Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas came out in 1993. It’s a stop-motion animated musical, with music by legendary composer Danny Elfman. He’s won Emmys, a Grammy, and been nominated for four Oscars. His work includes the music for Tim Burton’s Batman films, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films, Good Will Hunting, and the theme to The Simpsons. From 1979 to 1995, he was the singer and songwriter in the band Oingo Boingo.
The Nightmare Before Christmas takes place in a world where different holidays all have their own realm. And the story is about Jack Skellington, the leader of Halloweentown, a place where it’s always Halloween, and Halloween is all they know, and Jack has grown a little tired of it. But then, Jack discovers a portal to Christmastown, with snow and Santa and all things Christmas inhabiting it. He's never seen anything like it, and the discovery changes everything. The song "What’s This?" takes place in that moment of discovery. In this episode, Danny Elfman tells the story of how it all came together, and how writing and singing this song for Jack Skellington ended up profoundly connecting to his own life.
For more, visit songexploder.net/danny-elfman.
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Kelela - Rewind
MGMT - Time to Pretend
Courtney Barnett - Depreston
Björk - Stonemilker
Dustin O'Halloran - Transparent (Main Title Theme)
Wilco - Magnetized
Natalia Lafourcade - Hasta la Raíz
Youth Lagoon - The Knower
The Arcs - Put a Flower in Your Pocket
Chet Faker - Gold
Harry Gregson-Williams - The Martian
Deradoorian - A Beautiful Woman
The Magnetic Fields - Andrew in Drag
Joey Bada$$ - Hazeus View
American Football - The One With The Tambourine
Best Coast - Feeling Ok
HEALTH - Stonefist
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
Thundercat - Them Changes
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