Various Artists - Music from the Motion Picture Ferris Bueller's Day Off (2016)

For the film's 30th anniversary, La-La Land Records put together this motion picture soundtrack. And most publishers allowed licensing, save those of Bert Kaempfert, The Beatles and Dave Wakeling. According to unverified sources, no official soundtrack was originally released for the film in 1986, as writer/director/producer John Hughes felt the songs would not work well together as a continuous album. Here's what Hughes did instead, in his own words:

You know how, when you're a kid, you love it when you get mail? You feel important, like someone's paying attention to you. Well, we used to do that - every time someone wrote a fan letter to one of our cast members, every piece of mail that came in, we'd put their names on our mailing list and mail out huge packages every time a new movie was about to come out, kind of like what Disney does now - posters, rolls of stickers, all sorts of neat stuff. In fact, the only official soundtrack that Ferris Bueller's Day Off ever had was for the mailing list. A&M was very angry with me over that; they begged me to put one out, but I thought "who'd want all of these songs?" I mean, would kids want "Danke Schöen" and "Oh Yeah" on the same record? They probably already had "Twist and Shout," or their parents did, and to put all of those together with the more contemporary stuff, like the (English) Beat - I just didn't think anybody would like it. But I did put together a seven-inch of the two songs I owned the rights to - "Big City" [sic] on one side, and... I forget, one of the other English bands* on the soundtrack... and sent that to the mailing list. By '86, '87, it was costing us $30 a piece to mail out 100,000 packages. But it was a labor of love. I cared about my audience and I cared about these movies.

*"I'm Afraid" by Blue Room - ed.

In other words, this is as close as we're going to get - although you can create your own soundtrack using the guide below. PAckage also includes extensive liner notes from film music journalist Tim Greiving.

What surprised me about this soundtrack was the high quality of Ira Newborn's original music cues, even when removed from the images of the movie. Also, the "Star Wars" theme is not the original recording, but a brief Newborn arrangement. (I said Star Wars and you just imagined the image below, didn't you?)

While I was re-watching the movie to compile the list below, two thoughts occurred to me: 1) there are an unbelievable number of huge plot holes in this thing and I could care less, and 2) Ira Newborn's cues play a huge role in the movie and this soundtrack compilation CD brings that fact to the fore.

You might also want to check out: Now Playing Podcast Reviewed 'Ferris Bueller's' 30th Anniversary Soundtrack (46 minutes)

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart. The La-La Land Records website claims this is a limited edition of 5,000 units.

Tracks (35 tracks, 76:45):

Based on my 2009 Blu-Ray, the "Bueller...Bueller...Edition," here's a chronological list of the music cues from the movie:

1. Opening scene: WLS radio jingle
2. CD track 10, Ferris in Bed
3. Ferris showering/dressing: Love Missle F1-11 by Sigue Sigue Sputnik (Ultraviolence Mix) (CD track 1)
4. MTV Moonman Theme
5. CD track 11, Cameron in Bed/Ferris Goes Hawaiian
6. Ferris dancing in bedroom: Jeannie (Theme from I Dream of Jeanie) by Hugo Montenegro
7. Ferris on his synth: Blue Danube waltz by Johann Strauss
8. CD track 13, Nurse
9. CD track 14, Ferris on Line 2
10. CD track 15, Bueller, Ferris Bueller
11. Picking up Ferrari from Cameron's garage: Oh Yeah by Yello (CD track 2)
12. Ferris, Sloane, and Cameron head into Chicago: Beat City by The Flowerpot Men (CD track 3)
13. CD track 30, Couglin Bros. Mortuary
14. Entering parking garage: B.A.D. by Big Audio Dynamite (CD track 4)
15. CD track 16, Mom Checks on Ferris
16. Chez Luis scenes: CD track 31, Celebrated Minuet (actual title: Minuet from String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5 by Luigi Boccherini)
17. CD track 17, Jeannie Turns Ugly
18. CD track 18, Rooney on Patrol
19. CD track 32, Ballpark Baloney
20. CD track 20, Rooney Sneaks Around/Star Wars (Main Title)
21. The Art Institute of Chicago: Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental) by The Dream Academy (CD track 5)
22. Von Steuben Day Parade: CD track 33, Polka Medley (Wildfire Polka/Vienna Penny Polka)
23. Parade lip synching: Danke Schoen by Wayne Newton (CD track 6)
24. Parade with marching band: Twist and Shout by The Beatles (with marching band overlay, CD track 35). Original can be found on Please Please Me.
25. Picking up car from garage: CD track 33, Polka Medley (Wildfire Polka/Vienna Penny Polka)
26. Leaving garage: Radio People by Zapp (CD track 7)
27. Cameron's lakeside breakdown: I'm Afraid (Instrumental) by Blue Room (CD track 34).
28. By the pool with Cameron on diving board: Taking the Day Off by General Public. Can be found on the 1993 I.R.S. Records re-issue of the Hand To Mouth album.
29. CD track 22, Cameron Takes the Heat
30. CD track 23, Oh Shauna Jeannie
31. Ferris saying goodbye to Sloane: The Edge of Forever by The Dream Academy (CD track 9)
32. Ferris running home: March of the Swivel Heads by The English Beat. Can be found on several compilations and the 2012 Edsel reissue of the Special Beat Service album.
33. CD track 25, Dog Food Rooney/Ferris Goes to Bed
34. CD track 26, Mom, Dad and Ferris
35. Closing credits/Rooney on school bus: Oh Yeah by Yello (CD track 2)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I saw the movie in the summer of 1986 with my then-girlfriend-now-wife and loved it from the get-go. I think I've purchased it in VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray versions.