"I, Tonya" Soundtrack Lyrics

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"I, Tonya (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

Is it a sports biopic if the soundtrack plays like a classic-rock station flipping through time? I, Tonya says yes. The album—released December 8, 2017 by Milan Records—packages 1970s/80s radio pillars with a handful of Peter Nashel’s cues to chart Tonya Harding’s climb, crash, and reinvention. According to the label and trade coverage, music supervisor Susan Jacobs cleared more than 25 needle-drops; only 13 made the retail set, with the rest living in-film.

The strategy is deliberate: use the soundtrack of Tonya’s life (Heart, Dire Straits, Fleetwood Mac) rather than strict period accuracy for the 1993–94 scandal window. As Entertainment Weekly reported, Knopfler’s initial “no” on “Romeo and Juliet” flipped to a “yes” after he saw the cut—unlocking other licenses and cementing the film’s sonic backbone.

Questions & Answers

Who released the album and when?

Milan Records issued I, Tonya (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on December 8, 2017 (digital and CD).

Who handled the music and the score?

Music supervision: Susan Jacobs. Original score: Peter Nashel. The retail album is mostly songs with select Nashel cues.

Why do so many songs come from the 1970s?

Jacobs favored the era’s “warmth” to humanize Tonya; the tracks feel like the music she grew up on, not just the scandal year.

Is every movie song on the retail album?

No. The film uses 25+ pieces; the album collects 13. Notable film-only uses include Foreigner’s “Feels Like the First Time,” Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4,” ZZ Top’s “Sleeping Bag.”

What plays over the end credits?

Siouxsie and the Banshees’ cover of “The Passenger.”

Did the film consider Sufjan Stevens’s “Tonya Harding”?

Yes—but it was declined; the team couldn’t place it organically in the cut.

Notes & Trivia

• Album producer credit goes to Susan Jacobs (music supervisor); label: Milan Records.
• Running time ~67 minutes; 13 tracks on the standard release.
• Peter Nashel’s score uses small ensemble, percussion, and “de-tuned,” slightly ragged textures to fit the mock-doc tone.
• Tonya’s real competitive routines inspired cues and song picks (e.g., ZZ Top’s “Sleeping Bag” for an early comp scene in-film).
• The soundtrack’s time-skew (70s warmth over 90s accuracy) is intentional—not a continuity error.

Genres & Themes

Classic rock & AOR → tenacity vs. fate: wide-shouldered arrangements (Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, Heart) frame a working-class heroine pushing uphill.

Dance-pop & Hi-NRG → crime gone dumb: Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” turns the hit-men prelude into absurd bravado—cheery beat, terrible plan.

Nostalgic standards → bittersweet resets: Doris Day’s “Dream a Little Dream of Me” softens hard chapters (wedding; epilogue).

Leaner, percussive score → grit under glitter: Nashel’s cues scrape and clatter beneath the needle-drops, reminding us the ice is thin.

Tracks & Scenes

“Romeo and Juliet” — Dire Straits
Where it plays: A relationship montage that turns sweet to sour—Tonya and Jeff’s courtship pivots toward control and bruises (non-diegetic).
Why it matters: Lyrics that mirror the arc; the permission was hard-won and, once granted, became the film’s romantic thesis.

“Sleeping Bag” — ZZ Top (in film; not on the retail album)
Where it plays: Early competition sequence, mirroring Harding’s documented routine choice (diegetic performance track in the rink).
Why it matters: Accuracy with swagger; skating to rock marks Tonya as out-of-bounds for the judges—and proudly so.

“Dream a Little Dream of Me” — Doris Day with Paul Weston
Where it plays: First at the Gillooly–Harding wedding; reprises under the boxing-era epilogue (non-diegetic).
Why it matters: A balm placed carefully; the team swapped an intended “Over the Rainbow” needle-drop for this gentler, less freighted standard.

“Gloria” — Laura Branigan
Where it plays: As Shawn Eckhardt’s hired goons pregame for their “mission,” swaggering into the stakeout (non-diegetic; partly source-motivated).
Why it matters: Pop euphoria weaponized as gallows humor; the cue underlines how incompetence rides in on confidence.

“The Passenger” — Siouxsie and the Banshees
Where it plays: End credits over competition footage (non-diegetic).
Why it matters: A female-voiced cover that reframes movement as survival, not triumph.

“The Chain” — Fleetwood Mac
Where it plays: Competitive-grind montage and press pressure (non-diegetic).
Why it matters: Bass-drum heartbeat and breakbeat pickup match the movie’s cycle: skate, score, scrape by.

“Barracuda” — Heart
Where it plays: Training cuts and TV-crew swarms (non-diegetic).
Why it matters: Teeth bared; the film leans on a woman-fronted powerhouse to voice Tonya’s fight.

Score picks — Peter Nashel
Where they play: “A Fair Shot,” “The Incident,” “Tonya Suite” knit courtroom, press, and domestic beats (non-diegetic).
Why they matter: Percussive grit and small-ensemble colors keep the drama from floating away on nostalgia.

Also in film but not on the album: Foreigner “Feels Like the First Time,” Chicago “25 or 6 to 4,” Hot Chocolate “Every 1’s a Winner,” LaTour “People Are Still Having Sex,” Dr. Feelgood “Hey Mama Keep Your Mouth Shut,” Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky.”

Music–Story Links

Rink music defines how Tonya skates (rock, not Rachmaninoff); radio hits define how we remember her (hooks, not headlines). When the plot veers toward crime, the choices tilt to bright, buoyant cues—irony sharpened by beat. When the story narrows to Tonya alone, Nashel strips the mix: less gloss, more breath and bruise.

How It Was Made

Craig Gillespie hired Susan Jacobs late to wrangle clearances; her pitch—“Big Lebowski scale, American Hustle soundtrack energy, Silver Linings heart”—helped skeptical artists engage. Peter Nashel wrote the score fast, building “jangled,” slightly detuned percussion and small-ensemble cues to sit between big radio moments. As reported, licensing Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet” became the domino that made the rest of the soundtrack possible.

Reception & Quotes

Critics called the selections both galvanizing and, occasionally, obvious—which the film leans into for punch.

“A broad, nostalgic soundtrack featuring big songs that scream of frosted hair and shopping malls.” The Times

“Most tunes aren’t from the late ’80s/’90s but from the decade prior… the soundtrack of Tonya’s girlhood.” regional review précis

“Great songs all, though the classic-rock drops can be distractingly on-the-nose.” review note

Additional Info

• Album: 13 tracks (~67 min). Various Artists with select Peter Nashel cues.
• Label: Milan Records. Album producer: Susan Jacobs.
• Composer: Peter Nashel. Music supervision: Susan Jacobs.
• Not on album but in film: “Spirit in the Sky,” “25 or 6 to 4,” “Feels Like the First Time,” “Every 1’s a Winner,” “People Are Still Having Sex,” “Sleeping Bag,” others.
• Trailer songs vary by cut; marketing leaned on album tracks to telegraph tone.

Technical Info

• Title: I, Tonya (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Year: 2017
• Type: Feature film soundtrack (songs + select score)
• Label: Milan Records
• Composer (score): Peter Nashel
• Music Supervisor: Susan Jacobs
• Selected placements: “Romeo and Juliet,” “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “Gloria,” “The Passenger,” “Barracuda,” “The Chain”; score cues “A Fair Shot,” “The Incident,” “Tonya Suite.”

Canonical Entities & Relations

Subject	Relation	Object
I, Tonya (film, 2017)	directed by	Craig Gillespie
I, Tonya (film)	music by (score)	Peter Nashel
I, Tonya (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	released by	Milan Records
Susan Jacobs	music supervised	I, Tonya
Dire Straits — “Romeo and Juliet”	featured in	I, Tonya (film)
Laura Branigan — “Gloria”	featured in	I, Tonya (film)
Siouxsie and the Banshees — “The Passenger”	featured in	end credits
Doris Day — “Dream a Little Dream of Me”	featured in	wedding & epilogue scenes

Sources: Milan Records/album listings; Entertainment Weekly interview with Susan Jacobs (song placements and licensing stories); IMDb/Wikipedia credits for composer & supervision; film-only song roster summaries in encyclopedic entries and cue sheets; GQ’s usage note on “Gloria.”

It’s good to see Margot Robbie playing not a freaking wacko. Well, at least, she is trying to be nice. Sometimes. Rather from time to time. Rather, she tells she is not a freaking wacko. And we want to believe it. At least, the music in this film is strong if she is still so… hard and controversial. And wacko. For now, 4 days after its theatrical release, the film only gained 0.2 million dollars. Is it a next box office blob? We wouldn’t be so sure as we have to wait for at least another week or so to receive the updated data from the theater’s cash desks. The motion picture reveals strong notes in both performance of an actress (lovely and buzzing Margot Robbie), the fun and not shallow submission of the narration intertwined and interdependent from the bursting character of the main character (and her demonic mother who made her a star). The full-fledged story must have the same meaty support on the music side and it does – entirely nice rock songs (the most prominent performers here are Cliff Richard, Dire Straits, and Fleetwood Mac). Barracuda song is probably the best description of a character of the main hero (its lyrics in abundance depict carnivorous fish and mammals). ‘Devil Woman’ is definitely about her mother. ‘Free Your Mind’ is about the way she behaves on the skating rink. ‘Shooting Star’s lyrics is about the start of her career’s fading (especially true is the part saying that people will only love you when you are bright as the shooting star but as soon you’re out of the firmament, people will forget about you). In general, you must watch this film if you adore strong personalities, Australian actress and producer Margot Robbie (including her always-appetizing body and insane faces she makes too) and gloomy-mood films (especially sporty ones).

November, 11th 2025

Learn more about 'I, Tonya', the darkly comedic tale of American figure skater, Tonya Harding: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes

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