Get Carter Poster T-shirt

The theme was released as a 7" vinyl single by Pye Records in 1971, titled simply Carter and backed with "Plaything", another piece composed for the soundtrack. Original copies of the record are much sought after by collectors and sell for around £100. The soundtrack€”including pieces not used in the film€”was originally only available in its entirety in Japan, where it was released on Odeon Records. It was released in the UK in 1998 by the Cinephile label, a subsidiary of Castle Communications. In 2012 the theme was included on the Soul Jazz Records compilation British TV, Film and Library Composers.

The film includes other music which is not included on the soundtrack LP. The music playing in the nightclub scene is an uptempo cover of the 1969 Willie Mitchell tune "30-60-90" performed live by the Jack Hawkins Showband, which was the resident band at the Oxford Galleries night club. Hawkins' name can be seen on the poster outside the club before Thorpe runs inside, and the band can faintly be seen on stage as Thorpe enters the club. A version of the band's rendition was available on a live LP by Jack Hawkins, which was released under two titles, Psychedelic '70s and later as Everything Is Beautiful. The pub singer, played by Denea Wilde, performs a cover of How About You? by Burton Lane and Ralph Freed, a song more associated with glamorous Hollywood films than the backrooms of Newcastle pubs. The Pelaw Hussars, a local juvenile jazz band and majorette troupe, also appear and perform two numbers, When The Saints Go Marching In and Auld Lang Syne.