"Credit Where Credit Is Due" is an orchestral piece on the Season 1 soundtrack. Its closely-spaced arrangement for strings plays during emotional moments throughout the series, including every season one episode. In later seasons, variations play during action sequences as well.
Main appearance
Following the turbine explosion, the survivors run about the wreckage as Jack walks through it, still in disbelief. Approaching the fuselage, he looks inside and is immediately taken aback by the sight of a lifeless hand hanging in the wreckage. As he stands at the grim scene, Boone approaches him with pens for the tracheotomy he suggested. Jack accepts them with thanks and leaves Boone by the fuselage.
Looking through various articles of luggage, Jack manages to find a small sewing kit. Taking it and going away from the rest of the survivors, he takes off his jacket and shirts, examining the open wound in his side.
Full list of appearances
"Credit Where Credit Is Due" and its variations play during the following scenes.
- Jack walks among the wreckage. ("Pilot, Part 1")
- Kate bathes in the sea while Sun keeps watch. ("Pilot, Part 2")
- Sayid's search party returns to the camp. ("Tabula Rasa")
- Kate tells Jack about Rousseau's signal. She asks him about the marshal's condition.
- The marshal's screams bother the passengers.
- Jack tells Kate that their lives before the crash no longer mean anything.
- Claire gives Sayid his picture of Nadia. Jack comforts Rose. ("Walkabout")
- Rose insists her husband is still alive.
- Claire reads the names of the dead during their mass funeral.
- Jack visits his father in the morgue. ("White Rabbit")
- Jack opens his father's coffin and discovers the body is missing.
- In a Previously on Lost recap, the survivors discuss the distress signal. Jack discovers the caves and tells the other survivors. ("House of the Rising Sun")
- Jack realizes the survivors could set up camp in the caves.
- Jack tries to convince Kate to live in the caves.
- Sun contemplates leaving Jin at the airport.
- The survivors begin trying to clear the cave-in. ("The Moth")
- Jack and Charlie escape the cave-in.
- Jack talks to Kate before she heads back to the beach.
- Sayid exiles himself from the camp. ("Confidence Man")
- Sayid discovers the cable in the sand. ("Solitary")
- Nadia tells Sayid that he is pretending to be a person she knows he's not.
- Sawyer comes to the golf course.
- In a Previously on Lost recap, Sayid says goodbye to Kate. ("Raised by Another")
- Charlie runs back to Claire after telling Ethan to get Jack.
- Jack succeeds in resuscitating Charlie. ("All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues")
- Michael returns to the caves. Charlie, recently returned to camp, thinks about having failed Claire.
- Shannon asks Kate about the whereabouts of Boone and Locke.
- Kate and Sawyer go swimming. ("Whatever the Case May Be")
- Kate watches Sawyer walk away with the Haliburton case.
- Sawyer drops the case from a height to open it. Kate runs away with it.
- Rose talks to Charlie about Claire's kidnapping.
- Jack catches Kate with the marshal's key.
- Jack brings Kate the case.
- The survivors move their camp up the beach.
- Kate takes Jack to Sun's garden. ("Hearts and Minds")
- Michael considers Susan's request to temporarily split up. ("Special")
- Michael tells Walt that Brian is letting him keep Vincent.
- Charlie reads Claire's diary.
- Jin asks Sun if she thinks Claire's baby is alright. ("Homecoming")
- Claire asks Charlie who Ethan is.
- Sun tends to Jin after Ethan attacks him.
- Hurley speaks at Scott's funeral.
- Sawyer decides not to shoot the boar he's been following. ("Outlaws")
- Jin stares out at the sea. ("...In Translation")
- The survivors try to put out the fire on the raft.
- Jin tells Sun that he does whatever her father asks him to so they can stay together.
- The survivors leave after Sun reveals she speaks English.
- Jin visits his father.
- Jin leaves Sun.
- Hurley hugs Danielle. ("Numbers")
- He returns to the others with a battery.
- Sayid forges a pair of glasses for Sawyer. ("Deus Ex Machina")
- Jack begins tending to Boone.
- In a Previously on Lost recap, Locke brings a critically injured Boone to the caves. ("Do No Harm")
- Sun tells Jack to get some air while she tends to Boone.
- Sayid and Shannon arrive at their picnic site.
- Jack prepares to cut off Boone's leg.
- Boone lets Jack "off the hook" and starts to die.
- Claire gives birth. Boone dies.
- The survivors bury Boone. ("The Greater Good")
- Shannon finds a picture of her and Boone.
- Jin refuses to talk to Sun. ("Born to Run")
- Charlie plays the guitar while Claire cuts his hair.
- Jack gets Sun to confess to poisoning Michael's water.
- Kate stares at the fire.
- Sun talks to her.
- Kate approaches Jack on the beach. ("Exodus, Part 1")
- Charlie collects messages for his bottle.
- The group heading to the Black Rock say their goodbyes to the group leaving on the raft.
- In a Previously on Lost recap, Jack and Arzt discuss the plan to blow open the Hatch. The group heading to the Black Rock say their goodbyes to those leaving on the Raft. The Raft is launched. ("Exodus, Part 2")
- The survivors arrive at the caves.
- Sayid and Charlie return to camp with Aaron. In a flashback, the survivors board Oceanic 815.
- Sawyer climbs back onto the broken Raft after swimming to retrieve the pontoon. ("Adrift")
- In a Previously on Lost recap, Charlie collects messages for the Raft. Michael and Sawyer reach the beach after the Raft is destroyed. ("Everybody Hates Hugo")
- Shannon visits Boone's grave. ("Abandoned")
- Sawyer collapses.
- The tailies deal with the immediate aftermath of the crash. ("The Other 48 Days")
- Eko retrieves dead from the sea.
- Ana retrieves Bernard from his tree.
- Ana and Goodwin try to build a fire.
- Cindy tells the Tailies that the plane was a thousand miles off course when they crashed.
- Ana drinks from a river. Goodwin approaches her.
- Ana cries in the jungle.
- Jack removes Sawyer's clothes in the shower. ("Collision")
- Eko looks at the guns in the Swan's armory.
- The survivors hold a funeral for Shannon. ("What Kate Did")
- Kate asks Charlie if he thinks there could be horses on the Island.
- In a Previously on Lost recap, Charlie throws his drugs into the fire. ("The 23rd Psalm")
- Michael talks to Walt on the Swan computer.
- In a Previously on Lost recap, the Others kidnap Walt and destroy the Raft. Jack and Kate kiss. ("The Hunting Party")
- Locke and Sawyer talk as they climb up a cliff.
- The A-Team walks back to camp after looking for Michael.
- They reach the camp.
- Charlie sees Locke with Claire.
- Rousseau takes Sayid to her prisoner. ("One of Them")
- Sun's pregnancy test turns out positive. ("The Whole Truth")
- In a Previously on Lost recap, Locke recounts his dealings with his father. Helen convinces him to move on. ("Lockdown")
- Jack and Kate lead Michael back to the camp. ("Two for the Road")
- Christian and Ana Lucia agree to go to Australia with each other.
- Jack paces right after Libby dies. ("?")
- Michael returns to camp. ("Three Minutes")
- Michael pets Vincent on the beach.
- Desmond tells Penny about the race he's going on. ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1")
- Claire and Charlie kiss. ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 2")
- Jack wakes up in a holding room in the Hydra. ("A Tale of Two Cities")
- Sawyer kisses Kate. ("The Glass Ballerina")
- Kate and Sawyer look at Juliet after she shoots Pickett. ("Not in Portland")
- Karl talks to Kate and Sawyer. ("Stranger in a Strange Land")
- Sawyer tells Karl to go back to Alex. ("Stranger in a Strange Land")
- Sawyer tells Hurley that there is no hope on the Island. ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead")
- Danielle tells Kate why she fears meeting Alex. ("Par Avion")
- Paulo promises to Nikki that they will never become as combative as Boone and Shannon. ("Exposé")
- Jack calls Juliet "one of us." ("One of Us")
- Sawyer tells Kate that he won't let her use him. ("Catch-22")
- Jack tells Charlie and Desmond to go to the Looking Glass to turn off the signal jammer. ("Greatest Hits")
- Claire takes Aaron, not noticing Charlie's ring.
- The survivors prepare to leave for the radio tower. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
- Alex meets her mother for the first time. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 2")
The Losties walk to the radio tower.
- Juliet tells Michael about her deal to save Rachel. ("The Deal")
- Sun buries her California driver's license. ("Buried Secrets")
- Ethan tells Jack his wife died in childbirth. ("Jack, Meet Ethan. Ethan? Jack")
- The beach group reunites with the radio tower group. ("The Beginning of the End")
- The survivors see the helicopter, safely on the ground. ("Confirmed Dead")
- Jin tries to buy a second panda. ("Ji Yeon")
- Daniel begins ferrying passengers to the Freighter. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
- The survivors board the helicopter. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")
- Daniel says goodbye to Charlotte. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")
- Rose and Bernard run at each other, confused. ("Because You Left")
- Daniel tells Richard that he's in love with Charlotte. ("Jughead")
- Sawyer and Jin reunite. ("This Place Is Death")
- Jack runs toward Hurley's screams. ("316")
- Flight 316 takes off.
- The plane flashes to the Island.
- We revisit the scene of Jack running to help Hurley and Kate.
- La Fleur and Jin discuss their progress searching the island. ("LaFleur")
- Frank pilots Flight 316 through a storm. ("Namaste")
- Richard says he saw Sun's friends die. ("Follow the Leader")
- Juliet breaks out of her cuffs. ("The Incident, Part 1")
- Electromagnetism pulls down the drill at the Swan site. ("The Incident, Part 2")
Moving on. The doors open for everyone who is ready.
- Sawyer tells Kate Jack deserves to stay stuck on the island. ("LA X, Part 2")
- Sayid, resurrected, talks with Miles and Hurley. ("What Kate Does")
- Jack and Hurley rediscover the caves. ("Lighthouse")
- Ilana and her group find Miles in the Temple. ("Sundown")
- Sawyer talks to Zoe. ("Recon")
- Sawyer enters Widmore's submarine.
- Sawyer makes a deal with Widmore.
- Sawyer talks to Kate after returning from Hydra Island.
- Jack shows Sun a stubborn tomato. ("The Package")
- Jack leaps off the Elizabeth. ("The Last Recruit")
- Bernard tells Jack that there was another man in the same accident as Locke. ("The Candidate")
- In a Previously on Lost recap, Jin and Sun die. The remaining survivors mourn their loss. ("What They Died For")
- Richard and Miles find Frank in the water. ("The End")
Sheet music
Influences
Besides its main theme, "Credit Where Credit Is Due" introduces its counterpoint.
Variations
Variations on the theme from "Credit Where Credit Is Due" appear in "Act Now, Regret Later", "Aloha", "Ana Cries", "Booneral", "Closure", "Can't Kill Keamy", "Crash and Yearn", "Crazy Town", "Departing Sun", "Dharma vs Lostaways", "Flying High," "The Four Amigos", "The Hole Shabang", "Jack's Swan Song", "Just Another Day on the Beach", "Just Die Already", "Locke v. Jack", "The Long Kiss Goodbye", "Maternity Hell", "Monster Eats the Pilot", "Moving On", "Naomi Phone Home", "Naval Gazing", "Oceanic 815", "The Only Pebble in the Jungle", "Paddle Jumper Reprise", "Shepharding Sun", "Sticking to Their Guns", "Sundown", "A Sunken Feeling", "SS Lost-tanic", "Sunny Outlook", "Temple And Spring", "Temple And Taxi", "Through the Window" and "Together or Not Together".
The piece also appears to have influenced a number other themes, including the departure theme.
Title significance
The first time this music plays is while the opening credits for the show are rolling. In other words, credit is being given to those involved at a time where it would seem appropriate to give them credit.
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