I really did mean #17. The opening motifs and chord progressions are very similar to #7, just reworked to give it a futuristic feel. #23 is too obvious to mention I think. 
The song “Typing Bot” has the same tune and notes as “WALL-E”.
-EIA-
Recurring themes:
- track 2: “2815 AD” + track 12: “EVE Retrieve”.
- track 2: “2815 AD” + track 13: “The Axiom” + track 38 “Horizon 12.2”.
- track 3: “WALL•E” + track 18: “Typing Bot”.
- track 5: “EVE” + track 22: “Define Dancing”.
- track 7: “Bubble Wrap” + track 23: “No Splashing No Diving”.
- track 12: “EVE Retrieve” + track 33: “Hyperjump”.
- track 16: “Repair Ward” + track 25: “M-O”.
- track 17: “72 Degrees and Sunny” + track 30: “March of the Gels”.
- track 21: “WALL•E’s Pod Adventure” + track 34: “Desperate EVE”.
- track 24: “All That Love’s About” + track 28: “Fixing WALL•E”.
Woah, I never knew there were so many. Can anyone list any more? There’s a few that are also recurring, but the tracks that have the same occurrences are omitted from the soundtrack, so I didn’t include them. If someone could help me out and let me know if they can hear any similarities between “Directive A-113” and any other track, more specifically “Put on Your Sunday Clothes”, that would be great. The issue is really annoying me. Heh.
If you haven’t already, check out “Notes on a Score” feature on the DVD bonus disc. If you listen carefully, you get to hear an alternate, early version of one of the best songs on the soundtrack, “2815 AD”. The part that you get to hear is only a few seconds long and is of the harp part, but it’s really nice to hear what could have been for that track.
Wow, you guys have really been listening to that soundtrack! I usually put it on in the background when I’m doing other things, and have noticed some recurring themes but not that many! I’m surprised. I can see why they’ve done that, to give the film a certain feel and to connect different parts of the movie. I wonder if the same applies to the soundtracks of other Pixar films.
I was working on a list, but never got as far as you did. So far I’ve listened to the OST ~50 times, (And every time I go to bed I listen to it start to finish) I have the CD with that beautiful album art <3 , the one made from recycled paper and ripped the 1411kbps lossless WAVs to my computer. Best. Soundtrack. Ever.
When I watched WALL•E with commentary, Andrew said that there’s another recurring theme that I’ve been looking for… He said that it was when EVE first flies, then when they come back to Earth. I haven’t found it, have any of you?
Where in the movie commentary does he say this? You can hit the ‘Display’ key on your remote to identify the exact time in the movie where this occurs. Are you sure this is musical or artistic or part of the story?
The only theme in the return to earth that is somewhat subliminal is when the ship finishes its landing, a tower of cubes collapses and there is a powerful wave of air that whisks away the ‘old’ dirt near Wall-E’s truck. The sky appears bright blue amidst normal looking clouds. This is symbolic, altho most people probably miss it. How it relates to Eve’s first flight, not sure…
Rachelcakes1985, your list, which is I assume borrowed from this thread, your own discoveries and my long song by song list:
- track 2: “2815 AD” + track 12: “EVE Retrieve”.
- track 2: “2815 AD” + track 13: “The Axiom” + track 38 “Horizon 12.2”.
- track 3: “WALL•E” + track 18: “Typing Bot”.
- track 5: “EVE” + track 22: “Define Dancing”.
- track 7: “Bubble Wrap” + track 23: “No Splashing No Diving”.
- track 12: “EVE Retrieve” + track 33: “Hyperjump”.
- track 16: “Repair Ward” + track 25: “M-O”.
- track 17: “72 Degrees and Sunny” + track 30: “March of the Gels”.
- track 21: “WALL•E’s Pod Adventure” + track 34: “Desperate EVE”.
- track 24: “All That Love’s About” + track 28: “Fixing WALL•E”.
And then compare this to my new improved list (added 2 from your list) from the ‘Adv Wall-E101’:
2->12; 3->18; 5->22; 7->23; 16->25; 24->28; 17->30; 12->33 ; 21->34; 28->35; 2->38
So, the missing one from your list is 28->35: Fixing Wall•E → Static, here the sad xylophone, music box sound, is used. This one was spotted in this thread around July 6, so was an easy one. I didn’t include what Wayne above said, still working on that. And I’m still working on your comparison between #2+#13, or is it #13+38 also? You and Miafka were the ones who first clued us in on the use of the Wall-E truck theme into the last song, so #2->38.
So after a few more listenings, it seems that the first couple of notes you hear in the Wall-E truck theme and “The Axiom” and track #38 are the same.
DarkHand - Yeah, I think I compiled that list from various places, but some of them are my own discoveries. Sorry if it seemed as if I was taking credit for them all, I was just making a list and bringing what we’ve found in this thread, all together.
I listened to “Static” and didn’t make the connection between that track and “Fixing WALL•E”. Thanks for that. It’s so obvious now that it’s been pointed out, heh. I also didn’t realise that “EVE” and “Define Dancing” are basically the exact same track, until I listened to the soundtrack for the bazillionth time and had my sister point it out to me. I like how they have EVE flying on her own to that music, then later on they are flying together to that music again. They both found their dance partners. <3
You should find the similarities between #2, #13, #38 in the following places:
“2815 AD” (2m 46s) + “The Axiom” (0m 3s and 0m 20s) + “Horizon 12.2” (0m 43s).
Let me know how you go with 17 and 7 - I’m having trouble with those two as well. 
[mo] Whoa whoa whoa whoa… [/mo] Don’t hurt yourselves over tracks 7 and 17 guys. If you’re not getting anything from the first 10 seconds of both tracks, then it’s probably just me. Thanks for trying, though!
I didn’t figure those two out until reading something about them here in this thread. I bought the cd in mid-September, having little need for it since the movie was still in the local theaters. After listening to it 15 times or so, I noticed some of the above duplicate tracks, but not those two tracks, then read in mid-October about them. You know, many people listed those two as their favorites without even realizing, as you said, the same exact track. It was sort of embarrassing all around, wasn’t it… so we decided to figure this soundtrack out. Being a bit abstract and with few lyrics made it a hard nugget to crack.
Netbug009 on July 6th started the search for reprised, duplicate tracks and snipets within, just in case you want to read about this. People like him and Cybearg, who is long gone, woke people up to Newman’s shenanigans.
Strangely, this thread died for like 5 weeks, until after the Australian release, then died again for over a month. Fortunately, the thread starter, the indefatiguable Rachelcakes1985, keeps breathing new life into it.
Eheheh. Well, it’s just that I love music (understatement), yet don’t have that many favourite soundtracks, really, but the ones I do like, I get really obsessive about. There haven’t been that many days were I’ve not listened to a track from the WALL•E OST ever since I saw the movie. Glad I’m not the only one who didn’t make that connection between the flying/dancing tracks straight away, or even until months later. Same story with the beginning of “WALL•E’s Pod Adventure” and “Desperate EVE”.
With tracks 7 and 17, I have an idea of what may be happening: I think every second note of “72 Degrees and Sunny” (starting from 0m 1s) is the same as the beginning of “Bubble Wrap”. Too bad I can’t transcribe music from ear yet to see if that’s true, but that’s my hunch. Or it could simply be a faster version of the beginning of “Bubble Wrap”. I could be dead wrong on those two theories, though, and hearing things. You could always ask miafka to see if he/she can hear any similarities between the two. They would be the one to know if there were any.
Thanks for putting this soundtrack under the microscope with me, DarkHand. =)
I just haven’t had the time to be on here much the past couple of weeks, and have probably missed a bunch of stuff, but just wanted to say what a great job of cataloging the recurring themes. I haven’t listened to the CD for a while… I’ll have to take it out again.
OK, well… you’ve made me take it out again.
You could always ask miafka to see if he/she can hear any similarities between the two.
“He?” “She?” What about “It?” miafka could be an “it” too, you know… 
(To quote Daffy Duck… “Pronoun Trouble!”)
Well, having a listen on the CD, the two tracks are very similar (same key/tonality at the beginning), but not exactly the same. Track #17 at the very beginning (1s-6s) is basically:
F, B-flat, F (twice)
G, B-flat, F (twice)
F, B-flat, F (twice)
E…
And track #7 (0s - 11s) is basically:
B-flats and Fs, with a few Es and A-flats thrown in, which is tonally very similar to track #17.
I downloaded the soundtrack since last year but have only heard a few tracks every now and then. Yesterday I was doing a major spring cleaning of iTunes (obtaining album arts, relinking missing source files and other stuff) and gave a couple more tracks a listen. I’m definitely liking this soundtrack! I should try to find other Pixar soundtracks, but yeah, this is my first.
I’m surprised none of you have noticed the opening chords of “Down to Earth” that was referenced in “Repair Ward”! I noticed it while watching the film for the third time last week (I was preparing for the commentary) and confirmed it last night by listening to that track. It occurs between 1:29 and 1:39. Very cute, and poor Wall-E was being frightened to death in that scene while that innocuous music plays! 
I’ll probably post my thoughts on the other tracks as I keep exploring this album, but I’ll have to say “Define Dancing” is my current favourite for its sheer beauty and wonder.
Wow, you would be the first to find that out, altho I haven’t had time to go thru this entire thread, yet again, to find out if it was mentioned before. After I did the big ‘Soundtrack’ posts 2 months ago, I purposefully haven’t listened to the cd, so I wouldn’t burn out on it. I was carrying my dvd player, which also plays cd’s around and posting on various computers during those days. It took days to write down everything and edit and such, and make for colorful writing, cause who is going to want to read something cut and dry.
Define Dancing won a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement in a film.
Ok, I edited the list - thanks for the correction, DarkHand.
- track 2: “2815 AD” + track 12: “EVE Retrieve”.
- track 2: “2815 AD” + track 13: “The Axiom” + track 38 “Horizon 12.2”.
- track 3: “WALL•E” + track 18: “Typing Bot”.
- track 5: “EVE” + track 22: “Define Dancing”.
- track 7: “Bubble Wrap” + track 23: “No Splashing No Diving”.
- track 12: “EVE Retrieve” + track 33: “Hyperjump”.
- track 16: “Repair Ward” + track 25: “M-O”.
- track 16: “Repair Ward” + track 37 “Down to Earth”.
- track 17: “72 Degrees and Sunny” + track 30: “March of the Gels”.
- track 21: “WALL•E’s Pod Adventure” + track 34: “Desperate EVE”.
- track 24: “All That Love’s About” + track 28: “Fixing WALL•E”.
- track 28: “Fixing WALL•E” + track 35 “Static”.
And thanks for the help miafka and thedriveintheatre. Thomas Newman would be proud!
miafka, I’m going to try playing those notes now, thanks! thedriveintheatre, you’re the first person here to point out the same sections of “Repair Ward” and “Down to Earth”! It’s so obvious now… Thanks so much.
Welp, that’s most if not all the recurring themes. If anyone has any corrections or anything we’ve missed, let me know. Nice work, team!
lol, yeah it is pretty hard getting around the pronouns when you don’t know someone’s gender.
This seems as good a thread as any for this. For anyone else who was disappointed that Gabriel didn’t get to perform his own song (and the full version) at The Oscars, here’s the very first live performance of Down to Earth!
youtube.com/watch?v=dQLTunr5nEw
It’s too bad the Soweto Gospel Choir wasn’t there with him, that would’ve made it all the better. Still, it’s better (by a mile) than the John Legend version.
I haven’t listened to the WALL•E soundtrack in… weeks… 
I think I’m going crazy. I had challenged myself to not listen to it from like late January to March 19th, it worked, and forced me to find other music. For anyone who thought it was ok/liked/loved/is obsessed with/depends on to live the WALL•E soundtrack, you would probably like these too:
- A series of unfortunate events by Lemony Snicket (2004) (Soundtrack by Thomas Newman)
- Bourne’s Ultimatum (2001?) (Soundtrack by John Powell)
- The Green Mile soundtrack (1999) (Thomas Newman)
- Horton hears a who (2008) (Soundtrack by John Powell)
- Big Buck Bunny (2008) (Soundtrack by Jan Morgenstern)
- Elephants Dream (2006) (Soundtrack by Jan Morgenstern)
- An American in Paris, not a movie but the song (Sometime in the 1930s) (George Gershwin)
There’s probably more, can’t think of it at the moment.
I’ve actually seen the movie. I thought it was pretty funny. I know you were referring to a song but it reminded me of the movie… lol…
On the subject of movie scores: I absolutely adore anything by John Powell or Harry Gregson-Williams. Also Thomas Newman and Michael Giacchino are amazing beyond words. I find the works of Thomas Newman to flow so beautifully - out of all the Pixar soundtracks I own, I find I can listen to Finding Nemo and WALL•E all the way through and never feel like I’m jumping too fast into another mood vein. I found that the Cars soundtrack, which I used to love so much, was really sporadic when it came to the mood of the music. You didn’t flow right into the next song. When I first listened to the WALL•E soundtrack I had a hard time distinguishing when the track changed. 
little chef
Harry Gregson-Williams?!! He’s the composer for one of my favorite video game series, Metal Gear Solid! His stuff is always very powerful and moving…
I just got the Wall•e soundtrack after weeks of searching.
Mmm, is it good!
It is, in my opinion, as close to a perfect soundtrack as I have ever heard.
The cascading strings in ‘2815 A.D.’, the heavy percussion in ‘The Axiom’ the whole thing is sheer brilliance on a disk!
I loved it! I thought it was one of the most beautiful musical soundtracks I’ve ever listened to. Thomas Newman is my favorite composer. I wish I could come up with something as brilliant as him. My songs are usually terrible.
There’s no need to quote someone’s whole post, especially when that post is directly above yours. — Rachel. =)