I will soon be embarking on a new video game project where I would like to use public domain music that is recognizable from usage in movies and TV shows.

In doing so, I realized there are quite a lot of such songs and that I may as well catalog what I have found during my research.

So if - for example - you are someone out there who creates music packs for video games or other purposes, here are some songs that you can create your own versions of and give away or sell, as you choose.

Standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.  Anybody using music listed here should do their own research into whether a specific version of a song is permissible under public domain or whether it is subject to copyright.  As a general rule of thumb (in the US at least), compositions from 100+ years ago would be in the public domain, but specific performances/recordings made more recently than that are still subject to copyright restrictions.  Again, I am not a lawyer.  Please consider this a jumping off point for your own research if you are interested in using public domain music in any sort of project

Now, onto the list of public domain songs that are instantly recognizable from their use in such familiar movies and TV shows as Ocean's Eleven, Titanic, Die Hard, Apocalypse Now, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and more!  These songs are presented in no particular order, and of course, includes some spoilers for popular movies/TV shows.

(I will continue expanding this list as time allows.  Also, at some point, I will come back through and link each of these to YouTube clips of the song being used in pop culture, but I first wanted to get this list down in writing as a first step)

1. "The Ode to Joy" by Ludwig van Beethoven.  This song has been used in a variety of films, including Die Hard (when the vault opens), Get Smart (the climactic concert is this song which "ends with a bang"), and Dead Poet's Society (when the football team succeeds), to name a few
2. "Clair de Lune" by Claude Debussy.  This is the song that plays in Ocean's Eleven (the George Clooney version) as the gang watches the Bellagio Fountains
3. "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin.  This is the theme song from The Sting (with Paul Newman and Robert Redford).  It also plays in The Simpsons when Homer recounts his misadventures in New York City, from the episode Homer vs. New York City
4. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."  You'll probably remember this song most from Dr. Strangelove whenever we come back to the goings-on of the bomber plane, but it was also used in Die Hard with a Vengeance
5. "Singin' in the Rain" lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown.  Although this song was used in the film Singin' in the Rain, which released in 1952 and is therefore not in the public domain (meaning that version of the song is still under copyright as well), the song Singin' in the Rain predates the film, going all the way back to 1929, putting the composition in the public domain in the US, so you're free to make your own version of it.  Note that this is one of the few songs on the list with lyrics to it
6. "Nearer My God to Thee."  This song supposedly was played by the band onboard the Titanic as it sank back in 1912, which means it goes back far enough to be in the public domain.  As you might expect, the song is used in the film Titanic
7. "By the Beautiful Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss.  This song is connected to outer space through two pieces of pop culture.  In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the song plays during a docking sequence, highlighting the beauty of the maneuver.  The song also play in the episode of The Simpsons where Homer becomes an astronaut - in space, he opens a bag of chips, causing the chips to float around; in response, Homer chomps them one at a time as this song plays
8. "Romeo and Juliet" by Tchaikovsky.  This has been used in films and TV shows as diverse as Moonraker, Wayne's World, A Christmas Story, and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
9. "Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major" and "Piano Sonata no. 8 in C minor, op. 13, Pathétique."  In the Pez dispenser episode of Seinfeld, George's girlfriend is a classical pianist, and both of these songs make an appearance in the episode, according to IMDB
10. "Ride of the Valkyries" by Wagner.  Apocalypse Now famously utilizes this song as a squadron of helicopters make their way to battle and commence an attack
11. "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss.  Another song from 2001: A Space Odyssey, this one plays near the start of the film when the the obelisk is discovered
12. "Colonel Bogey March" by Lieutenant Kenneth J Alford.  This song plays in the World War 2 film Bridge on the River Kwai as a jaunty tune signifying getting to work