The Crown Season 4 soundtrack: all the music and songs in the royal Netflix drama

16 November 2020, 17:44 | Updated: 17 November 2020, 10:12

Watch The Crown season 4 trailer

As the world binges the fourth season of The Crown, here’s the low-down on all the songs, hymns and pieces of classical music used in the royal Netflix drama.

The latest series of Netflix’s award-winning The Crown turns its attention to the marriage of Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) and Princess Diana (Emma Corrin).

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson, also plays a key role in the new chapter of the royal drama, which picks up from series 3 around the year 1979 – the year Thatcher was elected.

Setting the scene in the teaser trailer, we hear a voice-over saying: “Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made: a prince and princess on their wedding day.

“But fairy tales usually end at this point, with the simple phrase: ‘They lived happily ever after.’”

Here are all the songs and pieces of music used in the fourth season of The Crown.

Read more: Yes, Princess Diana really danced to Uptown Girl. She also played piano. >

Who wrote the theme for The Crown?

German film composer Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Inception) wrote the period drama’s majestic theme which accompanies the opening titles.

The piece is unexpectedly ominous for a period drama. Characterised by a great organ and tremolo strings, it seems to speak royalty and the weight of bearing the crown.

In the new season, which puts the spotlight on Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s so-called “fairy-tale” marriage, the theme will play as important a role as ever in building tension and inducing goosebumps.

Read more: The Crown Season 3 soundtrack: all the music in the Netflix series >

Hans Zimmer - The Crown Main Title (2016)

What music is in The Crown season 4 teaser trailer?

As Netflix rings in a new season of The Crown, and a crucial historic chapter for the royal family and the United Kingdom, we hear a ticking clock and beating walking stick which gradually transform into a menacing beat, combined with a woman’s haunting vocals and an echoing bell.

While the on-screen action begins to heighten, so does a subtle ticking sound which reaches its climax during a shot of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher curtseying to the Queen (Olivia Colman).

In the official trailer, released 29 October, a haunting cover of The Smiths’ How Soon is Now? plays as Diana turns to the Queen to say: “All I want is to be loved. It’s all any of us want from you.”

What songs and pieces are in the The Crown season 4?

The score for season 4, as with the previous season, comes from British composer Martin Phipps, who has previously written soundtracks for Victoria, War & Peace and Black Earth Rising.

Like the third instalment of the show, the songs weaved through the soundtrack come from both classical composers and contemporary pop stars. Here’s a full list of all the music used in the fourth season.

Jerusalem – Sir Hubert Parry
‘Call Me’ – The Dandy Warhols/Blondie
La Traviata, Prelude Act 1 – Verdi
‘Scotland the Brave’
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D – Bach
‘Edge of Seventeen’ – Stevie Nicks
‘Vienna’ – Ultravox
‘Girls on Film’ – Duran Duran
‘Song for Guy’ – Elton John
‘I Vow to Thee My Country’
‘Boys Don’t Cry’ – The Cure
‘Monkey Man’ – The Specials
‘God Save The Queen’
‘Queen’s Company’ – The Band of the Grenadier Guards
‘Twenty Four Hours’ – Joy Division
‘Whine and Grine/Stand Down Margaret’ – The English Beat
‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You’ – Frankie Valli
‘Let’s Dance’ – David Bowie
‘Fite Dem Back’ – Linton Kwesi Johnson
‘Inglan Is A B****’ – Linton Kwesi Johnson
Pas De Deux (1) from Swan Lake – Tchaikovsky
‘Uptown Girl’ – Billy Joel
‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ – Queen
‘All I Ask of You’ from Phantom of the Opera – Andrew Lloyd Webber
‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ – Ella Fitzgerald
‘Silent Night’