"Submarine" Soundtrack Lyrics

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"Submarine (Original Songs by Alex Turner & Original Score by Andrew Hewitt)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

Can a six-song whisper feel bigger than a full orchestra? Submarine answers with a wry smile. Richard Ayoade’s coming-of-age tale pairs Alex Turner’s hushed, tender EP with Andrew Hewitt’s compact chamber score, letting songs behave like marginalia in Oliver Tate’s notebook — fragile thoughts scrawled in the margins of first love, guilt, and parental drift.

Turner’s pieces — intimate, baroque-tinted indie folk — frame Oliver’s inner monologue: gentle guitar, small organs, melodies that refuse to grandstand. Hewitt’s score stitches scenes with short cues for strings and woodwinds, quick as breath. Together they make a two-lane soundtrack: one lane for memory (songs), one for motion (score). Genres in phases: indie folk & baroque pop — adolescent wonder and melancholy; minimalist chamber score — sly observational comedy; 60s pop classicism by proxy — the romance Oliver wants life to imitate.

How It Was Made

Turner (Arctic Monkeys) penned six originals for the film, recorded with producer James Ford; Owen Pallett arranged strings on the closing waltz, and Bill Ryder-Jones added guitar filigree. Ayoade asked for covers at first, then nudged Turner toward originals that could float above scenes rather than narrate them line-by-line. In parallel, Hewitt wrote a concise orchestral score recorded at AIR with The Composers Ensemble and conducted by Hewitt himself.

Music supervision by Phil Canning kept the palette cohesive: the Turner EP (a Domino release) on one hand, Hewitt’s score (issued separately) on the other — both short, both re-listenable. The film premiered on the festival circuit in 2010; the EP arrived March 2011, with the score album following shortly after.

Tracks & Scenes

Selected placements with scene context. (Diegetic = heard by characters.)

“Hiding Tonight” (Alex Turner)

Where it plays:

A luminous early relationship montage — Oliver and Jordana’s firework play, seaside wandering, and 8mm-styled goofing, after Oliver receives a tape from his dad. Non-diegetic; the cue blankets the whole stretch.

Why it matters:

Turns puppy love into a memory you can hold. The soft reverb and unhurried tempo make the moments feel already nostalgic.

“It’s Hard to Get Around the Wind” (Alex Turner)

Where it plays:

Post-breakup despondency sequence. Oliver presses play on a cassette marked “Despondency” and drifts through blue-grey images of regret. Non-diegetic, functioning like a mixtape side-A monologue.

Why it matters:

The lyric’s inevitability dovetails with Oliver’s avoidance — a wind you can’t outwalk. The film briefly becomes a song.

“Glass in the Park” (Alex Turner)

Where it plays:

A reflective seaside interlude as Oliver replays better days with Jordana and wonders what could still be saved. Non-diegetic; used as lyrical counterpoint to tentative steps toward reconnection.

Why it matters:

A swooning melody that reframes adolescent bravado as vulnerability; it’s Oliver’s wishful thinking, set to guitar slides.

“Piledriver Waltz” (Alex Turner)

Where it plays:

First end-credits song. The 3/4 lilt walks the audience out of Oliver’s head and back into the world. Non-diegetic.

Why it matters:

A curtain-call waltz that sums up the film’s tone — bruised, bemused, still hopeful.

“Stuck on the Puzzle (Intro)” & “Stuck on the Puzzle” (Alex Turner)

Where it plays:

The brief “Intro” appears in-film; the full song returns over the end credits after “Piledriver Waltz.” Non-diegetic.

Why it matters:

Bookends Oliver’s puzzle-box self-image — a love song that knows it’s also a riddle.

Score Highlights (Andrew Hewitt)

Where it plays:

Fleeting mini-cues — “Investigations,” “Bullying,” “The Pamphlet,” “Jordana” — tuck under comic beats and school-corridor drama. Non-diegetic, with occasional playful stingers.

Why it matters:

Compact cues keep pace with Oliver’s narration, adding dry wit and a featherweight melancholy between the EP’s bigger breaths.

Notes & Trivia

• The six Turner songs were issued as a standalone EP on Domino; the orchestral score was released separately as a short album.
• Owen Pallett arranged the strings on “Piledriver Waltz”; Andrew Hewitt conducted.
• “Piledriver Waltz” later reappeared as a re-recorded Arctic Monkeys track on Suck It and See — same title, different bite.
• Music supervisor Phil Canning kept the needle-drops to a minimum; the film really is a duet between EP and score.
• The EP peaked at No. 35 on the UK Albums Chart and has lived a long afterlife on streaming.

Music–Story Links

Oliver operates by narration and lists; Turner’s songs puncture that armor. When he plays the “Despondency” tape and “It’s Hard to Get Around the Wind” begins, the film surrenders to feeling — less quip, more ache. Earlier, “Hiding Tonight” reframes puppy-love hijinks as myth-making: fireworks feel like fate. Hewitt’s cues bounce between Oliver’s detective fantasies and domestic awkwardness, letting the EP handle the heart and the score handle the timing.

Reception & Quotes

Critics singled out the music’s restraint and unity. The EP drew praise as its own small world; the score, as clever connective tissue.

“Intimate and restrained — Turner's songs feel like memories developing in the dark.” — Pitchfork on the EP

“A compact, witty chamber score that flatters the film’s timing.” — Album listings & curator notes

Interesting Facts

• Two-release model: Turner’s six-song EP (Domino) and Hewitt’s 15-cue score album (Warp (Submarine) Ltd) dropped weeks apart.
• From covers to originals: Early discussions floated Turner recording covers (a la The Graduate); the team pivoted to brand-new songs.
• Festival aura: The film premiered TIFF 2010; the EP arrived March 2011, helping the movie’s word-of-mouth.
• Re-use: “Piledriver Waltz” later became an Arctic Monkeys cut with a fuller band arrangement.
• Tiny score, big lift: Hewitt’s album runs ~19 minutes — proof that brevity can still world-build.

Technical Info

• Title: Submarine — Original Songs & Original Score
• Year: 2010 film (key releases 2011 for EP & score)
• Type: Feature film — coming-of-age comedy-drama
• Composers: Alex Turner (original songs); Andrew Hewitt (original score)
• Music supervision: Phil Canning
• Labels: Domino (Turner EP); Warp (Submarine) Ltd (Hewitt score)
• Notable placements (selected): “Hiding Tonight”; “It’s Hard to Get Around the Wind”; “Glass in the Park”; “Piledriver Waltz”; “Stuck on the Puzzle (Intro)”
• Availability: Turner EP and Hewitt score are both on major streamers; vinyl/CD pressings exist for the EP.
• Release context: Film premiered at TIFF 2010; UK release 2011; U.S. release via The Weinstein Company.

Questions & Answers

Is there a full soundtrack album?

Sort of two: Alex Turner’s six-song EP and a separate album of Andrew Hewitt’s original score.

Who supervised the music?

Phil Canning — he kept the sound world tight and consistent.

Which song plays during the early Oliver–Jordana montage?

“Hiding Tonight” — it carries the entire first-love sequence in one warm blanket.

What starts the end credits?

“Piledriver Waltz,” followed by “Stuck on the Puzzle.”

Did “Piledriver Waltz” appear anywhere else?

Yes, Arctic Monkeys re-recorded it for their 2011 album Suck It and See — a different, full-band take.

Key Contributors

Entity	Relation
Richard Ayoade	wrote & directed the film
Alex Turner	wrote & performed six original songs (EP)
James Ford	produced & mixed Turner’s recordings
Owen Pallett	arranged strings on “Piledriver Waltz”
Bill Ryder-Jones	guitar contributions on selected tracks
Andrew Hewitt	composed, orchestrated, and conducted the original score
Phil Canning	music supervisor
The Composers Ensemble	orchestra for score sessions
Domino Recording Company	released Alex Turner’s EP
Warp Films / Film4	produced the film
The Weinstein Company	U.S. distributor

Sources: Domino/Spotify & Discogs listings for the EP; Apple Music/Spotify listings for Andrew Hewitt’s score; production notes/credits confirming music supervision and personnel; Metacritic credits; IMDb soundtrack entries; festival/release histories; Pitchfork coverage of the EP and “Piledriver Waltz” video; scene analyses and education write-ups citing specific song usages; trailer archives (YouTube).

November, 27th 2025

'Submarine' is a British-American coming-of-age comedy-drama film adapted from the 2008 novel Submarine by Joe Dunthorne. Learn more on Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia

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