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

[Marian Schedenig 10,123]

Excellent new post, with some food for thought about the circumstances around Jaws that we've been so familiar with for so long that we tend to take them for granted.

 

@Maestro regarding last week's post (which I've also only just read - June is a busy month): One score that seemed suspiciously absent in your list of scores recorded with and without JW was The Magnificent Seven. Is it still the consensus that he played on that?

 

And on a semi-related note: I only recently got The Music from Peter Gunn and was surprised that while Williams is clearly credited as the pianist on many tracks, he's *not* credited for the title theme - but neither is someone else, and yet the track clearly has a piano in it. What gives? Anonymous pianist, or just a mistake in the credits?

[That_Bloke 166]

On 11/06/2025 at 10:05 PM, Bespin Copilot said:

I'm happy to see that I did indeed remove "To Kill a Mockingbird" from my disco;

https://jwfan.com/discography/music/disco/albums.htm

 

 

They play To Kill A Mockingbird at your disco? I bet that gets the punters filling the dance floor. Must be right up there with the Bus Stop and YMCA. 

 

Such a shame you had it removed. Killjoy. 

[Chris Malone 51]

Loving reading Tim’s blog! Makes the upcoming book feel all the more special, exciting, and something that will be worth waiting for. 
 

Regarding The Magnificent Seven, I made a long and boring YouTube video about the score for the Quartet box set.
 

Rather than bore you to tears with that, the answer to the pianist question is Raymond Turner. 
 

Chris

[Amer 2,524]

22 minutes ago, Chris Malone said:

Loving reading Tim’s blog! Makes the upcoming book feel all the more special, exciting, and something that will be worth waiting for. 
 

Regarding The Magnificent Seven, I made a long and boring YouTube video about the score for the Quartet box set.
 

Rather than bore you to tears with that, the answer to the pianist question is Raymond Turner. 
 

Chris

Thanks Chris! 

[Jay 42,358]

Here is the video that @Chris Malone mentioned:

 

 

[BB-8 4,958]

Some nice hidden gems this week...

My JW bibliography

A small consolation for a bye week.

 

My JW bibliography - by Tim Greiving - Behind the Moon

 

[Jurassic Shark 14,944]

Thomas Newman orchestrated a cue in Return of the Jedi

 

Interesting! Actually orchestrated, or just copied out JW's elaborate sketches?

[Jesse 81]

27 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Thomas Newman orchestrated a cue in Return of the Jedi

 

Interesting! Actually orchestrated, or just copied out JW's elaborate sketches?

Thomas Newman also told about this in an Interview he did with Rick Beato. It was Vaders Death if im not mistaken.

As always with Williams "orchestrated" refers to "orchestrating" it from Williams short score. Im pretty sure Newman even said in the Interview something along the lines of it being more of a copying job, but still a great learning experience.

 

Ah i found it

 

[enderdrag64 1,420]

Newman orchestrated multiple ROTJ cues:

Vader Contacts Luke

After the Bike Chase

The Emperor Confronts Luke

Vader's Death