Playground Love

The first track of the score was written by Gordon Tracks, Godin and Dunckel. Gordon Tracks is the name used by Thomas Mars, the singer of Phoenix, who sings and plays drums on it, with Hugo Ferran on saxophone. It was released as a single on 17 January 2000. A new recording, Playground Love (Vibraphone Version), was made especially for the Emperor Norton soundtrack album of the film's songs in March 2000, and a Playground Love EP was part of the 2015 super deluxe box set.

In Pitchfork's list of the best movie scores, Jillian Mapes wrote that the Lisbon girls are like a surreal daydream when set to it, with an intoxicating sax solo and a drowsy, sexy performance by Mars. She added that when the melody returns on piano in Highschool Lover, its coolness has turned wistful. The song appears in 87 of the 332 logged setlists that list songs, the first on 21 January 2000 at KCRW Studios in Santa Monica. Highschool Lover appears in 163.