen Cope- Sideways
Jimmy Eat World- 23
The Wreckers- The Good Kind. I really liked the wreckers and wasn’t a huge fan of Michelle Branch on her own. It’s too bad the band split up but I’m still interested in hearing Michelle Branch’s newest cd that is supposed to have more of a country sound similar to the sound the Wreckers had.
Ryan Adams- Now that your gone. I’ve tried to find this song in a similar way to how it was played on the show and haven’t been able to.
Citizen Cope- The Son’s Gonna Rise
Ray LaMontagne- Hold you in my arms
Butch Walker- Mixtape
Jimmy Eat World- Work, Hear You Me

The 3rd season features Fall Out Boy- Sugar We are Going Down and Dance, Dance, Michelle Featurestone- Go On My Child and more of Gavin Degraw and Snow Patrol. Diehard fans of the show will love Bryan Greenburg's Someday, that Jake sings.
Tyler Hilton- Missing You
The Weepie’s- World Spins Madly One

Jack’s Mannequin- Dark Blue
One Song I really liked was Stephen Fretwell's, Do you want to come with?
I love this song but I have been with people who hate this song and want me to turn it off because it is really slow paced but whatever the reason I would recommend it if you are into more introspective music.
The Fray- How to save a life
Devics- If We Cannot See
The Fray, Snow Patrol and Augustana were featured as well as Led Zeppelin's "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You." This song is fantastic and it was perfect for the finale and its cliffhanger. I'm glad the show plays songs like these that are classics and exposes the audience to songs they may not have listened to otherwise.

I'm going to go away from the style of how I am writing and just give you some final songs here with a couple of notes on a couple of them. Sorry about that but this list has become much longer than I thought it would. A lot of these songs like the ones from Band of Horses, the Wreckers, The Kooks, Gym Class Heros and Tyler Hilton can be found on the One Tree Hill Soundtrack: The Road Mix. The whole group goes on a road trip to get there friend Mouth back from Texas in this episode and I think it was a great idea to include the road trips songs as a cd.
Dashboard Confessional- Don’t Wait
Joshua Radin- Everything It’ll Be Alright (will’s Lullabye)
Wreckers- Way Back Home
Annie Stela- It’s You
Sugarcult- Do it Alone
AFI- Prelude 12/21. This is really short but it’s another one of my favorites and would be a great song to listen to before playing in a basketball game or something. It’s one when Peyton is learning how to defend herself after her run in with stalker Derek.
Band of Horses- The Funeral
The Wreckers- Lay Me Down
Jose Gonzales- Heartbeats
Pete Yorn- Ice Age
Ray La Montagne- Lessons Learned?? I feel like someone else sang this
La Rocca- Non Believer
8mm- Forever and Ever Amen
The Kooks- naïve
Gym Class Heroes- Good Vibratiosn
Tyler Hilton- You’ll ask for me

I think an important part of any movie or tv show is the way they utilize music to create or enhance the emotions of a scene. Something like a basketball game or anger should have more upbeat and intense music where a sad scene obviously will have something a little slower paced. One Tree Hill has been great at tying their music into the scenes and, believe it or not, when I hear certain songs again it reminds me of whatever scene it is in on the show. I know people who don’t and don’t even pay attention to what’s playing in the background but even my mom is familiar with certain songs from Snow Patrol and The Fray and associates them with certain scenes on Grey’s Anatomy. Maybe you do it with certain commercials, I know I have.

If you are interested in the songs you will definitely love my post on One Tree Hill DVD or you might want to see One Tree Hill cast members in other movies and TV shows.