It took many years after the film’s 1947 release for any type of soundtrack recordings to be issued. The first came in 1988 on the Sundance Film Music Series, Vol. 1 (Telarc DG-18801 [LP]/CD 88801 [CD]).
The album features 10 tracks from It’s a Wonderful Life, as well as songs from the soundtracks of A Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street.
Dimitri Tiomkin wrote the music for the It’s a Wonderful Life tracks. All music is played by David Newman and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with the Ambrosian Singers, John McCarthy Chorus Master. All tracks are annotated in the booklet accompanying the set. The songs included are:
Main Title/Heaven/Ski Run (Ski Run was intended for the scene in which George Bailey saves his brother, but falls through the ice on a pond and loses his hearing in one ear, but went unused.)
Death Telegram/Gower’s Deliverance (These two cues were not used in the finished film.)
George and Dad/Father’s Death (The cue, George and Dad, was not used in the final cut of the film.)
Love Sequence
Wedding Cigars/George Lassoes Stork (The Wedding Cigars cue went unused in the film, while only a small portion of George Lassoes Stork was used.)
Dilemma/Bank Crisis/Search for Money/Potter’s Threat (A small portion of the cue Search for Money was used in the film, while the other three cues were dropped completely.)
Clarence’s Arrival (Only a portion of this cue was used in the final film.)
George Is Unborn/Haunted House (Haunted House appears in its entirety in the film, but only a portion of George Is Unborn was used.)
Pottersville Cemetery/Wrong Ma Bailey/Wrong Mary Hatch/The Prayer (Three of these cues were used in the film, with only Wrong Ma Bailey being dropped.)
It’s a Wonderful Life (This final cue was only partially used in the film.)
In 1997, the CD “It’s a Wonderful Life” The Record was released (Nick at Nite Records/500 Music BK 53447) was released.
Although not strictly speaking a soundtrack album, this CD does have both music and dialogue from the film. Stewart is heard on most tracks. The tracks included are:
Overture (Music)
A Prayer from Bedford Falls (dialogue and music)
Big Brother Saves Life (dialogue and music)
Father and Son (dialogue and music)
The Good Old Building and Loan (dialogue and music)
George Gives Up College (dialogue and music)
George and Mary Meet Again (dialogue and music)
George and Mary Get Hitched (dialogue and music)
A Run on the Bank (dialogue and music)
Potter’s Job Offer (dialogue and music)
World War II (dialogue and music)
A Hero’s Homecoming (dialogue and music)
Uncle Billy’s Crisis (dialogue and music)
The Plea to Potter (dialogue and music)
Clarence’s Leap of Faith (dialogue and music)
George Bailey Doesn’t Exist (dialogue and music)
Answered Prayers (dialogue and music)
The Richest Man in the World (dialogue and music)
Buffalo Gals (duet by George and Mary)
The CD’s credits include:
Dimitri Tiomkin – composed and arranged all background music except as noted
Irving Berlin – arranger of This Is the Army
Mike Berniker – Executive Producer
Juli Davidson – Executive Producer
Janet Stampler – Executive Producer
Debra Parkinson – Mastering
Ed Fotheringham – illustrations
Michael Brooks – producer, editing
The CD ran into copyright problems and was pulled from the market shortly after its release.
In 2011, a digital only album was released by Master Classic Records.
The tracks were:
Overture
A Prayer from Bedford Falls
Big Brother Saves Life
Father and Son
The Good Old Building and Loan
George Gives Up College
George and Mary Meet Again
George and Mary Get Hitched
A Run on the Bank
Potter’s Job Offer
World War II
A Hero’s Homecoming
Uncle Billy’s Crisis
The Plea to Potter
Clarence’s Leap of Faith
George Bailey Doesn’t Exist
Answered Prayers
The Richest Man in the World
Buffalo Gals
From this album, here’s the track The Good Old Building and Loan:
Another soundtrack CD was released in 2014, this one by Kritzerland (KR 20028-2).
This special issue was limited to 1200 copies of the CD and sold out almost immediately. The entire soundtrack is included, plus six extra bonus tracks. This is the first official release of the soundtrack music with all tracks being taken from studio acetates, not from the film itself. No actors’ dialogue is heard at all on the disc. The CD’s credits included:
Executive Producers: Bruce Kimmel, Lucas Kendall
Executive in Charge of Music for Paramount Pictures: Randy Spendlove
Soundtrack album coordinators: Kim Seiniger, Eric Ybanez
Audio Restoration and Mastering: Chris Malone
Acetate Disc Transfers: Bob Auger
Conductor: Dimitri Tiomkin
RKO Radio Pictures Musical Director: Constantin Bakaleinikoff
Orchestrations: Herschel Burke Gilbert, Paul Marquardt, Nathan Scott, David Tiomkin
The tracks were as follows:
Main Title/Heaven
Ski Run
Death Telegram
Gower’s Deliverance
George and Dad
Father’s Death
Love Sequence
Wedding Cigars
George Lassoes Stork
Dilemma
Bank Crisis
Search for Money
Potter’s Threat
Dankgebet/This Is the Army, Mr. Jones
Uncle Billy’s Blunder
Clarence’s Arrival
George Is Unborn
Haunted House
Pottersville Cemetery
Wrong Mary Hatch/The Prayer
A Wonderful Life (original finale)
Auld Lang Syne/End Title
The bonus tracks included were:
It’s a Wonderful Life (vocal)(Music – Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics – Frederick Herbert)
Wedding March/Big Band
Father’s Death (alternate)
Haunted House (alternate take)
Pottersville Cemetery (without chorus)
Auld Lang Syne (extended take)
You can find more information on this CD, as well as samples of the music, at the Kritzerland website.
Kritzerland – It’s a Wonderful Life
We’re going to list one more CD here because of its relationship to the film. It was released in England in 1997 and was titled It’s a Wonderful Life – Songs from and Inspired by the Classic Frank Capra Movie (Debutante 555 346-2).
There are only two tracks here of interest to the Stewart collector.
Track #18 – Buffalo Girls (sic) which features Stewart and Donna Reed
Track #21 – Auld Lang Syne featuring the cast of the film
