10 Best Songs In (500) Days Of Summer

At the heart of 2009’s most unconventional rom-com is an unexpectedly good soundtrack that is artfully curated to carry Tom and Summer’s doomed romance through the seasons. In a nonlinear story such as (500) Days Of Summer, the mood of each song is a key indicator as to the nature of their relationship on any given day.

Through the euphoric Hall & Oates tracks to the woeful Smiths, the highs and lows of adult dating are conveyed via the very medium that informed an adolescent Tom’s misguided perception of love, from the idealistic to the mortifyingly real, which all work together to make Tom easy to identify with.

10 Us – Regina Spektor

In a bright and hopeful beginning to 500 Days Of Summer, side-by-side montages of Tom and Summer’s childhoods are accompanied by Spektor’s cheerful trills, singing of immortality and fun. This introduces the film as predominantly light-hearted despite its bleak depiction of relationships in the 21st century.

The song choice bursts with childlike innocence and optimism in a time before their relationship, as both are blissfully unaware of what turbulence lies ahead in the form of one another. As expected with any of the best Sundance movies, this opening number sets the stage for a host of indie songs to follow and declares that, like Summer herself, this rom-com isn’t like the others.

9 Sugar Town – Nancy Sinatra

A key quality of any “manic pixie dream girl,” despite the fact that it’s a term its creator regrets (according to Salon), is a stellar taste in music. Although Summer doesn’t technically fit into this category, since she refuses to fulfill Tom’s fantasy, this feature remains and allows Summer to quickly seal her grip on both Tom and the viewer.

Showcasing Deschanel’s honeyed voice in one of her best movie roles, a classic Nancy Sinatra song at the office’s karaoke night introduces Summer’s easy-breezy attitude, along with her swishing ponytail and dazzling smile. Compared to Tom’s disorderly rendition of The Pixies’ “Here Comes Your Man,” Summer’s song choice presents her as a sweet, otherworldly Old Soul: Tom’s dream woman.

8 Bookends – Simon & Garfunkel

Given that The Graduate is one of the key culprits behind Tom’s quixotic idea of love, the soundtrack would be incomplete without Simon & Garfunkel. Considering how dear the movie is to Tom, Summer’s visible sadness upon watching it, enveloped by the soft guitar, signifies that things are no longer rosy.

As Summer grows more distant and Tom strains to cling on, the song tinges the scene with wistfulness, as though the relationship is already over. The beginning of the end is echoed in the poignant lyrics: “Preserve your memories; they’re all that’s left you.”

7 She’s Got You High – Mumma-Ra

Ending Tom’s story with Summer and beginning a new one with Autumn requires the appropriate anthem. Despite what may appear to be a disappointing conclusion to Tom and Summer’s romance, this indie-rock tune injects a sense of hope, as Tom offers the camera a knowing look before the number of days drops down to zero, representing a fresh start.

The song is perfectly matched to Summer’s character, in that Tom is completely infatuated to the point of delusion at times. However, why it works so well at the film’s ending and not earlier has nothing to do with Summer and everything to do with Tom, as it all but confirms that he has learned nothing and is ready to make the same mistakes with Autumn.

6 Quelqu’un M’a Dit – Carla Bruni

A peaceful song during a less tempestuous period of Tom and Summer’s relationship offers a taste of languorous, everyday bliss not often depicted between the two. Beneath the mellow guitar, however, the lyrics hint towards the approaching breakup and underlying melancholy that infects their relationship.

Music is proved to be in the very fiber of the movie, as Summer sings along in the car and blurs the lines between diegetic and non-diegetic sound, proving that the soundtrack stems from Tom’s personal collection of music. This furthers the sense that Tom has constructed a narrative world around himself, with Summer as his manic pixie muse.

5 She’s Like The Wind – Patrick Swayze

Used multiple times in the movie to highlight how Tom’s opinion of Summer transforms from adoration into disgust, the song from the romantic classic, Dirty Dancing, accentuates another key attribute of Summer as “manic pixie dream girl,” in that she is unattainable.

Just like the wind, Summer is impossible to hold onto. At their relationship’s beginning, her enigmatic nature and position on Tom’s pedestal are what he adores about her. The recycling of this song throughout the film demonstrates just how much their dynamic shifts in 500 days, as Tom can no longer stand to hear it once he has lost her.

4 Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want – The Smiths

While Tom’s love life pre-Summer is not explored in great depth, it can be inferred from his talking head’s inability to define love and his sister’s advice based on previous relationships that his track record is less than satisfactory.

Tom’s desire to find “The One” is perfectly captured by The Smiths, from whom he received most of his romantic inspiration in his “early exposure to sad British pop music.” The song highlights Tom’s belief that he is hard done by in love and provides more evidence to suggest that Summer is no villain, but rather the victim of another nice guy’s impossible expectations.

3 You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates

At the height of his blossoming relationship, Tom finds himself in the middle of his very own musical number, complete with backup dancers and animated bluebirds. The fantastical elements of this scene are complemented by the joyous sound of Hall & Oates to create a sense of euphoria and brand this as Tom’s happiest moment onscreen.

“You Make My Dreams” contrasts with the rest of the chiefly indie soundtrack to accentuate how Tom’s mood here differs from the majority of the story and is what makes the scene especially memorable, regardless of the Han Solo cameo. It is even effective in its absence when the song is cut short, as the lack of buoyant music instantly indicates a shift to an unhappier time.

2 Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap

Another recycled song, indie-rock classic “Sweet Disposition” charges the film with intense emotion and elation, particularly in its second use. As Tom and Summer interact for the first time since parting ways, they are cast in the warm glow of sunset as the world outside the train window rushes by in a blur, leaving them at the center of it all.

As well as encapsulating the core atmosphere of the film, the song is well-chosen to summarise much of Tom and Summer’s relationship as seen in a sequence of individual events, rather than a comprehensive account, from their first momentous meet cute and falling in love (or, in Summer’s case, not), to feeling the sting of one another’s wrongs.

1 Hero – Regina Spektor

(500) Days Of Summer‘s most gut-wrenchingly real sequence is one that best exhibits Webb’s unique directorial style, and it is accompanied by a heartbreaking Regina Spektor song to directly counter the sunny optimism of the opening credits. Two shots of the same scene are displayed side by side to present Tom’s expectations of Summer’s party versus the reality, and the devastating blow that he receives there is felt through the screen thanks to Spektor’s “Hero.”

As Tom realizes that Summer really isn’t “The One,” since he has lost her to somebody else, the delusion that he is the main character in life comes crashing down around him. His belief that he deserves to have it all is echoed by Spektor, as music is used again to underline what is fundamentally wrong with Tom: he thinks that he is the hero.

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