Somewhere Out There: Songs of James Horner (Part 2)


In Part 1, I looked at the film songs of James Horner ranging from An American Tail to Balto. This next grouping of Horner's songs (1997-2009) has some of his biggest films, big song hits, and themes given pop arrangements.

James Cameron originally didn't want a song at the end of Titanic (1997), thinking it would be out of place for his drama.  Horner imagined the song "My Heart Will Go On" as a lullaby and got Will Jennings to set lyrics to the love theme.  They set out to record a demo with Celine Dion who was originally hesitant to record it.  Eventually Cameron "went commercial" and added the song to the end credits and soundtrack album.  The produced single became a worldwide hit, topping charts and becoming Dion's signature song.  The song's addition on the soundtrack helped make the album one of the best-selling film scores in history.  Titanic gave Horner a double Oscar win - for Original Score and Original Song, double wins at the Golden Globes and three Grammys including Song and Record of the Year.

The Mask of Zorro (1998) let Horner loose with a rollicking adventure score.  The love theme was given lyrics by Will Jennings to become "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You".  The romantic song was performed by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena.  In Mighty Joe Young (1998), the main theme appears as the source music lullaby -  "Windsong" and is heard several times in the film.  Will Jennings' lyrics were translated into Swahili and the lovely choral arrangement was done by Lebo M.

For Bicentennial Man (1999), he had the formulaic ballad "Then You Look at Me" which reunited Horner with Jennings and Celine Dion.  After the film's lackluster performance, Dion's single version was dropped.  Horner used the main theme for The Perfect Storm (2000) in the song "Yours Forever", co-written by John Mellencamp and George Green, performed in the end credits by Mellencamp.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) gave Horner several opportunities for songs - we get source songs, a musical number and an end credits pop version.  The following source songs are sung by the Whos with lyrics by Cynthia Weil: "Happy Who-lidays", "How I Love Who-liday Shopping", "Who-bilation", "Come Come All Ye Whos".  Only the first source song appears on the album.  In one of the few full musical numbers, Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen) sings "Christmas, Why Can't I Find You?" with lyrics by Will Jennings.  The pop version expanded on the song to become "Where Are You Christmas", lyrics by Jennings and Mariah Carey.  Ultimately, Faith Hill recorded the song, appearing on the Billboard charts and just about every Christmas radio station since 2000.

For A Beautiful Mind (2001), Horner utilized the young soprano Charlotte Church's vocals throughout the score.  Much like Annie Lennox for Apollo 13 (1995) and Sissel for Titanic (1997), Horner's wordless vocals adds so much to the score.  Naturally, Church sang the plaintive end credits song "All Love Can Be" featuring lyrics by Jennings.  The same technique is used in Radio (2003), with India.Arie's vocals used minimally in the score.  The end credits song "Eyes of the Heart (Radio's Song)" is performed by India.Arie and written by Horner, Arie, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Big Jim Wright and Obatalye Samuel.    

When Horner was brought late into the production of Troy (2004), he continued to use Tanja Tzarovska's haunting vocals in the score.  With Cynthia Weil, the love theme became the end credit song "Remember", sung by Josh Groban and Tanja Tzarovska.  Strangely, the song is omitted in the 2007 director's cut.  For The New World (2005), Horner wrote hours of music for Terence Malick's Pocahontas tale.  Much of it was left unused, including the song "Listen to the Wind" based on the love theme.  Sung by Haley Westenra and featuring lyrics by Glen Ballard, the unused end credit song is on the soundtrack.  For the end credits of Avatar (2009), Leona Lewis sang the song "I See You", with a melody based on the main Na'vi theme.  The song was co-written by Simon Franglen and had lyrics by Franglen, Kuk Harrell and Horner.  The ballad was nominated for a Golden Globe and Grammy.        

Jennings, Dion, Horner - Titanic winners, 1998 Oscars

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  1. This is awesome. When James Horner composed the score and the songs from the movies: "Titanic", "The Mask of Zorro", "Mighty Joe Young", "Bicentennial Man", "The Perfect Storm", "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", "A Beautiful Mind", "Radio", "Troy", "The New World" and "Avatar". I think James Horner was a living legend. He was a living legend. James Horner was a living legend.

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