"The Bank Job" Soundtrack Lyrics

"The Bank Job (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack & Score, 2008)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

How do you make a period heist feel both grimy and suave? You let the music double as a fence—moving tension, laundering mood. The Bank Job recruits jukebox cues from T. Rex, The Kinks, Wilson Pickett and more, then threads them with J. Peter Robinson’s taut, analog-tinged score. The result: a thriller that swings when it has to and holds its breath when it counts.

The film dramatizes the 1971 Baker Street robbery with a blue-collar crew led by Terry (Jason Statham). Songs handle the club, wedding, and wake—i.e., the lives being risked—while the score covers surveillance, tunneling and consequences. What makes the soundtrack distinct is the UK soul/glam tilt: “Get It On” for sleaze-as-spectacle, “Lola” for backroom deals, “In the Midnight Hour” for cops and kompromat, capped by a cheeky end-credits “Money (That’s What I Want)” cover. Robinson’s cues—“Lloyd’s Bank,” “Baker Street”—supply the heist geometry and that London-in-’71 hum.

Genres & themes in phases: glam & pub-rock — seediness with charm; 60s R&B — power and pressure; reggae cameo — diaspora London; elegy folk standard — the cost. Translation: riffs = bravado; Stax beat = menace in motion; drones & low strings = the ground shifting underfoot.

How It Was Made

Composer J. Peter Robinson scored the film with a 19-cue program released by Lions Gate Records to accompany the theatrical run. The songs are licensed period cuts and contemporaneous covers (notably The Storys’ versions cut for the film), placed to keep us in smoky rooms and sticky floors while the plot tightens. The supervision leans diegetic when possible—wedding band, strip club, book event—so the story’s “real world” keeps leaking into the caper.

Editorially, the film lets the big needle-drops front scenes and then bows to the score for the heavy lifting: scouting Lloyds, chiseling, panic on the radios, and the later reckoning. The album pairing—songs plus a dedicated score release—mirrors that split.

Tracks & Scenes

Not a full tracklist; below are the most notable placements (album and non-album moments) with on-screen context.

“Get It On” (T. Rex)

Where it plays:

Opening Caribbean montage: a voyeuristic photo session becomes a leverage bomb. The glam strut frames the scandal that kick-starts the MI5 angle. Non-diegetic; early minutes.

Why it matters:

Establishes the film’s seediness with a wink—desire as evidence.

“Lola” (The Kinks)

Where it plays:

Strip-club ambience while Terry and the lads talk the job. Voices fight the speakers; the song’s gender-bend tale underlines how faces and stories blur in this world. Timecode ~00:11, diegetic.

Why it matters:

Signals a deal done in noise and half-truths; it’s the job’s first vibe.

“In the Midnight Hour” (Wilson Pickett)

Where it plays:

Two bent coppers arrive at the club’s back room to confer with Lew Vogel. The Stax groove makes corruption feel routine. ~00:12, diegetic bleed from the floor.

Why it matters:

Police rhythm = power rhythm; the pecking order is audible.

“Allemande in G from English Suite” (attrib. J. S. Bach; arr. J. Peter Robinson, perf. credited as Jaynison Optreebner)

Where it plays:

In the Lords’ brothel: chamber-music wallpaper for hypocrisy. ~00:14, diegetic source.

Why it matters:

Polish over rot; the joke lands without dialogue.

Wedding band sequence — “Save Me” / “I Believe in Love” (The Storys)

Where it plays:

Reception gig: the band plays live while Terry dances with his daughter and the crew’s “normal life” is sketched. ~00:15–00:16, fully diegetic.

Why it matters:

Human stakes, sung loud—this is what the heist might cost.

“History of Jamaica” (Early B)

Where it plays:

Hakim’s book-signing scene as Gayle beams with pride. ~00:27, diegetic PA music.

Why it matters:

London’s wider world nudges in; the robbery sits inside real communities.

“Those Were the Days” (Eugene Raskin — folk standard)

Where it plays:

Dave’s wake near the close. Glasses hoist; the gang looks smaller. ~01:38, diegetic performance/recording within the pub.

Why it matters:

Elegy with a chorus—remembrance instead of melodrama.

“Money (That’s What I Want)” (The Storys)

Where it plays:

End-credits kicker after the last narrative turns. ~01:42, non-diegetic.

Why it matters:

Irony intact. After secrets and leverage, a simple motive sings us out.

Album cues from the score (J. Peter Robinson)

“Lloyd’s Bank” / “Baker Street”

Heist geometry—foley-friendly percussion and low strings for the walkie-talkie crawl and the vault’s heartbeat.

“Le Sac” / “Discussions” / “Terry’s Tale”

Short, nervy bridges that keep us inside the crew’s planning energy without overselling heroics.

Notes & Trivia

• The score album contains 19 tracks and runs just over 51 minutes; the digital release is dated January 22, 2008.
• “Lola” is heard in the strip-club scenes; some listings note a live version attached to the film’s usage.
• “Those Were the Days” closes the emotional ledger before the credits cue flips to “Money.”
• Several source songs are used diegetically (wedding, club, book event), grounding the thriller in lived-in London spaces.

Reception & Quotes

Reviewers praised the movie’s crisp heist mechanics and sturdy performances; the soundtrack does quiet work to keep tone and pace aligned—never showy, always useful.

“Well-cast and crisply directed… a thoroughly entertaining British heist thriller.” Critical consensus summary

“Robinson’s cues glide under the floorboards; the needle-drops do the talking in the rooms.” Soundtrack-fan shorthand

Availability: the original score streams widely; the film’s song placements are cataloged on major soundtrack indexes and can be recreated via playlists.

Interesting Facts

• Score silhouette: Short cues with descriptive titles (“Le Sac,” “Baker Street”) play like scene headers for the heist chapters.
• Diegetic bias: Many songs are heard in the world—band on stage, jukebox in room—so they carry character information, not just mood.
• Reggae cut: Early B’s track at Hakim’s signing widens the film’s sound beyond classic-rock comforts.
• End-credits wink: Using “Money” right after the post-heist epilogue keeps the film’s irony polished.

Technical Info

• Title: The Bank Job — Original Motion Picture Score (plus licensed songs in film)
• Year: 2008
• Type: Film soundtrack (score album) + sourced songs
• Composer (score): J. Peter Robinson
• Label (score): Lions Gate Records (digital, 19 tracks)
• Selected songs featured: “Get It On” (T. Rex); “Lola” (The Kinks); “In the Midnight Hour” (Wilson Pickett); “Save Me” / “I Believe in Love” (The Storys); “History of Jamaica” (Early B); “Those Were the Days” (folk standard); “Money (That’s What I Want)” (The Storys)
• Notable score cues: “Lloyd’s Bank,” “Baker Street,” “Le Sac,” “Terry’s Tale,” “Discussions”
• Release context: UK/US theatrical in early March 2008; score issued alongside the run

Questions & Answers

Is there a separate album for the songs?

No official “songs” album; the score is the commercial release. The film’s songs are documented on soundtrack indexes and can be playlisted.

Who composed the score?

J. Peter Robinson, whose 19-track album includes heist-scene cues like “Lloyd’s Bank” and “Baker Street.”

What’s the opening song in the Caribbean sequence?

T. Rex’s “Get It On.” It sets the film’s sleazy-glam prologue tone.

What plays at Dave’s wake?

“Those Were the Days.” It’s the story’s quiet goodbye before the credits flip to “Money.”

Where can I hear the score?

On major services (Apple Music, Spotify, TIDAL) under The Bank Job (Original Score) by J. Peter Robinson.

Key Contributors

Sources: Wikipedia (film credits & composer); Apple Music / Spotify / TIDAL (score album details); WhatSong (scene-by-scene placements & timestamps); Amazon listing (track durations); official UK trailer.

November, 27th 2025