Christian Filmmakers

Did you know that some movie scores that have a choir singing in the background are actually singing something with words.  I believe they did it in the Passion of the Christ and also Transformers soundtrack.  One of the most famous to my knowledge is the incredibly powerful score Duel of Fates by John Williams from Episode 1 Phantom Menace:

The words are actually lyrics to a celtic poem translated into Sanscrit.

One day I was listening to the score and as I was enjoying it I started thinking—hey that sounds like they’re singing something in another language.  So to my amazement I found out that it was words.

This is also the case for the first Narnia movie when they’re on the train at the beginning—the beautiful song she is singing she sings “One Breath…” and it seems rather harmless… but it’s there.

This is something for us to be aware of as Christians and thinking for our own scores that sometimes words rather than ooh and ahh can enhance the intensity or power of the music in our films but also that we must realize that which is underneath the greatest soundtracks of our day.

Do you know of any other scores that do this?  I’d be curious to know.

Blessings,
Tom

http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=7196197

Frequently Asked Questions

What do the lyrics mean?

The lyrics are a line from the Celtic poem “Cad Goddeu” (“Battle of the Trees”). The line goes “Under the tongue root a fight most dread, and another raging, behind, in the head.”

What language are the lyrics in?

Sanskrit, an ancient language that originated in India.

I love inside baseball stuff like this!

I wrote and recorded a secular dance tune one time that had a Scripture (don’t recall which one, but IIRC it was somehow appropriate) recorded into the ‘rhythm’ of the song - that is, I ‘translated’ the verse into Morse Code and played as a 16-bar repeating loop.

The song also ended with a slow piano rendition of the melody of ‘I’ll Fly Away’ as part of the overall texture.

I don’t think this is an effective form of communicating - I don’t think that people became more holy because of dit-dot-dit or a semi-obscure melodic reference - but I love Easter Eggs!

Cheers,
Calix

(...I’ve secretly embedded the Wilhelm Scream into this post…)

You know, it’s really hard to find out what the lyrics are in these scores. 

I believe one of the tracks of the Nativity Story had a song in Latin that the choir was singing. 

I had to spend a little time actually finding out what lyrics the singer was singing in the opening credits under the music.  It was no easy endeavor.

The partial Lyrics for the Hymn in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER…

...Some of this may be spelled wrong, but that’s the general gist of the song. Now for a rough English translation:

Cold, hard, empty
Light that has left me
How could I know that you would die?

Goodbye, beloved land
So hard for us to see that’s it’s real and not a dream
Motherland, native home
Goodbye, Motherland

Come! The sea is waiting for us…[something that I’ve forgotten]The vastness of the sea calls to us, and the tides!

Hail to our fathers and our forefathers
We are faithful to the covenant made with the past
Now nothing can stop
Our nation’s victorious march

Sail on fearlessly, pride of the northern seas…[forget the rest]

From the excellent and moving track Evacuating London score by Harry Gregson-Williams sung by vocalist Lisbeth Scott from the opening credits to the first Narnia film:

http://www.narniaweb.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17720&PN=1

These are the official lyrics according to Lisbeth Scott who is the vocalist
in the song “Evacuating London.” The song is played in the beginning of
“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” when the children leave
London and travel by train to professor Kirke’s home.

“One Breath for all
So tender beneath the wall
One Breathe For all
Feel this, feel this, feel this,
So tender….”

That’s a cool post, thanks Tom!  I love the sound and feeling that human voices bring to a project.  Don’t suppose the LOTR songs have any translation?

~ Paul

My dear film makers,
  Lyrics are common in film scores. Here are some examples:

  * Lord of the Rings ... the choir is usually singing in Elvish (or other relevant Middle Earth language), and the lyrics are straight from Tolkien’s original poems. You can read more about it in the score box sets (the multiple-CD and DVD box sets), which have extensive liner notes and an analysis of the score.
  * The Matrix Revolutions ... when Neo is fighting Smith in the climax, the cue is called “Neodammerung” (which is a play on Wagner’s famous “Gotterdammerung”). The choir is singing in Sanskrit, I believe. I have a copy of the lyrics and translation; if you’d like me to send it to you, just e-mail me!
  * The Passion of the Christ of course! The choir is singing in Hebrew, Aramaic, and/or Latin for most of the score. Some of the text is straight from the Bible, and other lyrics are by John Debney (the composer), a Catholic priest, and Lisbeth Scott. The lyrics and translation used to be on John Debney’s web site, but I couldn’t seem to find them. I have a copy, though; again, feel free to e-mail me if you’d like me to send it to you!
  * Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace ... the aforementioned “Duel of the Fates” is in Sanskrit, and the lyrics are an ancient poem about multiple battles going on simultaneously. I’ll try and dig up these lyrics ...
  * The Omen ... “Ave Santani” literally means “Hail Satan,” which we are obviously against as Christians! Jerry Goldsmith wrote this piece, kind of a requiem, as Satan’s theme, which is appropriate for the film. (Let’s not get into artistic ethics now!)
  * Glory ... “Charging Fort Wagner” is a choir that is obviously singing lyrics. I’m not sure what they are, though. It’s used in movie trailers fairly often. (Obviously based on Orff’s “O Fortuna”)
  * X-Men 2 ... the part when Nightcrawler is attacking the White House is a Hollywood adaptation of Mozart’s requiem (and an awesome one, I might add! John Ottman is the man!)
  * Home Alone ... John Williams wrote a song with the theme to the film, “Somewhere In My Memory,” which (I think) is heard near the beginning, during the establishing shot of the house, at the end, and/or during the end credits.
  * “Amistad” ... “Dry Your Tears, Afrika” has a choir that sings Africa-sounding lyrics (not sure what they are, again), with some cool drums.

  Other times, though, the choir is singing lyrics, but it’s the effect of the lyrics that’s important, rather than what they’re singing. (Granted, you usually can’t tell exactly what a choir’s singing during the film anyway, but when it is relevant to the story, like the examples above, it does add that extra layer of artistry.)
  Anyway, sometimes it’s just important that there’s a chanting choir, or that you hear some syllables to make it seem like the choir’s singing something specific.

  And of course, a choir is often used for timbre or color. It adds that extra element of humanity to a film score that nothing else quite can. Here are some famous examples of a wordless choir:

  * Jurassic Park ... when we see the dinosaur for the first time, the glorious and majestic theme starts, which is joined by a choir ... wow! (“Journey to the Island” on the CD, at 5:07)
  * Braveheart, Titanic, Casper, etc. ... throughout the score; James Horner brilliantly weaves a boy’s choir in and out of the orchestra. (He often does this in his scores, with a boys choir and/or a full choir ...)
  * The two recent Narnia movies; Harry Gregson-Williams often uses a choir. Sometimes they seem to have lyrics, and others they don’t. I think he used a virtual choir for at least a few cues in these scores, but I’m not sure! (“Return of the Lion” from Prince Caspian is particularly amazing!)
  * Randy Edelman used a choir in his now-famous theme to Dragonheart. (Especially listen to the first 3 tracks, the 2nd of which uses a choir.)
  * Edward Scissorhands is arguably Danny Elfman’s best score, and it has a choir in most of the score that gives it a very fairy-tale-ish quality.
  * The Polar Express is an amazing score by Alan Silvestri (one of the main themes of which sounds heavily based on Edward Scissorhands, interestingly enough!) that has a choir throughout, giving the score a very magical quality.
  * The Pirates of the Caribbean scores, especially 2 and 3, by Hans Zimmer. I love how the choir is used softly in the background of the love theme in the third film (“One Day”). (On a side note, Davy Jones’ and Calypso’s “music box” theme seems heavily based on the theme to The Polar Express ... talk about interesting! Especially since Alan Silvestri was originally supposed to score the first Pirates film!)
  * Free Willy has an incredible main theme by Basil Poledouris that has a choir. Check out the opening with the whales playing before they’re captured.
  * Hook is one of John Williams’ finest scores ever! He uses a choir frequently throughout, again, giving the score a magical and fairy-tale-ish quality.
  * The Matrix by Don Davis has a few cues that use a choir. One is the incredibly disorienting cue when Neo wakes up in the power plant in the “real world” ... a choir is wordlessly singing in clusters (notes that are really close together). Another is after he comes back to life and defeats Smith; the choir is huge and triumphant!
  * Star Trek: Generations has a choir for the Nexus (an eternal place, like heaven) that several characters get to visit. The rest of the score is “only” an orchestra, but using a choir for the Nexus gives it a heavenly, eternal, content feeling that is absent from the rest of the score. Go Dennis McCarthy!

Alex Beard, composer
http://www.composeralex.com
http://www.myspace.com/composeralex

Van Helsing and The Mummy Returns by Alan Silvestri have plenty of places throughout the scores where he makes use of the aforementioned “chanting choir” for action cues.

Spider-man 1 and 2 by Danny Elfman both have a choir regularly throughout, especially in the main titles. It gives the film a pumped-up, superhero feel. (He also used a choir in Batman, but rather than give the film a pumped-up feel, it made the score darker and more intense.)

There’s also the obvious use for a choir in musicals. Alan Menken had a choir for most, if not all of Disney’s timeless animated films:

  * The Little Mermaid
  * Aladdin
  * Beauty and the Beast
  * Pocahontas
  * Hercules
  * The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  etc.

Then, there are of course solo singers. The same goes for them: sometimes the words they’re singing are important, other times it’s just the effect of it, and sometimes it’s “wordless” or just with simple syllables.

Here are a few examples of them singing words:
  * The aforementioned musicals, although they might not apply since the music is source music rather than score
  * The aforementioned Narnia films, like at the beginning of the first one while the kids are on the train
  * The aforementioned Lord of the Rings films, like when Gandalf dies, and Aragorn and Arwen’s tender moment (sung by Enya) during the first film
  * Gladiator, sung by Lisa Gerrard ... I heard she actually makes up a language for every film she works on!
  * The aforementioned Passion of the Christ, like when Mary is remembering the boy Jesus falling (“Mary Goes to Jesus” on the CD)

Here are a few examples of a solo singer without words:
  * A.I.-Artificial Intelligence (“When Dreams Are Born”)
  * The aforementioned Gladiator, when Maximus returns home and finds his family killed ... wailing female singer
  * Star Wars 2: Attack of the Clones, when Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus meet and discuss stuff at the end of the film (“Confrontation with Count Dooku” on the CD)
  * Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith, when Anakin and Padme look in each other’s direction on Coruscant while he’s in the Jedi Temple (“Padme’s Ruminations” on the CD)
  * The opening of A Beautiful Mind by James Horner (“A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics” on the CD)
  * The aforementioned Titanic, when Rose and Jack kiss on the bow of the ship (“Rose” on the CD, and numerous other tracks, including “Titanic Suite” on the 2nd CD ... haunting and beautiful!)

Anyway, as you can see, there are many uses of a choir and singers in film music, all to achieve different and specific effects. Sometimes the lyrics are obvious and important; other times, they’re not obvious but add creativity and believability to the film; sometimes lyrics are only used to achieve a specific effect; and sometimes a choir is indeed just singing syllables or “nonsense” to add texture to the music.

I hope you found that interesting! That took a while. There are many, MANY other wonderful examples, but these were all I knew off of the top of my head.

EDIT: I thought of another one! Cliff Eidelman has the choir singing/chanting in Klingon (the Klingon for “To be or not to be” in one cue in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ... cool huh?

Alex Beard, composer
http://www.composeralex.com
http://www.myspace.com/composeralex

Alex this is such an awesome list

Thanks so much for posting this.  I can see that you must be a lover of soundtracks.  It truly does add something… I really believe it.

Another track where I heard humming in the wilderness of Prince of Egypt where Moses is leaving Egypt was powerful.  I believe they used an Israeli singer to sing it and I think the same woman sang a song of Moses’ mother putting Moses in the basket.

It’s interesting the way a choir effects the score.  I also remember the powerful sound of the choir in the Abyss.  It gave it a majestic heavenly sound, if you’ve seen the film.

So you have a choir of men you get a cerain sound
You get a choir of women you get a certain sound.
You get a choir of children you get a certain sound.  ( I believe they use this boy’s choir a lot for that sort of sound)

Then there’s the solos like Enya like you were saying

And I totally agree—Danny Elfman’s best score with the children Edward Scissorhands—when she’s spinning in the snow.  Awesome.

Thanks again,
Tom

Hum, I just posted a reply and it didn’t come up…
The info on the soundtracks is great. I wondered about star wars “Battle of the Hero’s”, the others are interesting too…

Alex Beard wrote:

Spider-man 1 and 2 by Danny Elfman both have a choir regularly throughout, especially in the main titles. It gives the film a pumped-up, superhero feel. (He also used a choir in Batman, but rather than give the film a pumped-up feel, it made the score darker and more intense.)

Didn’t Hans Zimmer do the Batman scores?

P.S. I’ve read in a movie score book that Hans Zimmer writes his music, then plays it. He must have a really good ear to do that!