"Brooklyn" Soundtrack Lyrics

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"Brooklyn" Soundtrack Description

Questions and Answers

Is there an official soundtrack album for Brooklyn?

Yes. Lakeshore Records released both a music-from-the-film compilation (period songs and traditional tunes) and Michael Brook’s original score in late 2015.

Who composed the score?

Michael Brook composed the score; his album includes 24 cues such as “Opening Titles,” “Arriving in America,” and “Homesick.”

What is the Irish song sung at the Christmas dinner for emigrant workers?

It’s the traditional sean-nós song “Casadh an tSúgáin (Frankie’s Song)”, performed in the film by Iarla Ó Lionáird.

Is there a vinyl edition?

Yes. A two-disc vinyl set pairing the songs album and the score was issued after the initial digital/CD release window.

Where can I stream the albums?

They’re available on major platforms under Brooklyn (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (songs) and Brooklyn (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Michael Brook (score).

Who was the music supervisor?

Kle Savidge is credited as music supervisor on the production.

Notes & Trivia

• Two official releases exist: a period-songs compilation and a separate score album—both via Lakeshore Records (according to Lakeshore’s release notes).
• Michael Brook’s score uses subtle instrumentation (mandolin in Irish passages; clarinet/upright bass in American scenes) to place Eilis between Ireland and New York (as stated in recent coverage of the film’s music).
• The soundtrack albums later appeared together as a two-LP vinyl edition.
• Music supervisor credit goes to Kle Savidge—one reason the 1950s selections feel authentically lived-in.
• The score earned awards attention and charted on U.S. Top Soundtracks and the U.K. Official Soundtrack Albums chart.

Overview

What makes a homesick melody feel like a compass? Brooklyn answers by letting music turn rooms into places: a parish hall becomes a town square, a boarding house becomes a chorus, and a fundraiser dinner turns into a moment of collective memory. The soundtrack splits its duties—period recordings and traditional Irish tunes evoke time and community, while Michael Brook’s score voices Eilis’s private weather.

Across the film, gently swinging R&B sides and Irish dance sets trade space with hushed score cues. The songs anchor the world—fiddles at socials, Bing-era crooners on the wireless—while the score carries Eilis from seasick dread to quiet resilience. It’s tasteful by design, and that restraint is precisely why the musical choices land.

Genres & Themes

• Traditional Irish & folk — identity, belonging, and the pull of home (parish dances; the Christmas dinner sequence).
• 1950s jazz/R&B — everyday modernity and American courtship (parlor records, socials, and post-work gatherings).
• Classical sacred/semi-sacred — church life and rites of passage (organ/choral cues around weddings and services).
• Contemporary orchestral score — Eilis’s inner arc (loneliness, wonder, and the choice between two shores).

Tracks & Scenes

Note: Editions (festival cut, home video, streams) can shift minute marks slightly. Scene placements below follow the widely available 112-minute release.

“Casadh an tSúgáin (Frankie’s Song)” — Iarla Ó Lionáird
Scene: At the Christmas dinner for Irish laborers, a solo voice rises unaccompanied; faces fall silent as memories surface (mid-film, ~00:40–00:44).
Why it matters: The sean-nós delivery collapses distance between Ireland and New York; the film briefly becomes a communal elegy before the score steals in.

“Be Cool aka Keep Cool” — Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers
Scene: A stateside social where Eilis tentatively relaxes—an American slow-dance cut threads through chatter and glances (~first third).
Why it matters: Post-war R&B warmth sets the room’s tempo, contrasting with the formality of parish jigs and reels.

“Boolavogue” — John Carty, James Blennerhassett, Paul Gurney, Jim Higgins
Scene: Fiddle-led parish dance early in Eilis’s New York life; the tune underscores set-dancing figures and community rules (~first act).
Why it matters: A rebel song turned social staple, it signals how Irish identity survives intact abroad.

“What’s It to You, Jack” — Linda Hayes
Scene: Needle-drop ambience at a boarding-house or social evening; a sly, mid-century vocal strut colors Eilis’s growing confidence (early-mid film).
Why it matters: A little American sass sneaks into her world—subtle, but you feel the horizon widening.

“The Stack of Barley” — John Carty, James Blennerhassett, Paul Gurney, Jim Higgins
Scene: Parish-hall dancing as Eilis and Tony circle each other; dancers thread the floor in lively sets (mid film).
Why it matters: A courtship scored in steps and turns—the camera watches bodies learn a common language.

“Castle Finn” — Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh & Fiachna Ó Mongáin
Scene: Traditional duet featured around community gatherings; close-mic’d drones and fiddle double-stops add grain to otherwise rosy memory-scenes.
Why it matters: The piece grounds the film’s Irish texture without nostalgia syrup.

“Macushla” — John McCormack
Scene: A sentimental spin during a quiet parlor moment; the antique recording cues letters and longing when Eilis is far from home.
Why it matters: Vintage tenor timbre renders homesickness as something ceremonial rather than mawkish.

“Opening Titles” — Michael Brook
Scene: Prologue cue over early credits and Enniscorthy life; restrained harmonies hint at departure (~00:00–00:02).
Why it matters: Establishes the score’s role—empathetic, never showy—so the songs can own the rooms.

“Arriving in America” — Michael Brook
Scene: Dockside arrival and first steps through immigration (~00:15).
Why it matters: Clarinet and bass shade curiosity with vulnerability, a small sonic “reset” after the Atlantic crossing.

“Homesick” — Michael Brook
Scene: Boarding-house nights and aching letters from home (~00:25).
Why it matters: Minimal writing lets Saoirse Ronan’s performance breathe; the music simply holds the space.

Music–Story Links (characters & plot beats)

• Parish-hall grammar: When set dances play (“Boolavogue,” “The Stack of Barley”), Eilis belongs to a collective; the moment jazz/R&B slips in (“Be Cool”), the film pivots toward individual choice.
• Memory as bridge: “Casadh an tSúgáin” reframes New York as an Irish room for four minutes—Eilis’s two homes aren’t opposites so much as echoes.
• Score = inner compass: Brook’s cues (“Homesick,” “Arriving in America”) bookend public rituals with private weather, keeping the camera inside Eilis’s head even in crowded scenes.

How It Was Made (supervision, score, behind-the-scenes)

Lakeshore Records released two complementary albums: a period-songs set (traditional Irish selections, crooner sides, and parish-hall instrumentals) and Michael Brook’s score. Brook described avoiding on-the-nose “Irish” or Gershwin-style cues; instead he used mandolin in some Irish passages and clarinet/upright bass in American scenes to suggest place without clichés (according to interviews collected in coverage of the film’s music). Variety’s Sundance-era craft listing also credits Kle Savidge as music supervisor, which tracks with the careful blend of authentic sessions music and American 78s.

Production staged sequences in Ireland and Montreal doubling for 1950s Brooklyn, with music threaded through parish socials, boarding-house dinners, and church services. The albums’ practical split (songs vs. score) mirrors editorial intent: diegetic pieces paint rooms and customs; score carries Eilis across thresholds—letter writing, job training, first love. (according to Variety)

Reception & Quotes

Critics singled out the music’s tact and emotional calibration; several noted how the Christmas-dinner song stops time before Brook’s strings ease in. As stated in contemporary write-ups, the score also earned awards attention and even landed on soundtrack charts. (as stated in the 2015–2016 chart summaries)

“Brooklyn’s music is beautiful and evocative.” Festival review roundups

“The new verses and old choruses of Eilis’s life are rehearsed amid contrasting dancehall scenes.” UK broadsheet review

“Brook builds feeling without ladling sentiment—his restraint is the point.” Score review capsule

Both albums remain widely available to stream; the songs set features Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers, John McCormack, Iarla Ó Lionáird and more, while the score album collects 24 cues. (according to Apple Music)

Technical Info

• Title: Brooklyn — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (songs) & Brooklyn — Michael Brook (score)
• Year: 2015 (film and releases)
• Type: Movie — period romance/drama
• Composer: Michael Brook
• Music Supervision: Kle Savidge
• Label: Lakeshore Records (digital/CD); later 2-LP vinyl pairing songs+score
• Select notable placements (film): “Casadh an tSúgáin (Frankie’s Song)” (Christmas dinner for emigrant workers); “Be Cool aka Keep Cool” (American social slow-dance vibe); “Boolavogue” & “The Stack of Barley” (parish dance sets); “Macushla” (parlor/letters scene); score cues “Opening Titles,” “Arriving in America,” “Homesick.”
• Chart/awards notes: U.S. Top Soundtracks peak; U.K. Official Soundtrack Albums peak; Canadian Screen Award (Best Original Score) win for Brook.
• Availability: Streaming (Apple Music/Spotify), digital download, CD; 2-LP vinyl edition released post-launch.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Entity	Relation	Entity
Michael Brook	composed score for	Brooklyn (2015 film)
Lakeshore Records	released	Brooklyn soundtrack & score albums
Iarla Ó Lionáird	performed	“Casadh an tSúgáin (Frankie’s Song)” (in-film performance/album track)
Kle Savidge	music supervision	Brooklyn (2015 film)
John Carty et al.	performed traditional pieces in	songs album (parish-dance cues)
Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers	performed	“Be Cool aka Keep Cool” (songs album/period needle-drop)

Sources: Lakeshore Records release pages; Variety festival craft listing; Wikipedia’s “Music of Brooklyn (film)” summary; Apple Music & Spotify album pages; Soundtrack.net album listing; official trailers on YouTube.

This film is filled with very different music, starting from jazz (Be Cool Aka Keep Cool) and blues (A Garden In The Rain) ending with Irish folk (Macushla). The latter is, by the way, takes the biggest part. Firstly, because this film is about an Irish girl who arrives in Brooklyn, where she meets a charming Italian, very suitable for her. She becomes in love with him. After a while, she has to leave back home for some time for the funeral of her mother, and there she gets acquainted with one very nice young man, with whom she is also in love. They are equivalent for her and the rest of the movie takes mental anguish of a girl who must choose either one or the other. Bing Crosby sings with his velvety voice that will appeal to all lovers of vintage sound. But most of all we liked the singer Iarla Ó Lionáird in the collection – it is not just the voice and notes in this music. It is the spirit and the strength of the whole nation, which was tempered through the centuries and millennia, in it. Of people who live on fantastically beautiful land. Legendary, full of epics, sagas and tales. Where leprechauns argue with the dwarves, fairies make wayward travelers drunk, Tristan and Isolde represent very strong love, zombie piper at night takes all brides and children of the city to the cemetery, kings and innkeepers argue with the usual, but wise geese grazer, where giants are of three human heights and where many other tales are too. Maybe it is not blowing with magic from the content of the film as well as from all these folk tales, which have been since ancient times walking this land, lulled by the stars, under the quiet noise of heather, of which Ireland is rich. But the film is about growing up, about the irrevocable choices, about road turns, when you have to choose the right or left, without return.

October, 25th 2025

More info: IMDb, Wikipedia

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