Gilmore Girls: Our Little Corner of World [Bande originale, Import]

There are three groups of tracks on this "Music from 'Gilmore Girls,'" beginning with the one that includes the theme song, "Where You Lead I Will Follow," sung most appropriately by Carole King and her daughter Louise Goffin (odd that it is not the first track on the album but the eighth). Then there are the incidental themes that pop up in just about every episode written by Sam Phillip, all of which are labeled "cues." Now you know that the perky "la-la" song is called "Getting Married" and the slower one is "Waltz #1." I am not sure how to really describe the difference between "Maybe Next Week" and "Rory and Lane" in terms of "la-la" songs but they will be familiar as soon as you play them.

The largest category are those tracks associated with key moments in the show, such as from the start of "Sadie, Sadie," where "I Found Love" by the Free Design plays as the Gilmore Girls walk around a Stars Hollow where everybody has one of Lorelai's thousand daisies. If that makes you think about the previous episode, then be happy that the album includes "One Line" by PJ Harvey Love, which is from the moment in "Love, Daisies, and Troubadours" where Rory tells Dean "I love you, you idiot" and kisses him. You also get "My Little Corner of the World" by Yo La Tengo from the end of that episode as Lorelai and Rory run to each other to share their good news, but the previous track makes you think of when Dean told Rory "I love you" in "Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers" and she said nothing, while John Lennon sang "Oh My Love." Big Star's "Thirteen" is from "Rory's Dance" when she goes walking with Dean through Stars Hollow afterwards. I am not sure if the Gilmore girls seeing the destroyed perfect snowman after "The Bracebridge Dinner" constitutes a great moment, but we get Bjork's "Human Behavior" here as well.

If for some reason you prefer Jess to Dean (not me and I wanted Felicity to choose Noel too) then you have "Girl From Mars" by Ash, which is at the end of "Nick & Nora, Sid & Nancy" when Jess and Rory engage in cute book talk. There is also Elastica's "Car Song" from "Teach Me Tonight," which is what is playing right before the car accident. "O'oh" by Yoko Ono is from "Lorelia's Graduation Day," when Rory and Jess are checking out New York City. This is not all about Lorelai and Rory, because you also get the cover of "What a Wonderful World" by Joey Ramone that plays when Luke knocks a hole in his apartment wall for Jess to have his own apartment in "Lost and Found" from Season 2. Yes, there are some memorable songs that are not here, but you probably already have everything by the Bangles and "Someone To Watch Over Me" by Ricki Lee Jones.

Finally, there are tracks that we did not really get to listen to. For example, in the second season episode "Like Mother, Like Daughter" we get both the song that Rory was listening to when the guidance counselor interrupted her at lunch at the start of the episode, "Know Your Onion!" by the Shins, and the song she listens to at the end, "It's Alright, Baby" by Komeda. "I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" by XTC is the song that Lane plays off of her new CD for Rory in "The Lorelias' First Day at Chilton." Rory likes "Child Psychology" by Black Box Recorder, another song Lane brings over, played in "Emily in Wonderland," because it depresses her. Claudine Longet's version of "God Only Knows" is the song Rory and Lane try to listen to in "Double Date" while Lorelai is trying to study and keeps making them adjust the volume. Slumber Party's "I Don't Mind" is from "One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes," which is when Rory dyes Lane's hair.

Darn. Two songs left over. "Tell Her What She Wants to Know" is a complete song by Sam Phillips that was in Season 4's "Ballroom & Biscotti." Grant-Lee Phillips's "Smile" is from the end of "Application Anxiety," as Luke and Taylor are having a fight and Rory and Lorelai are strolling around Stars Hollow again. The last one goes in the third category and I guess the other one does by default. I guess the whole "Clear Shot" search has left me more shaken (but not stirred) than I had thought.