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What are 10 songs that can be used as a soundtrack in Romeo and Juliet?

I think that songs by The Beatles could be used in a Romeo and Juliet soundtrack.  For example, "When I'm Sixty-Four" is about a couple wondering if they will be around for one another when they get older. Such a song would be ideal for Romeo and Juliet, two young people who are wondering if they will last to see the joys of old age or even tomorrow. Another Beatles song, "Yesterday," addresses the feelings of how things look in retrospect. When Romeo is about to take the apothecary's potion and before Juliet takes her own life, both of them could use the song to think about how "yesterday/ love was such an easy game to play/ now I need a place to hide away." "She's Leaving Home" is a song that could convey how Juliet's parents might feel upon realizing the folly of their actions.  This song is about a mother and father lamenting their daughter having left home to pursue her own life. Juliet would fit such a description and the song's mournful tone might match the Capulets' emotional state at the end of the drama.


Love is a dominant theme in the drama.  Many songs use it as their foundation.  It makes sense that the soundtrack highlights it.  For example, Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" or Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" could serve as effective testaments to the love that Romeo and Juliet experience.  Both songs speak of a love that goes on, perhaps even after death.  In this way, each song can represent the feelings that both Romeo and Juliet share. When we are looking for a song to capture the moment that Romeo first sees Juliet, Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" would work very well. When he first lays eyes on Juliet, it is clear that he will not forget her.  The song captures a moment that is singularly distinctive, and thus can represent his feelings towards her.


Romeo and Juliet experience intense feelings towards their parents.  The feud between both families establishes the "star-crossed" path of the lovers.   Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" could be an anthem to convey how both lovers end up disobeying their parents.  Leaving their parents represents how they are "not gonna take it anymore."  DJ Jazzy Jeff's and the Fresh Prince's song, "Parents Just Don't Understand" is a very effective song to capture Romeo's and Juliet's feelings towards their parents.  Their "parents just don't understand" their love.  Finally, I think that it might be interesting to include a song from the Nurse's and Friar Laurence's perspectives.  Both are older people who are loyal to the kids.  However, they understand the dangers that exist for both young lovers.  Rodgers's and Hammerstein's "Hello, Young Lovers" is a beautiful song that captures what it means to wish the best for people in love.  Both the Nurse and Friar Laurence could easily speak verses like to Romeo and Juliet such as,  "I hope your troubles are few/ All my good wishes go with you tonight."  The song offers advice to those in the throes of the most intense of feelings.


The ending of the drama is a complex one.  There is reconciliation, but it comes at a cost.  Two young people have to die in order for the adults to find restoration.  In this light, the soundtrack could conclude with two songs that capture the complexity of love. Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" details the transition from innocence to experience.  This dynamic represents what Romeo and Juliet endure.  It also could speak to how both families must approach reality now that their children are dead. For the last song on the soundtrack, I think that finding a song to capture the experience of love would be a powerful coda.   Shakespeare shows how love is both creative and destructive.  It is filled with nuances.  There is nothing clear, other than love can be simultaneous strength and weakness.  In that light, U2's song, "Love is Blindness," would be a great song to conclude the soundtrack.  The opening stanza communicates an emotional dynamic that encapsulates Romeo and Juliet:



Love is blindness
I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night
Around me
Oh my heart
Love is blindness



Love is filled with contradictions.  Romeo and Juliet cannot articulate much clear about love, other than they need one another.  The intricacy, dependence, and emotional yearning so intrinsic to their love is captured in U2's song.

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