Beetlejuice Theme Music Movie And Are

If you enjoy the Main Titles of the Beetlejuice movie and are looking for the same type of excitement from an arrangement, look elsewhere.

For the scenes set in, or talking about, the afterlife, Elfman uses revelatory crescendos on a church organ, darkly bittersweet strings, and resounding chimes, further playing up the Gothic parody atmosphere.

The film is set in an idyllic New England town, where blissful newlyweds Adam and Barbara Maitland are renovating their dream home; unfortunately, they are killed in a car crash on their way back from the hardware store, and become ghosts, stuck haunting their home for 125 years.

Some time later the home is sold to a new family, the Deetzes, comprising the insufferable and talentless artist Delia, her henpecked developer husband Charles, and his goth daughter Lydia; immediately, Delia begins ripping out the country charm of the house, replacing it with garish modern art.

Desperate to save their home, the Maitlands travel to the afterlife a dreary netherworld set up like the universes worst DMV office where they are advised that they can scare out the Deetzes if they so desire.

To accomplish this, the Maitlands find and hire a bio-exorcist named Betelgeuse, who can be summoned by saying his name three times but the perverted, irreverent ghost quickly causes more chaos then he cures.

Not only that, but it quickly becomes apparent that the introverted and sensitive Lydia can actually see the ghosts.

The cast includes several actors and actresses who quickly became established as members of Burtons recurring repertoire of players Keaton, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Catherine OHara, Jeffrey Jones while the look and tone of the film became the blueprint for Burtons idiosyncratic and hugely personal visual style.

In terms of music, Beetlejuice was also a game-changer for composer Danny Elfman.

Although he had already worked on Burtons Pee Wee film, as well as titles such as Back to School, Beetlejuice was still only the sixth film Elfman had scored, and prior to it being released he was still overwhelmingly seen as a rocker from Oingo Boingo playing around with movie music their hit songs Just Another Day and Dead Mans Party had been in the charts just a year or so before.

Everything that makes Danny Elfman Danny Elfman can be found in this score, from the wholly unique instrumental combinations to the infectiously upbeat rhythmic ideas, to the influences from a vast array of world music styles, to the homages to the two musical loves of his life Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann.

Beetlejuice Theme Music Full Orchestra Featuring

Elfman brings absolutely everything at his disposal to the table: a full orchestra featuring a multitude of unexpected instrumental combinations, various assorted choirs, tangos, waltzes, church music, and circus music, all wrapped around at least five recurring themes for the different characters.

This iconic piece is a mixed bag of styles and ideas, but it is so zany and catchy that there is little wonder it has lingered in public consciousness for so many years.

What I love about the theme, more than anything, are the orchestrations, which in my mind people dont talk about enough.

After a brief diversion into the Caribbean and a hat tip to Harry Belafontes Day-O, Elfmans ideas quickly take over, with quickly being the operative word.

In the space of less than 2 minutes Elfman crams in more inventiveness than other composers show in a lifetime rampaging pianos combine with tambourines, low blatting tubas, and sighing vocals, before the actual melody kicks in on trombones at 0:52; thereafter there are swirling Danse Macabre-style strings, Nino Rotas Fellini-style oompah brasses, and dancing circus clarinets, before it builds up to a huge finale.

Reading it written down like this, it sounds completely bananas that anyone would try to write music like this, but it works.

These two ideas for the main character recur frequently, depending on his mood.

When hes calm reading the obituaries for new clients, trying to charm his victims uh customers into hiring him the Beetlejuice Tango tends to be prevalent.

However, when he goes into full-blown chaos mode, rampaging through the lives and afterlives of the unsuspecting, Elfman returns to the insanity of the main Beetlejuice Theme, allowing it to bulldoze its way through the score with devilish glee.

The Maitland Family theme is a quirky depiction of suburban idyll, full of movement and life, with more references to Camille Saint-Sanss Danse Macabre in the strings, and a pleasant, upbeat demeanor filled with harp glissandi and bouncy pizzicato effects.

Its a perfect tonal juxtaposition to Betelgeuses themes, clearly showing the wholesome relationship between Adam and Barbara that persists even after their death, in opposition to the uncouth corruption that the eponymous ghost shows.

In the film, their theme is prominent throughout the scores middle section, but on album it is largely absent until the penultimate cue, The Aftermath, where its cheerful jauntiness acts as a sigh of relief for the audience, and an acknowledgement that the odious apparition has been vanquished for now.

As befits a 1980s goth, her theme is a dour little waltz with a recurring central motif that often features pianos, harpsichords, clarinets, and a softly sighing vocal texture that is the musical equivalent of an insouciant eye-roll.

It is prominent later in Lydia Discovers, where it also features some eerie synth textures, and Sold, which has a touch of pathos and regret.