AT LAST! After 20 years of obscurity, the Dawn of the Dead cue sheets - detailing which De Wolfe library tracks were selected by George Romero for use in the film - have surfaced! Thanks to a few dedicated folks (including Dawn fan Patrick Doody, music supervisor Llyswen Vaughan, De Wolfe's New York manager Mitchel Greenspan, and a fella named John) the mystery is no more. Listed below are the 60 De Wolfe cues licensed for inclusion in Dawn.

The De Wolfe library remains the world's leader in production music; as such, all the cues listed here are still available for license. Rumors of a possible release of these tracks in CD form have circulated, but the odds of this occurring anytime soon look mighty slim; according to Greenspan, the cost of licensing these tracks for such a release would be prohibitive - to put it lightly. "Now you're talking thousands," was his exact quote.

(Note - 10/31/01): On Halloween 2001, I was contacted by De Wolfe collector John Toman, who owns several of the LPs containing Dawn cues; as a result of John's assistance, the information below has been heavily corrected. Read carefully for new info!

A few words on the abbreviations: Unless you're a youngster, you know that LP stands for "Long Playing," as in vinyl records. The coded album designations stand for various divisions of the music company. DW and DWS stand for De Wolfe and De Wolfe Studios, obviously. HMC stands for Hudson Music Company, De Wolfe's repository of jazzy, avant-garde themes. SMC, or Sylvester Music Company, is another such division, primarily involving early synth pieces and other such eccentric bits.

Click on highlighted titles for notes on those titles, or simply read them separately, at the bottom of the page.

• Neurotic Bird: Greenspan's "???" is no more. Thanks to John for this tidbit (and many others to follow).
  
  
• Par Boom de Fond: French title which translates roughly to "Boom by the Bottom."
  
  
• Ciel de Glace: French title meaning "Sky of Ice." The previous two "Glace" tracks - "Caverne de Glace" and "Desert de Glace" - translate to "Cavern of Ice" and "Desert of Ice," respectively. Obviously a theme going on here. (Thanks to John for clearing up the "Desert" title.)
  
  
• Stalactites et Stalagmites: French title meaning "Stalactites and Stalagmites." This cue may be the work of noted De Wolfe composer Pierre Arvay.
  
  
• The Gonk: Legendary, well-known mall "Muzak" jingle heard over the closing credits. This is the only track easily isolated from the film, despite some sound effects in the mix.
  
  
• Ragtime Razzmatazz: John's cleared this mystery up, as well: The syncopated bit of rag heard during Stephen and Peter's visit to the bank.
  
  
• Cause I'm a Man: Twangy, country-style tune heard during the posse sequence. Written and performed by Peter Reno, this track was originally released on the De Wolfe LP Electric Banana. Interestingly, the majority of this album - aside from an instrumental version of this song and two versions of a cut called "Free Love," also by Reno - is a collection of tunes by the sixties rock band Pretty Things, who recorded a series of albums under the Electric Banana pseudonym for De Wolfe. Best of all, the vocal version of "Cause I'm a Man" slipped through the cracks and was accidentally included on a German CD release of Pretty Things: Electric Banana. This 1991 disc is fairly rare, but worth the search if you crave this particular song.
  
  
• We Are The Champions: Obviously not the song by Queen.
  
  
• Action Pack: The rousing, A-Team reminiscent "football march" heard during Peter's big escape to the rooftop. This is one of the few De Wolfe Dawn cues to survive the transition from LP to CD, appearing on a De Wolfe disc of "action music." Thanks to De Wolfe collector Rick Huffman for helping me out with this one!
  
  
• Proud Action:Heard as Fran and Peter escape at the finale; most likely the "winding-up" ditty heard as Peter asks Fran, "How much fuel do we have?"

Many of the De Wolfe LPs, having served their purpose years ago for whatever TV show, film or commercial, have become part of someone's vinyl collection...and as such, occasionally pop up for sale or auction. Note the LP code numbers - certain albums contain as many as 7 Dawn tracks. (Album titles coming soon, I hope.)

Also, as De Wolfe's headquarters are in England, many of these cues appeared in British films and TV productions. The harpsichord "mall chase" piece, for instance, appeared in its entirety as the theme of an episode of the UK Thriller series (according to Dawn fan Lon Miller)...and a cue used in the Cannes edit of the film figures prominently in Monty Python and the Holy Grail!

If anyone else out there in Webland finds or hears any more of these albums, please mail me.