Barbara Alyn Woods (Deb Scott), Barry Corbin (Coach Durham), Lee Norris (Mouth), Danneel Harris (Rachel), and Antwon Tanner (Skills) do not appear in this episode.

Ratings: 4.24 million viewers

This episode marks the first appearance of Craig Sheffer (Keith Scott) since season 3's "With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept".

Series creator Mark Schwann guest stars as Max, the record store owner. Mark Schwann previously made an appearance on the series in "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me" as the voice of Bill, Pete Wentz's manager.

This episode did not feature the typical opening credits sequence.

Lucas: (voiceover) Have you ever wondered what marks our time here? If one life can really make an impact on the world? Or if the choices we make matter? Sometimes in order to move forward you have to go back. In this case just a few minutes.

(Luke wakes up in the middle of the street; confused, he sees a man walking a few yards ahead of him)
Lucas: Hey!
(Luke runs towards the man)
Lucas: Excuse me, can you tell me what's happening?
(the man turns around)
Keith: Hi Luke.

Lucas: I have to go back.
Keith: Are you sure?
Lucas: I never told Peyton I love her. I've got to go back.

Lucas: So, what if I don't wake up?
Keith: I don't know, you tell me.
Lucas: You don't know? You know, for a spirit you suck at this.
Keith: What do you want me to say?
Lucas: I want to know if there's a heaven. If there's eternal life and all that stuff. I want to know if we're ever going to see each other other again.
Keith: We're seeing each other now aren't we?
Lucas: Ah, man. You really suck at this, Keith.

(the scene flips between Brooke talking to Lucas while he's in a coma and Peyton talking to Haley while she's in a coma as well)
Brooke: (to Lucas) Look, I know you've got a lot going on right now, and just so you know, Karen is a mess.
Peyton: (to Haley) Nathan's a mess. But you got to wake up soon because I need you to take care of Brooke.
Brooke: (to Lucas) You've got to wake up soon because I need you to take care of Peyton.
Peyton: (to Haley) I just ... I can't do it anymore. And it's not like we can leave her with Rachel.
Brooke: (to Lucas) Besides, you're really good for her.
Peyton: (to Haley) And I'm not sure she can find her way without you.
Brooke: (to Lucas) What do you say? How about you wake up and help her out?
Peyton & Brooke: Oh, and could you not tell her we had this conversation? Thanks.

Brooke: I thought I'd find you here. I remember when I found you down here when your mom died.
Peyton: That was 8 years ago. You know Ellie used to watch us down here. She told me that once.
Brooke: It's not going to be like that this time Peyton. You're not going to lose Lucas and Haley the way you lost Ellie and your mom.
Peyton: Or like I lost you? I miss you Brooke.
Brooke: I'm still here.
Peyton: Can we be friends again? Please?
Brooke: Sure.
Peyton: Like before?
Brooke: I'm sorry Peyton, I don't think so. Like before is gone.

Keith: Do you really believe that Luke? Look into your heart, okay. It may be flawed physically but it's a good one and it's what makes you you. Luke you've changed other people's lives by opening it up. Don't close that off. Luke, just look around this hallway. You were here that day. What did you see? Open your eyes Luke, open your eyes the way you opened your heart. Open your eyes Luke.
(Luke's eyes jolt open)

(to Haley who's lying unconscious)
Nathan: Hey baby, you know how you're always telling me that you're not going anywhere. Well, I need to hold you to that right now, okay. I need you to come back to me. Listen, just move one of your fingers if you can hear me, okay? Just move one of those beautiful fingers and let me know that you’re still here with me.
(Haley's hand lies motionless)

Peyton: (to Lucas) You're always saving me. Please let me find a way to save you.

(Nathan is praying in the hospital chapel; Lucas and Keith are in the chapel with him)
Nathan: I know I did a horrible thing, okay? But I deserve to be punished for that, not Haley. She’s a good person. She’d be a great mother if ... Look, I know it must suck how people are always asking for things and never giving anything back. And I know that Keith saved me at that bridge, but Haley saved me long before the accident. There has to be a miracle left for her. Please ... please don’t take her from me. Don’t take our child from her.

When Nathan is at the bridge, his knuckles show no sign of the cuts he suffered while punching Daunte even though it only happened a few hours before. His knuckles are also not cut when Nathan goes to visit Dan in prison.

Episode Title: Songs To Love And Die By

"Songs To Love And Die By" is the title of a song by 8MM.

It's A Wonderful Life

This episode is a tribute to the holiday classic It's A Wonderful Life. In the film George is led around by Clarence, a ghost, who makes George see how life would have been if George had never been born, similar to how Keith leads Lucas around a world where Lucas wasn't the good guy he's always been.

Peyton: Can we be friends again? Please?
Brooke: Sure.
Peyton: Like before?
Brooke: I’m sorry Peyton. Like before is gone.

Brooke and Peyton had a similar conversation about their friendship in "What Is And What Should Never Be" after Brooke discovers that Lucas cheated on her with Peyton.

(to Lucas about when Lucas submitted Peyton's drawings to THUD magazine)
Keith: You told her that her art mattered. She needed that.

In The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most", Lucas tells Peyton that her art matters to him after he stumbles across her sketches in her car. Later in "Are You True", Lucas sees Peyton throw her drawings away and ends up submitting them to THUD magazine.

The theme of this episode is the same as in the Christmas classic It's A Wonderful Life. Though this episode does not take place during Christmastime in Tree Hill, the episode was the last to air before the winter hiatus only a few weeks before Christmas. Like the film, Lucas is taken back into the past to show how his good deeds touched several lives. In It's A Wonderful Life, George attempts suicide, thinking that it would have been better if he was never born, but his mind is changed after Clarence, a ghost, shows him what life would have been like if George never existed. Throughout the episode, clips from the movie are shown on hospital televisions and relate to the part of the storyline at that point in the episode.