Any other film scores that work the verse melody of a tie-in song into the score, instead of the chorus melody?

[Jay 37,372]

I was listening to the new expansion of Tomorrow Never Dies for the umpteenth time, and realized something:  When Arnold references the song throughout the underscore, it's always with the verse melody (you can sing along "your life is a story I've already written, the news is that I am in control"), while the chorus melody isn't referenced at all in the score, as far as I can tell (please correct me if I'm wrong)

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is different than, the first example that comes to mind is Into The West from Return Of The King, where the chorus melody is a theme representing the Grey Havens

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course in Titanic, Horner uses the verse and chorus melodies of My Heart Will Go On abundantly, so maybe I'm overthinking things

[Holko 9,530]

Ah, that's why I was disappointed by this melody in the score when I gave the LLL a trial run. I started out loving it but it always moves towards something but never climaxes in the score proper, not even in the climax or something like that.

[Jay 37,372]

What?  I love the way it builds in White Knight from 7:10-7:32 (especially when the second run-through is backed up by those amazing horn triplets from 7:24-7:32) and then climaxes from 7:32-7:36, only to come right back again in modified form to bridge into into the big Bond theme finale that starts at 8:07. Brilliant!

[Faleel 5,359]

The chorus melody is used though, all over Vietnam for example

 

Horns at the end of Station Break (3:02)

 

0:31 of Bike Shop Fight

[Jay 37,372]

9 minutes ago, Clockwork Angel said:

The chorus melody is used though, all over Vietnam for example

 

I'm not hearing it.  Can you be more specific?

 

9 minutes ago, Clockwork Angel said:

Horns at the end of Station Break (3:02)

 

Huh, I guess I can hear the similarity, are you sure they're the same though?

[Faleel 5,359]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

I'm not hearing it.  Can you be more specific?

 

 

 

The electric violin/guitar thingy melody...

 

Basically:

 

"To-mor-ow Ne-ver diies oooowooo"

 

Possibly 2:07 of Ha Long Bay

[MrJosh 892]

The chorus is used at the very end of the film in All in a Day's Work at 2:50 to around the 4 minute mark or so. Although he plays around with the melody of it a little bit, it's not exactly verbatim. 

 

 

[Faleel 5,359]

2:50 of All in a Day's Work

 

Ninja'd

[MrJosh 892]

All in a Day's Work

 

2:55 is ...morow never diiiiies (in horns/ strings), 

3:23, trumpets follow contour of "surrender"

3:27, trumpets on 'tomorrow will arrive..." but then the "on time" soars upward in a more heroic fashion. 

 

and then of course the quiet piano solo is the chorus. 

 

 

Actually is an interesting point that we don't hear the chorus in the score until the very end. I wonder if he did that on purpose, only playing the verse melodies through the rest of the score until the big finale. 

[Faleel 5,359]

Note those other potential appearances are around scenes Yeoh's Character is in

[Jay 37,372]

18 minutes ago, Clockwork Angel said:

The electric violin/guitar thingy melody...

 

Basically:

 

"To-mor-ow Ne-ver diies oooowooo"

 

Possibly 2:07 of Ha Long Bay

 

I dunno, maybe I am dense but I don't hear it >shrug<

 

15 minutes ago, MrJosh said:

The chorus is used at the very end of the film in All in a Day's Work at 2:50 to around the 4 minute mark or so. Although he plays around with the melody of it a little bit, it's not exactly verbatim. 

 

Oh man, I've heard this music a million times and never picked up that this is references the chorus melody.  I hear it now!  Yea, it's modified a bit, but I think its intentionally meant to reference it here

 

11 minutes ago, MrJosh said:

All in a Day's Work

 

2:55 is ...morow never diiiiies (in horns/ strings), 

3:23, trumpets follow contour of "surrender"

3:27, trumpets on 'tomorrow will arrive..." but then the "on time" soars upward in a more heroic fashion. 

 

Yea, I hear it!

 

11 minutes ago, MrJosh said:

and then of course the quiet piano solo is the chorus. 

 

Somehow I never picked up on that, either!  I feel stupid!

 

 

11 minutes ago, MrJosh said:

Actually is an interesting point that we don't hear the chorus in the score until the very end. I wonder if he did that on purpose, only playing the verse melodies through the rest of the score until the big finale. 

 

Seems like it, to me!

[Faleel 5,359]

2 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

I dunno, maybe I am dense but I don't hear it >shrug<

 

 

 

>Shrug< it was apparent to me the first time I heard the cue years ago.

[Jay 37,372]

Anyways, are there any scores besides Tomorrow Never Dies and Titanic that integrate a tie-in song's verse melody into its underscore?

[mrbellamy 6,291]

I guess it's not really the same because they're musicals but Alan Menken's scores for Disney use verse melodies from the songs in the underscore pretty frequently. 

 

This might be an unusual one, Alan Silvestri's end credits song "Believe" for Polar Express, the verse melody is the main theme of the score while the chorus at 1:12 I don't think is ever used? 

 

 

[Jay 37,372]

8 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Alan Silvestri's end credits song "Believe" for Polar Express, the verse melody is the main theme of the score while the chorus at 1:12 I don't think is ever used? 

 

 

Nice find, just the kind of stuff I'm looking for!

[Mr. Who 919]

30 minutes ago, Jay said:

Anyways, are there any scores besides Tomorrow Never Dies and Titanic that integrate a tie-in song's verse melody into its underscore?

Avatar. The main theme in the score is also used in the end credits song “I See You”.

[mrbellamy 6,291]

Yeah but the chorus is the main theme, not the verse. 

[Jay 37,372]

Right...

[mrbellamy 6,291]

43 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

I guess it's not really the same because they're musicals but Alan Menken's scores for Disney use verse melodies from the songs in the underscore pretty frequently. 

 

I'll just throw this example out there because I think it is actually pretty much what you're looking for.

 

In Aladdin, Menken tends to use the verse of "A Whole New World" as an incidental theme in the underscore without letting it go into the chorus. I don't know this score super well but from what I can remember there's only one moment where he does use the chorus as part of the score and that's the cue right after the song itself. So 0:51 is the verse, and then 1:08 the chorus melody, and back to the verse at 1:27.

 

 

So then after that there's a series of cues that have a bunch of instances in a row where he references the verse melody but not the chorus 

 

At 0:00-0:13 and 0:29-0:33

 

 

 

0:10-0:35

 

 

 

And this whole cue basically turns into a warped comically evil version lol

 

 

 

I don't remember there being more going into the climax but I might be wrong. But anyway the finale cue is where he uses the verse in the underscore once again and finally builds back up to a sung reprise of the chorus. 

 

 

[Jay 37,372]

Well done!

[Mr. Who 919]

2 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

Yeah but the chorus is the main theme, not the verse. 

Actually, the verse of the I See You song uses a theme from the score. I’m not sure what to call it… either a B section of the main theme or a love theme for Jake and Neytiri.
 

Becoming One of the People features the melody in the verse and the melody in the chorus. The flute (film version) and solo female vocal (ost version) plays/sings the verse theme in the opening of the track.

 

The theme melody in the verse of the I See You song plays at 0:09 in this cue from the score.

[Smeltington 1,441]

I guess Horner does this a lot. Aren't the chorus and verse melodies from Land Before Time both present in the score as well?

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

On 14/01/2023 at 12:18 AM, MrJosh said:

All in a Day's Work

 

2:55 is ...morow never diiiiies (in horns/ strings), 

3:23, trumpets follow contour of "surrender"

3:27, trumpets on 'tomorrow will arrive..." but then the "on time" soars upward in a more heroic fashion. 

 

and then of course the quiet piano solo is the chorus. 

 

 

Actually is an interesting point that we don't hear the chorus in the score until the very end. I wonder if he did that on purpose, only playing the verse melodies through the rest of the score until the big finale. 

 

Can't hear it.

 

[GerateWohl 4,371]

The Born Free song does not really have a chorus (or a verse?). But it is basically all over the score.

Same with Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

TRAPPED LOVERS (aka: FACING THE FLAMES)

[JNHFan2000 2,968]

I can't remember exactly. But I believe Marc Shaiman uses all different parts of the songs in the Mary Poppins Returns score.

 

Mark Mancina uses How Far Will I Go in Moana's score 2 or 3 times. Navigating Home might be a good example I think.

 

 

[mstrox 6,651]

6 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

The Born Free song does not really have a chorus (or a verse?). But it is basically all over the score.

Same with Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.

Similarly “Where are you Christmas” from the live action Grink movie, which I thought was a lock.  The song apparently doesn’t have a verse melody - it’s just chorus, chorus, chorus, bridge, key change, loud chorus.

[Jurassic Shark 12,084]

Gotta love chorus.

[filmmusic 1,839]

Final Fantasy uses the whole song in its score:

 

 

[mrbellamy 6,291]

44 minutes ago, mstrox said:

Similarly “Where are you Christmas” from the live action Grink movie, which I thought was a lock.  The song apparently doesn’t have a verse melody - it’s just chorus, chorus, chorus, bridge, key change, loud chorus.

 

Pretty much the same structure as "Somewhere in My Memory" 

[HyenaBoy 29]

I know Transformers: Dark of the Moon uses the verse melody of "Iridescent" in some tracks (only found in the complete score, however).

[Stark 316]

40 minutes ago, HyenaBoy said:

I know Transformers: Dark of the Moon uses the verse melody of "Iridescent" in some tracks (only found in the complete score, however).

Transformers: Age of Extinction uses all parts of its respective song Battle Cry extensively as well.

 

 

For an example only I may care about , the score for the animated show RWBY by Jeff Williams uses both obvious and subtle elements of its songs as many leitmotifs throughout the score.

[NL197 368]

The curious thing about the few times Arnold referenced the “Tomorrow Never Dies” chorus in the score, (and indeed it’s the grand finale of the cue “All in a Day’s Work”) is that it’s really a motif Arnold made for two other scores he did: 

 

He first used it in his debut score “The Young Americans” although the cue that featured it is in the film and not on the short soundtrack album. 

 

 The most obvious use of it was for the First Lady in INDEPENDENCE DAY as the motif for when she is found in the helicopter wreckage and later on when President Whitaker and his daughter say goodbye to her when she dies. 
 

 

it comes at the end of this cue. 

 

 

and it is throughout this cue. 

[Jay 37,372]

Hmm I hear the similarity for sure but its not exactly the same right?

[Andy 4,141]

I’m no music scholar and I can’t recall if the song was written after the score, but the verse melodies from Dream Away from The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing are used I think exclusively in the score. I’m not sure the “Dream Away” chorus is used at all.