"Old Guard" Soundtrack Lyrics

“The Old Guard — Music from the Netflix & Skydance Film (2020)” – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

What does immortality sound like in 2020 — elegy, or playlist? The Old Guard answers with a hybrid: austere, luminous score cues wrapped around moody, contemporary needle-drops. Arrival → adaptation → rebellion → collapse: new recruit Nile arrives; the team adapts to exposure; loyalties fracture; a bruised family regroups. The soundtrack rides that arc with synth-piano stillness and bass-forward pop that keeps the story present-tense.

The original score by Dustin O’Halloran & Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka) paints resilience with glassy piano figures, dusky strings and subtly distressed electronics. It’s the hush between gunshots; the ache after the miracle. Around it, the song placements steer character POV — earbuds in a field hospital, a fight at 30,000 feet, a church ambush lit by a pop lament. As one outlet noted, the songs drew debate about tone, but they also map the team’s bruised modernity.

Structurally, the album (released as a score set) is spare and propulsive, while the film’s fuller “song universe” lives on official and editorial playlists. Genres stack in phases — ambient/synth minimalism for endurance, alt-pop/R&B for intimacy, dark electro for combat — so when a rootsy end-credits banger finally arrives, it lands like a wink and a wound.

How It Was Made

Score composed by Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka) and Dustin O’Halloran; the recording was issued by Lakeshore Records as “The Old Guard (Music from the Netflix & Skydance Film)”. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood leans on the duo’s restrained textures to keep the violence human-sized, then lets high-recognition songs stamp character POV. Music supervision was led by Julia Michels, whose brief threaded contemporary voices (Frank Ocean, Elle King, Ruelle) with story beats.

Editorially, the team interleaves needle-drops with score stems so beats can swing from inner monologue to kinetic montage without losing the film’s elegiac spine. The result: action that breathes. According to album notes and marketplace listings, the score landed digitally in July 2020 with later vinyl options for collectors.

Tracks & Scenes

“Born Alone, Die Alone” — Madalen Duke
Where it plays: ~00:01, opening titles. Andy narrates; the team’s history flickers under city images.
Why it matters: Establishes a modern, fatalistic tone before we even see the immortality in action.

“Keep This Between Us” — Krtas Nssa
Where it plays: ~00:06, Morocco marketplace trek as Andy and Booker move to meet Copley.
Why it matters: Ground-level texture; a covert errand scored like street life instead of spy opera.

“Put You On” — Kierra Luv
Where it plays: ~00:29, base transition as Nile’s orders change; brief diegetic play through speakers.
Why it matters: A teen pulse for a soldier’s whiplash — youth against bureaucracy.

“Godspeed” — Frank Ocean
Where it plays: ~00:30, Nile puts in earbuds at the field hospital, breathing through shock.
Why it matters: Private sanctuary. The film lets a pop hymn stand in for prayer.

“Nobody Know” — CHAII
Where it plays: ~00:40, the plane fight between Andy and Nile detonates midair.
Why it matters: Irony and adrenaline; swagger track meets immortality reveal — and sells it.

“The World We’ve Made” — Ruelle
Where it plays: ~00:56, church raid — Andy stalks the shadows before a brutal rescue.
Why it matters: Ethereal lament against steel and blood; the clash is the point.

“Going Down Fighting” — Phlotilla feat. Andrea Wasse & Topher Mohr
Where it plays: ~01:31, Nile commits to the elevator run en route to the lab.
Why it matters: Clicks the heist gear into place; resolves her hesitation into action.

“Silence” — Marshmello feat. Khalid
Where it plays: ~01:47, regroup on the move after the Merrick showdown begins.
Why it matters: Pulse-steadying pop that lets a battered family catch breath.

“Cruel World” — Active Child
Where it plays: ~01:51, Andy and Booker trade a goodbye on the beach.
Why it matters: Wistful falsetto over a hard choice — the oldest wound in the group.

“Baby Outlaw” — Elle King
Where it plays: ~01:54 to end credits; Booker’s Paris coda and the sting with Quynh.
Why it matters: A swaggering curtain that promises more trouble — and more life.

Trailer cue: M.I.A. — “Borders (Brevis Remix)”; used prominently in the marketing trailer cuts.

Notes & Trivia

• The score album is a 24-cue, ~46-minute release; later vinyl editions followed.
• Debate flared around the pop/EDM needle-drops; some viewers loved the contrast, others didn’t — a split that became part of the film’s discourse.
• End-credits song “Baby Outlaw” wasn’t written for the movie; it syncs like it was.
• The official Spotify playlist stitches the film’s licensed tracks with mood-adjacent cuts, expanding beyond the score album.
• Composers previously teamed on Lion; their restrained approach here resists the usual action-wallop.

Music–Story Links

When Nile seals herself off with “Godspeed,” we feel the private cost of becoming unkillable. CHAII’s “Nobody Know” turns the plane brawl into a swagger reveal — the joke is that a needle-drop can be both cool and character work. Ruelle’s elegy over the church raid reframes violence as grief management, while “Going Down Fighting” flips Nile’s agency switch for good. And that credits sting? “Baby Outlaw” refracts the team’s outlaw ethics through a grin — especially as the last tag teases a returning ghost.

Reception & Quotes

Critical chatter praised the cool restraint of the score and argued (sometimes loudly) about the pop cues. The film’s soundtrack profile — half meditative score, half head-nod — became a talking point alongside its action craft.

“Composers supply introspective textures between numerous song placements.” — Filmtracks

“For those who enjoyed the pop and EDM songs… here are all the tracks.” — Newsweek

“Music supervisor Julia Michels selected the featured needle-drops.” — Vague Visages

Interesting Facts

• Label: The score album was released by Lakeshore Records on July 10, 2020.
• Playlist life: Netflix and editorial playlists keep all licensed songs in one place — useful since the commercial album is score-only.
• Trailer DNA: The M.I.A. remix in marketing set expectations for a pop-forward sound before release.
• End-credits sting: The last scene dovetails into “Baby Outlaw,” letting the song carry the sequel hook.
• Vinyl heads: Later black-vinyl pressings surfaced for collectors after the digital drop.

Technical Info

• Title: The Old Guard — Music from the Netflix & Skydance Film
• Year: 2020 (film); album released July 10, 2020
• Type: Film soundtrack (score album + licensed songs in-film)
• Composers: Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka); Dustin O’Halloran
• Music supervision: Julia Michels
• Selected licensed placements: Madalen Duke “Born Alone, Die Alone”; Krtas Nssa “Keep This Between Us”; Frank Ocean “Godspeed”; Kierra Luv “Put You On”; CHAII “Nobody Know”; Ruelle “The World We’ve Made”; Phlotilla/Andrea Wasse “Going Down Fighting”; Marshmello feat. Khalid “Silence”; Active Child “Cruel World”; Elle King “Baby Outlaw”
• Label (score): Lakeshore Records (digital/vinyl editions)
• Release context: Netflix global streaming (July 2020)
• Availability: Score on major DSPs; official playlists collect licensed songs

Questions & Answers

Who composed the score for The Old Guard?

Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka) and Dustin O’Halloran composed the original score.

Is there a commercial soundtrack album with the songs?

The official release is a score album; the film’s songs live on playlists rather than a dedicated VA album.

What song plays during the plane fight?

“Nobody Know” by CHAII powers the midair brawl between Andy and Nile.

What’s the end-credits song?

Elle King’s “Baby Outlaw” rolls over the final scene and credits.

Who handled music supervision?

Julia Michels oversaw the licensed needle-drops in the film.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: Newsweek (song placements); Vague Visages (timings & supervision); IMDb (soundtracks/credits); Apple Music/Spotify (score release); Bandcamp/Lakeshore shop (album details); Filmtracks (score context).

November, 18th 2025