Inside the Knives Out 3 Soundtrack: Every Song Revealed
Wake Up Dead Man cranks up Knives Out’s mischief with Nathan Johnson’s playful, off-kilter score and a crate-digging run of needle drops, including multiple Tom Waits tracks. See every song featured in the film’s soundtrack below.
Knives Out is back with Wake Up Dead Man, and the soundtrack is exactly the kind of playful-weird mix you want from a Benoit Blanc case. If you came here to figure out what that one needle drop was, I got you.
The vibe: jaunty, off-kilter, and a little mischievous
Rian Johnson once again leans on his go-to composer Nathan Johnson, whose scores have been stitched into this director’s work since Brick and Looper, plus the first two Benoit Blanc mysteries. Johnson’s music does the heavy lifting across the whole tone map: cranking up the tension, nudging the comedy, and landing the emotional beats without getting cute about it.
On top of that, the movie throws in a handful of recognizable tracks for flavor and irony. Multiple Tom Waits cuts give scenes that gravelly, oddball texture that only he can. Then you get familiar anchors like Warren Zevon and The Doobie Brothers to sharpen the mood in a way your brain clocks instantly. And yes, that is Skimbleshanks. The Railway Cat. In a Knives Out movie. Bless them.
Every song you hear in Wake Up Dead Man
- "Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Warren Zevon
- "Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music" - Larry Norman
- "What A Fool Believes" - The Doobie Brothers
- "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat" - Andrew Lloyd Webber
- "Overture" - Tom Waits
- "Come On Up To My House" - Tom Waits
How they use them: the Waits cues rough up the edges in the stranger or more intense moments; Zevon and the Doobies bring instantly legible vibe-setting; and the musical-theater swing of Skimbleshanks slides in for a wink without breaking the movie’s rhythm.
Score, streaming, and how to listen
Nathan Johnson’s score is the spine here, threading the needle between suspense, comedy, and heart so the movie can pivot as needed without whiplash. If you want the music on its own, the Wake Up Dead Man soundtrack is up on the usual platforms. You can stream the film on Netflix to hear the cues in context, or pull up the official album on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music.
Quick refresher on the movie itself
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is the third Benoit Blanc outing from director Rian Johnson. Daniel Craig is back as Blanc, and Jeff Brolin plays Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, the priest at the heart of this particular whodunit. The movie hit theaters on November 26, 2025, and landed on Netflix on December 12, 2025. And yes, you read that right: Jeff Brolin as a monsignor. That’s the character stirring the pot this time around.