Behind the Moon - a Substack column about John Williams: A Composer's Life

[Meredith McKay 7,783]

22 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

So, that time at Tanglewood when he pointed at my "Music by John Williams" shirt with a big smile,

He was pointing you out to security, and smiling, thinking about what they were about to subject you to.

[mrbellamy 7,238]

2 hours ago, Arnaud2 said:

While the joke was funny the first time and is a great compliment by a good friend, it’s always made me feel slightly uncomfortable that they’ve kept repeating it. John Williams has always been humble to a fault and implying that he might not only be the best composer of his time but the only one up to the task of writing a score for Schindler’s list is uncharacteristic of him. It’s also blatantly untrue. His work is a masterpiece but we’ll never know what other great musicians would have come up with. And many other great composers were alive then. I don’t need to name them here.

 

This is kinda why I think it might be interesting to hear him examine it lol, but I think he enjoys it because it's simultaneously humbling and self-aggrandizing. I don't think it's actually meant to be so literally putting him above his peers, though, I think the good-faith interpretation is that Williams sees it as "You may not be the best who ever was, but you're the best I got" in a loving way. I think he's thinking more of how it puts him below or among the composers who came before, not above everyone else who's alive. Because obviously part of the story is Williams does think there are better living composers, but Spielberg doesn't, and that's what's sweet (and of course it's preaching to the choir at his own concerts.) And it's Spielberg managing Williams' insecurity about living up to the task. That's why it makes sense to me that it's his favorite story. 

[Tom 5,562]

18 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

So, that time at Tanglewood when he pointed at my "Music by John Williams" shirt with a big smile, he was actually thinking "I hope security's not too far"?

 

 

 

He was actually pointing you out to security.  

 

Edit: I see that I repeated a joke two posts above.  So, it looks like I am going to need a better joke than this.  

[Sunshine Reger 3,646]

10 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

Because obviously part of the story is Williams does think there are better living composers, but Spielberg doesn't

I think Williams was saying it in the abstract "I don't feel good enough do it" and Spielberg replied "but you are the closest I've got to the masters of old".

That's why he loves the quote. Because he sees himself in a Brahms role of a protector of craftsmanship, and indeed in the 2021 German newspaper interview Brahms was Williams's first speculation of his whom Spielberg might have had in mind, which I think was a projection.

 

It partially defeats what Kubrick publically said after rejecting JW's friend Alex North's score to the Space Odyssey, that Hollywood composers are no match for the greats of the past.

 

[Marian Schedenig 10,069]

2 hours ago, Sunshine Reger said:

It partially defeats what Kubrick publically said after rejecting JW's friend Alex North's score to the Space Odyssey, that Hollywood composers are no match for the greats of the past.

 

Did he say that? Because looking at the works he used (not counting source pieces), the oldest of them was just over 100 years old when the film came out, and of the four composers, two were still alive (no greats" of the past"), one was younger than North and the other one only a few years older. And of the other two, one had only been dead for less than 20 years - less than Goldsmith today.

[Sunshine Reger 3,646]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Did he say that? Because looking at the works he used (not counting source pieces), the oldest of them was just over 100 years old when the film came out, and of the four composers, two were still alive (no greats" of the past"), one was younger than North and the other one only a few years older. And of the other two, one had only been dead for less than 20 years - less than Goldsmith today.

"However good our best film composers may be, they are not a Beethoven, a Mozart or a Brahms,"

"Why use music which is less good when there is such a multitude of great orchestral music available from the past and from our own time?"

 

In 1968 in a prominent L.A. newspaper IIRC

 

And then, years later, when Williams was asked whom Spielberg might have had in mind, he mentioned Brahms, then Mozart

[Marian Schedenig 10,069]

6 minutes ago, Sunshine Reger said:

"Why use music which is less good when there is such a multitude of great orchestral music available from the past and from our own time?"

 

Ah, so not so much a statement against newer music but rather one against film composers. Maybe even more disappointing.

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

Well, most film composers are second rate composers.

[Marian Schedenig 10,069]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Well, most composers are second rate composers.

 

Fixed.

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

Both statements are true.

[mrbellamy 7,238]

On the Trail of: John Williams's ancestry and childhood

 

That home movie!

[geom_00 87]

"He wanted to know how much it was selling for. $1.8 million. Jenny laughed; John said his father sold it for $12,000. "

 

John Williams aside: Can we PLEASE go back to the time when someone could buy a house for under $50,000.

 

Back to John Williams...if the people selling it knew who lived there, they could easily add another couple hundred thousand!

[BachSkywalker 106]

1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

On the Trail of: John Williams's ancestry and childhood

 

That home movie!

That was great to see. Those curls! ha. Loved how Tim put the young Superman music underscoring it--that was a nice touch. And was that an E.T. doll he had? haha. 

All of the geneaology and family history material looks to be really fascinating. Can't wait!

[Tom 5,562]

1 hour ago, geom_00 said:

Back to John Williams...if the people selling it knew who lived there, they could easily add another couple hundred thousand!

I don't know.  I once owned John Voight's car.  It did not appreciate very well.  

[mrbellamy 7,238]

35 minutes ago, Tom said:

I don't know.  I once owned John Voight's car.  It did not appreciate very well.  

 

Well you shouldn't have tried selling it to Angelina Jolie

[Loert 2,934]

OK OK, Maestro you win...you are the ultimate JWFan

 

That home video, though...unmistakably JW

[ricsim88 314]

Tuesday is definitely my new favourite day. These posts are absolutely priceless Tim. 
Thanks for allowing us behind the scenes of the making of what is definitely going to be an incredible book. September 2nd cannot come soon enough.

[Matt S. 662]

6 hours ago, Tom said:

I don't know.  I once owned John Voight's car.  It did not appreciate very well.  

‘89 LeBaron!  A classic!

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

So here's the question everyone's had on their mind but no-one dared to ask: you talked with JW quite a lot. Did he eventually call you Tim baby?

[Marian Schedenig 10,069]

10 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

So here's the question everyone's had on their mind but no-one dared to ask: you talked with JW quite a lot. Did he eventually call you Tim baby?

 

Read the blog.

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

I thought I had to pay.

[Maurizio 5,781]

On 17/05/2025 at 11:07 PM, Arnaud2 said:

While the joke was funny the first time and is a great compliment by a good friend, it’s always made me feel slightly uncomfortable that they’ve kept repeating it. John Williams has always been humble to a fault and implying that he might not only be the best composer of his time but the only one up to the task of writing a score for Schindler’s list is uncharacteristic of him. It’s also blatantly untrue. His work is a masterpiece but we’ll never know what other great musicians would have come up with. And many other great composers were alive then. I don’t need to name them here.

 

It's a good story and it works great to get a laugh from the audience at concerts, but one shouldn't take it too literally or seriously, in my opinion. It's now part of the JW canon as it's being recounted (too) many times, but let's not make it a case for the composer's vanity. Wiliams is the first not wanting to be put in the same league of the giants of the past and while one can honestly believe he actually is (I certainly do), it doesn't play right with his character, which is honestly humble and even self-deprecatory at times. In fact, in the book Tim makes a point at how different the story sounds when is Spielberg telling it and instead when is Williams delivering the joke, and I think he got it right.

 

On 18/05/2025 at 4:04 PM, Sunshine Reger said:

"However good our best film composers may be, they are not a Beethoven, a Mozart or a Brahms,"

"Why use music which is less good when there is such a multitude of great orchestral music available from the past and from our own time?"

 

In 1968 in a prominent L.A. newspaper IIRC

 

And then, years later, when Williams was asked whom Spielberg might have had in mind, he mentioned Brahms, then Mozart

 

I think Kubrick got to subscribe to that biased mentality of thinking that film composers were just frustrated classical artists and therefore thought original film scoring was too infra dig  for his own vision. This however doesn't fully explained why he chased Ennio Morricone to score A Clockwork Orange, or why he tried all he could to buy the rights of Nino Rota's Love Theme from The Godfather from Paramount Pictures to use it as the main theme of Barry Lyndon...

 

I think he didn't like original scoring for the same reason many directors don't: it's something they cannot fully control themselves so it's very hard for them to completely trust another artist and give them their baby.

[Marian Schedenig 10,069]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I thought I had to pay.

 

Not if you use the links in this thread. Or not for until a new post has been up for a while. One of the the two at least, or both. E.g. the latest link in this thread still works for me.

[Maestro 1,182]

The Substack is free to everyone. Even "subscribing" doesn't mean paying, unless you choose one of the paid options (which is purely optional).

 

I am planning to introduce some fun perks for paying subscribers soon, so hopefully there will be some more incentive for those who want to support this endeavor. But my goal was always to make the main posts free to all.

[JohnnyD 1,512]

2 hours ago, Maurizio said:

 

It's a good story and it works great to get a laugh from the audience at concerts, but one shouldn't take it too literally or seriously, in my opinion. It's now part of the JW canon as it's being recounted (too) many times, but let's not make it a case for the composer's vanity. Wiliams is the first not wanting to be put in the same league of the giants of the past and while one can honestly believe he actually is (I certainly do), it doesn't play right with his character, which is honestly humble and even self-deprecatory at times. In fact, in the book Tim makes a point at how different the story sounds when is Spielberg telling it and instead when is Williams delivering the joke, and I think he got it right.

 

Absolutely! Once again, @Maurizio, you are spot on.

 

@Maestro I really enjoyed the latest post. The way you are presenting everything is very nice. That truck with the license plate made me laugh; that was no coincidence! I look forward to reading more. Thank you.

[ricsim88 314]

1 hour ago, Maestro said:

The Substack is free to everyone. Even "subscribing" doesn't mean paying, unless you choose one of the paid options (which is purely optional).

 

I am planning to introduce some fun perks for paying subscribers soon, so hopefully there will be some more incentive for those who want to support this endeavor. But my goal was always to make the main posts free to all.

I’m a subscriber, and even if there was nothing more to it than these weekly posts, I would consider it well worth it.

[Loert 2,934]

21 hours ago, Tom said:

I don't know.  I once owned John Voight's car.  It did not appreciate very well.  

 

This reminds me...wasn't there a thread on here with somebody trying to sell JW's old car? They had the paperwork of proof of ownership and everything. Can't find the thread now though...

[KittBash 335]

Ugh! This week's Behind the Moon AGAIN makes me even more impatient for this book

Thanks so much @Maestro for doing these! Sir the amount of research and care you've put into this... amazing! 

 

Just this weeks edition alone on some of the early years makes me so excited to dig into and update/correct aspects of the Chronology project!

 

 

[Miguel Andrade 1,495]

5 hours ago, Loert said:

 

This reminds me...wasn't there a thread on here with somebody trying to sell JW's old car? They had the paperwork of proof of ownership and everything. Can't find the thread now though...

 

I might be misremembering, but I believe it the Mercedes was owned by Jerry, John Williams brother. Not sure if he was actually selling it or maybe someone just got some pictures of it...

I still have those pictures saved on a backup HD.

[Loert 2,934]

2 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

 

I might be misremembering, but I believe it the Mercedes was owned by Jerry, John Williams brother. Not sure if he was actually selling it or maybe someone just got some pictures of it...

I still have those pictures saved on a backup HD.

 

Found it! Searching "mercedes" yielded this: 

 

[Marian Schedenig 10,069]

You didn't borrow Laura's Mercedes?

[Brando 2,439]

4 hours ago, Loert said:

 

Found it! Searching "mercedes" yielded this: 

 

While old, this is absolutely bonkers

[Martinland 372]

On 21/05/2025 at 7:01 AM, ricsim88 said:

Tuesday is definitely my new favourite day. These posts are absolutely priceless Tim.

Indeed; the last three I luckily read here in Tokyo (the second one after I could not decide which Williams CD to buy on the 7th floor of Tower Records in Shibuya ;-D) - and then the pre-concert talk to the Tokyo performance came up... <3 ...plus the low radiator in the attic from his youth is the same as ours here in Austria?!

[mahler3 508]

On 14/5/2025 at 4:53 PM, Maestro said:

 

Sadly, yes. It couldn't be helped!

Right? Give the audience what they want! :-)

[mrbellamy 7,238]

On the Trail of: John Williams' teenage years

[Thor 9,304]

The clips are fun, but this is my favourite bit:

 

Quote

John graduated high school at the top of 1950 (in the school’s “winter” class) and immediately enrolled at UCLA—but only for a single semester. He then transferred to Los Angeles City College, but also only for a semester. (I wasn’t able to track down anything very useful from these short college stints.) By the end of that year, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, cutting his higher education short.

 

That high school-higher education-air force segueway has always been a bit of a mystery to me, with lotsa conflicting sources. I wasn't aware there was such a thing as a 'winter class'. I thought spring semesters all over the world have always been January to June-ish. I also thought he was a whole year at UCLA, plus one semester at LACC, before he joined the air force. But apparently only one semester each, and a high school semester "cut off", thereby enrolling in 1951 already. It follows, then, that his UCLA degree was finished while in the air force, which I have always suspected (UCLA lists him as "class of 1953").

 

Anyways, looking forward to the next installment too (and more details in the book, of course). I've researched those air force days HARD, and curious to see if there are any other info gems in there.

[Matt S. 662]

I’m curious, did John voluntarily enlist in the Air Force, or was he drafted?  If it was voluntary, did he do it as a way to avoid potentially being drafted into the Army as a foot soldier?  This would have been soon after the start of the Korean War.

[Maestro 1,182]

This is just a tease for now, but that factoid was just for you @Thor!

 

1 hour ago, Matt S. said:

I’m curious, did John voluntarily enlist in the Air Force, or was he drafted?  If it was voluntary, did he do it as a way to avoid potentially being drafted into the Army as a foot soldier?  This would have been soon after the start of the Korean War.

 

Yes, he enlisted to ensure some extra control and so he could go into the band program. Getting drafted was basically imminent.

 

 

[Once 877]

Another great piece. Wish it was longer, I can't get enough of these - good thing there's a whole book coming!

[Thor 9,304]

9 hours ago, Maestro said:

This is just a tease for now, but that factoid was just for you @Thor!

 

LOL!

 

By the way, while we wait for the air force installment, here's a great thread on the topic that tries to connect the dots with the timeline and various bases etc. Some of the info may be outdated now, however. We'll get the "facit" soon.

 

I think airmanjerm said that if you enlisted in those days, you could "get away" with one year less than if you had been drafted.

[Maurizio 5,781]

The chapter on his Air Force years is definitely one of the book's highlights, imo. It's illuminating in many ways.

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

11 hours ago, Maestro said:

This is just a tease for now, but that factoid was just for you @Thor!

 

I'll pretend I didn't read it. 

[mrbellamy 7,238]

On the Trail of: John Williams in the Air Force, and the Studio

[BB-8 4,893]

Great read...and nice GIF ;-)

[artguy360 2,007]

I feel like I'm reading the book before the book!

[Thor 9,304]

Nice entry, although more of a tease this time! Looking forward to getting into the deep end of it all in the book itself.

 

Quote

but it is ground zero for his movie composing career, and thankfully someone had the wisdom to preserve it. The short film has been floating around on YouTube for years, and it’s a fun little novelty for us JW nerds.

 

I always wondered who put it out on YouTube. I remember some 10-15 years ago, it was only myself and another person who searched high and low for the film. He (being more conveniently located in the US) managed to find it via a connection, and sent it to me on a DVD-R, which I then transferred to my computer. I then shared the video with one or two fellow Williams buffs at some point, and some time later it was put on YouTube (albeit cropped). I was sorta pissed about that for a while, but it's my own fault. I asked for it by sharing. Plus, over the years I've become less protective of obscure information. I'm glad it's out there now. It should be, as an important piece of history.

 

I'm very interested in how deep you delve into the TV days too, Tim. As you know, that's another area that I've obsessed over in my podcast series. Not going to edit the series (once again!) if you've unearthed information that contradicts my own, but maybe it answers a few open questions. "John Williams' TV Jungle".

 

Keep the teasin' goin'!

[Maestro 1,182]

10 minutes ago, Thor said:

I'm very interested in how deep you delve into the TV days too, Tim. As you know, that's another area that I've obsessed over in my podcast series. Not going to edit the series (once again!) if you've unearthed information that contradicts my own, but maybe it answers a few open questions. "John Williams' TV Jungle".

 

 

I can say I probably don't go as deep as you would like, Thor. It necessarily had to be a summary, just highlighting the most noteworthy titles and the ones he can tell stories about, plus any where there are foreshadowing connections to directors (or actors) he would work with later. There were many reasons why I couldn't write granularly about his TV credits: limited access to the shows themselves (let alone their scores), plus knowing that this period/work would be of less interest to most readers, so I had to keep the narrative flowing. There was always the tension of wanting to be the end-all encyclopedia of Williamsology... while also trying to tell a compelling tale that will appeal to a broad audience.

 

[Thor 9,304]

Absolutely, totally understood. Besides, some of those early TV directors that he since made feature films with (Altman, Kershner, Pollack, Mann etc.) had passed by the time you started your book project.

[Maestro 1,182]

13 minutes ago, Thor said:

Absolutely, totally understood. Besides, some of those early TV directors that he since made feature films with (Altman, Kershner, Pollack, Mann etc.) had passed by the time you started your book project.

 

Well, that and he wouldn't have even interacted with most of them (save Altman) on their TV episodes. The key interview would have been Stanley Wilson, who was JW's main "collaborator" across all of the Revue shows. I did try to interview Dave Grusin and Quincy Jones about this period, but I couldn't make either happen unfortunately.

[Thor 9,304]

Indeed. Some interaction, but not a lot.

 

It's always a bit disconcerting about that ancient past. I did a tally on DADDY-O recently, just as an example, and realized there was no other living KEY film crew left. Only minimal, secondary cast members and such, and barely even that. It's a testament to Williams' longevity.