Several songs are featured in the film but do not appear on the soundtrack, including "Starálfur" by Sigur Rós (from the climactic Jaguar shark scene), and some of Seu Jorge's performances of David Bowie songs. A more complete compilation of Seu Jorge's performances can be found on The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions Featuring Seu Jorge (released by Hollywood Records on November 22, 2005). The two-disc Criterion Collection release of the movie also features his performances as a special feature.
The song "Let Me Tell You About My Boat" by Mark Mothersbaugh contains the melody of "Scrapping & Yelling" played backwards. "Scrapping & Yelling" is a song that Mothersbaugh created and was featured previously in Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums. Mothersbaugh muses that this was for "good luck".
Some songs were featured in The Lonely Island's failed Awesometown pilot. Mothersbaugh is one of Jorma Taccone's influences.
Though Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh has scored all of Wes Anderson's films up to this point, this is the first to actually include a Devo song ("Gut Feeling").
The song "Ceremony" by New Order appears in the trailer for the film, but not in the film itself nor on the soundtrack album.
The soundtrack includes several instrumental pieces by Australian composer Sven Libaek -- originally written for the 1970s Australian TV documentary series Inner Space by Ron and Valerie Taylor -- which Anderson reportedly selected at the suggestion of actor Noah Taylor. "Shark Attack Theme" is a variation on the series' main title music; "Open Sea Theme"'s original title is "Thatcherie".
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