The Choral Section of “Farewell Neverland”(2:19) from Hook haunts my soul

[Mr. Gitz 85]

My god. 
 

Have you ever listened to a piece of music where it makes you feel as if, for just a moment, all the universes answers are within reach and the meaning of life itself is about it be revealed to you? But then the moment ends and it all slips away?

 

I’m not a spiritual man. I’m not religious. But when I listen to JW’s Hook score, specifically “Farewell Neverland” when the hauntingly beautiful choral 2:19 come in? It’s as if I can step outside of myself and see the big picture. It’s hard to describe.
 

What a piece of music! It makes my soul ache, makes me yearn for memories long gone. I can feel it in every fibre of my being. This isn’t simply “music”. No. It’s so much more. It’s memory, nostalgia, love, hurt and sorrow all distilled in one profoundly ethereal piece. It’s the human soul given music form. 
 

I feel like the kid from “American Beauty” who watches a bag blow in the wind & sees all the beauty of the world represented in that single moment.

[BB-8 3,479]

 

 

[Thor 7,512]

It's a good moment, but I get the same feeling not in that track, but in "The Face of Pan"/"You are the Pan". Always have. One of the best John Williams compositions of all time, that one.

[1977 1,743]

Agree.

 

Some of the choral work is absolutely ethereal and seems to connect directly with the soul on an almost tangible level.

 

As someone once put it to me, it makes one miss people one has never met.

 

If Face of Pan was based on Agnes of God, I have to say Williams took that piece and absolutely elevated it into the stratosphere.

[Tallguy 3,398]

I'm sure I have some Empire of the Sun pieces around here somewhere...

[artguy360 1,843]

10 hours ago, JTWfan77 said:

Agree.

 

Some of the choral work is absolutely ethereal and seems to connect directly with the soul on an almost tangible level.

 

As someone once put it to me, it makes one miss people one has never met.

 

If Face of Pan was based on Agnes of God, I have to say Williams took that piece and absolutely elevated it into the stratosphere.

I think JW did what he so often does when working off a temp track. He makes his music much more emotionally or narratively direct and gives the individual musical components a more interesting phrasing. Similar to The Immolation Scene from ROTS and the piece it is based on. JW heightens the emotions and speaks a little more directly.

[Mr. Gitz 85]

13 hours ago, Thor said:

It's a good moment, but I get the same feeling not in that track, but in "The Face of Pan"/"You are the Pan". Always have. One of the best John Williams compositions of all time, that one.

Oh for sure that’s a tremendous piece. One of JW’s all time best. But that’s a little more uplifting & inspiring. 

 

But there’s something just so…achingly beautiful about this composition. It pierces right through you. 
 

What a score
 

 

[1977 1,743]

Also Hatching Baby Raptor. Manages to sound hauntingly beautiful yet unsettling at the same time. A perfect marriage of visuals and music.

[Incanus 5,715]

This particular choral passage has always been one of my favourite moments in Hook. Simply magical.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,897]

Coincidentally I was going to make a similar comment a few days ago about this same section. It's neat that we all seem to have had the exact same experience with the same piece... You have a hard time describing it, but everyone here knows precisely what you're talking about. Just Johnny's brilliance on display again!

 

[Brando 1,864]

The ending of Hook fills me with sadness for whatever reason and the chorus there definitely doesn't help haha. Its a great cue.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,897]

It's so strangely sad for a happy ending. It's a weird indescribable combination of emotions. 

[Brando 1,864]

Yes and yes. A very strange happy sad feeling.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

If the movie had handled the lost boys better, i think it would be a better regarded film than it is. But it really is not a bad movie and it ticks the emotions a lot. Music is sublime

[Tallguy 3,398]

3 hours ago, Luke Skywalker said:

If the movie had handled the lost boys better, i think it would be a better regarded film than it is. But it really is not a bad movie and it ticks the emotions a lot. Music is sublime

 

This is arguably true. I like the Lost Boys less than the sets.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Seriously, the punk and street band look of some of them put me off already as a 10 year old at time of release

[Thor 7,512]

7 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

It's so strangely sad for a happy ending. It's a weird indescribable combination of emotions. 

 

Or bittersweet, as we like to call it. HOOK is filled with those sentiments.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Yeah it really picks up on the sentiment of nostalgia for childhood when you see it as a grown adult.

 

that is why I like the childhood song so much.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

I listened to this track a lot when first discovering scores in the early 00s and completely agree. When the strings come in at 3:08 it's like you've been transported into some alternate universe where you're forever going to be a kid but you can almost see a glimpse into the darkness of the world's troubles.

 

Also, the ending - I wasn't aware until recently that Williams hadn't intended it to go at the end of the credits because it works so damn well as the final sendoff for the score.

[BB-8 3,479]

I just got similar hauntings from the Samuel Barberesque apotheosis of HEIDI.