As you already know, I have a love affair with Danny Elfman’s music.
This morning I deviated from my current obsession with Beetlejuice and instead of listening to that soundtrack during my morning commute I was inspired by the snow flurries to put in the music from Edward Scissorhands. A coworker had reminded me about the beauty of it when I was talking about my love of the Beetlejuice soundtrack. She mentioned that she often played it when laying her grandson down to sleep. Just after that conversation I went and found my copy of the soundtrack and set it out where I’d be able to just grab it and go but continued on with my unexplainable Beetlejuice fascination.
This morning I was in my car, letting it defrost before work, and already listening to the Beetlejuice soundtrack when I really noticed that there were snow flurries still falling all around my car. I couldn’t resist the urge to run back inside the house and grab the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack to play during the morning commute.
Sure enough, the haunting score went extremely well with the drive to work in the light bit of snow. Have you listened to that soundtrack lately? If you’re like me, you’re probably familiar with it, like it but haven’t pulled it out of the CD case in a couple of years. Now I’m sad that I didn’t reach for it sooner.
While this score does have the manic quality in several places, the overall feel of it is comparable to the image of Kim turning in the “snow†as Edward creates the ice sculpture. The score manages to create a feeling of wonder and light all tinged with the overwhelming loneliness that gives it a haunting tone. Again, you can hear Danny Elfman’s love of brass and woodwinds with the way that he lets them shine right along with the strings.
Danny Elfman, you truly are a god among composers.
True, I’ll probably pop in Beetlejuice for the commute home (as that crazy manic sound is better suited to my swearing at other drivers) but I think I’ll relax later tonight with the Edward Scissorhands score. What about you? After listening to the score again, what are your thoughts on the music? Or do you prefer Elfman’s less “ethereal†sounding scores?
