Born in Los Angeles, he entered the film industry in 1976, initially as an actor. He made his film scoring debut in 1980 for the film Forbidden Zone directed by his older brother Richard Elfman. He has since been nominated for four Academy Awards and won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media for Tim Burton's Batman and an Emmy Award for his Desperate Housewives theme. Elfman was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 2002 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.
He is the son of novelist Blossom Elfman and the brother of director Richard Elfman.
Elfman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Blossom Elfman (née Bernstein), a writer and teacher, and Milton Elfman, a community in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. He spent much of his time in the local movie theatre, adoring the music of such film composers as Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman.
Stating that he hung out with the "band nerds" in high school, he started a ska band. After dropping out of high school, he followed his brother Richard to France, where he performed with Le Grand Magic Circus, an avant-garde musical theater group. Violin in tow, Elfman next journeyed to Africa where he traveled through Ghana, Mali, and Upper Volta, absorbing new musical styles, including the Ghanaian highlife genre which would eventually influence his own music. Elfman contracted malaria during his one-year stay and was often sick. Eventually he returned home to the United States, where he began to take Balinese music lessons at the CalArts. He was never officially a student at the institute, nonetheless, the instructor encouraged him to continue learning. Elfman stated, "He just laughed, and said, 'Sit. Play.' I continued to sit and play for a couple years." At this time, his brother was forming a new musical theater group, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. The group performed the music for Richard's debut feature film, Forbidden Zone. Danny Elfman composed his first score for the film and played the role of Satan. By the time the movie was completed, they had taken the name Oingo Boingo and begun recording and touring as a rock group.
In 1985, Tim Burton and Paul Reubens invited Elfman to write the score for their first feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Elfman was apprehensive at first because of his lack of formal training, but with orchestration assistance from Oingo Boingo guitarist and arranger Steve Bartek, he achieved his goal of emulating the mood of such composers as Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann. In the booklet for the first volume of Music for a Darkened Theatre, Elfman described the first time he heard his music played by a full orchestra as one of the most thrilling experiences of his life.[citation needed] Elfman immediately developed a rapport with Burton and has gone on to score all but two of Burton's major studio releases: Ed Wood, scored by Howard Shore, which was under production while Elfman and Burton were having a fight, and Sweeney Todd, an adaptation of the 1979 Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical. He also, more recently, accompanied Tim Burton in the composition of music for "Almost Alice", the soundtrack for Alice in Wonderland.
Burton has said of his relationship with Elfman: "We don't even have to talk about the music. We don't even have to intellectualize – which is good for both of us, we're both similar that way. We're very lucky to connect" (Breskin, 1997).
In 2021 he released "Big Mess", his first non-soundtrack album since 1984's "So-Lo", which is often considered to rather be an Oingo Boingo album due to the presence of many other band members.
Elfman has three children: Lola, born in 1979; Mali, born in 1984; and Oliver, born in 2005. On November 29, 2003, Elfman married film actress Bridget Fonda. In 1997 he scored A Simple Plan – his only score for one of her films to date (although he did compose a cue for the film Army of Darkness, in which Fonda has a cameo). He is the uncle of actor Bodhi Elfman who is married to actress Jenna Elfman, known most notably in her role as Dharma in the TV series Dharma and Greg.
03. Violet Beauregarde
Danny Elfman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The tale of Violet Beauregarde
This dreadful girl she sees no wrong
Chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing all day long.chewing,
Chewing all day long.
Chewing, chewing all day long.
She goes on chewing till at last
Her chewing muscles go so fast.
And from her face her giant chin
Sticks out just like a violin
Chewing, chewing all day long. chewing,
Chewing all day long.
Chewing, chewing all day long
For years and years she chews away
Her jaw gets stronger every day.
And with one great tremendous chew
They bite the poor girls tongue in two
And that is why we try so hard
To save miss Violet Beauregarde
Chewing, chewing all day long chewing,
Chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing all day long
The lyrics to Danny Elfman’s “Violet Beauregarde” might seem nonsensical on the surface, but they actually tell a dark story of a girl who cannot stop chewing. The song opens with the singer urging listeners to pay attention to the tale of Violet Beauregarde. Violet, we learn, is a “dreadful girl” who chews all day long and “sees no wrong” in her actions. The repetition of “chewing” throughout the song underscores Violet’s relentless and seemingly mindless habit.
As the song continues, we learn that Violet’s obsession with chewing is physically transforming her. Her jaw muscles are growing stronger, and her chin is sticking out in a grotesque manner. Predictably, Violet’s habit eventually causes her great harm. In a gruesome turn of events, the song describes how she bites off her own tongue with a single “tremendous” chew. This final line suggests that Violet’s compulsion is not just unhealthy, but actively dangerous.
Overall, “Violet Beauregarde” is a cautionary tale about addiction and the dangers of excess. The song speaks to the way that even small habits can grow into harmful behaviors over time.
Line by Line Meaning
Listen close, and listen hard,
Pay attention, this is an important story
The tale of Violet Beauregarde
This is a story about a girl named Violet Beauregarde
This dreadful girl she sees no wrong
Violet is an awful girl who doesn't realize her faults
Chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing all day long
Violet spends all day chewing gum
She goes on chewing till at last
Violet chews gum for a very long time
Her chewing muscles go so fast
Violet's jaw muscles work very quickly
And from her face her giant chin
Because of all the chewing, Violet's chin becomes very large
Sticks out just like a violin
Her chin looks like the shape of a violin
For years and years she chews away
Violet chews gum for a very long time
Her jaw gets stronger every day.
Violet's jaw muscles become stronger with all the chewing
And with one great tremendous chew
One day, while chewing, something terrible happens
They bite the poor girls tongue in two
Violet's tongue gets bitten off because of how much she chews
And that is why we try so hard
This incident is why we must attempt to save Violet
To save miss Violet Beauregarde
We need to rescue Violet from the consequences of her addiction to chewing gum
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DANNY ELFMAN, ROALD DAHL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@ashhabimran239
Each fits with the kid:
Augustus's song sounds big, loud, and bombastic (much like Augustus himself). It also has a tribal feel, which represent his tribal, almost neanderthal eating habits
Violet's is an electric disco, like for gym exercise and acting all cool (which is how she feels about herself)
Veruca's is like old-school classic music, representing her high-class and wealth
Mike's is a grungy rock song, that's dark, edgy, and loud, much like how Mike acts
@keshiaanders6452
Symbolism in the kids' fates:
Augustus = You are what you eat
Violet = Sad swollen big ego
Veruca = Spoiled like piles of garbage
Mike = Close-minded (becoming small) and belittles the world around him
@thecarnew5334
Violet Beauregard: a scientific explanation
1. The gum itself. The blueberry in the blueberry pie and ice cream dessert phase should would of have to double it’s juices for flavor. Judging by the color that violet turns, it’s safe to say the blueberry flavor was supposed to react to the saliva for extra flavor. This may also be why violet keeps chewing.
2. Changing color. Last paragraph, I talked about the saliva reacting to the gum. Saliva is almost made entirely of water. (apart from mucus and minerals) I am not sure why it would react to the body itself. Although I would think she would either have swallowed it or a certain compound of the gum would react to the body somehow. All of the blue fusing into her body would make sense but there is 2 things: her eyes and clothes. First off, her eyes do turn blue, but only the iris. It may just be because of the time it takes for the body to turn the water into juice may take certain times longer due to genes. The clothes turned blue because of sweating. Sweating is often associated with nervousness, which is what she’s clearly experiencing. This is also why her clothes don’t rip. It’s because they are stuck to her body.
3: swelling up. Although I am not sure where it exactly would swell up, it would definitely be across the body. Her entire body would be in so much pressure causing pain. There would especially be a lot of pain where the cerebrospinal fluid would be since it’s not meant to blow up like that. Her lungs would definitely fill up with juice at one point causing drowning.
4: treatment. Juicing her body would be very tough and cruel and I will try my best to give a good treatment without having it be a 13+/18+ read. To get rid of the fluid, they would need to give her a high amount of laxatives to promote bowel movement’s. This would get rid of all the juice near the area. The extra juice where the cerebrospinal fluid would be would’ve have to be sucked out from a induced leak.
5. Recovery. She would have to drink lots of water to get out the juice naturally. Another natural remedy would be sweating. She would need as much of the juice out to prevent the body from responding hostile toward the juice. She would also have increased flexibility and stretched skin which would require an extra surgery.
This is doctor carewalker, signing off!
@NapoleonPicard
Bruh, how would the Charlie diss track be? "Poor, poor, poor! He is poor!"
@d4rksonic474
That‘s the irony, he doesn‘t deserve one:
@dewelr121
He needs to be lucky to get one
@Sam-ep2yo
The Oompa Loompas just shoot his grandpa in cold blood and dance on his body to the sound of smooth jazz
@darlingonzalez2207
"We would have made a song for you, but you're so poor you probably can't even pay attention."
@bglambo
Sam it’s what he deserves, Grandpa Joe a deadbeat leech
@rileynelson6624
“My daughter can’t be a blueberry! How will she compete?”
THAT’S YOUR FIRST CONCERN???!!
@RobynWasThere
She has a Karen haircut
@crinja404
You can put her in a county fair.
@crimsondynamo615
Hean Yi Zhe it’s like the only reason she has a kid so the kid can live the life she never had of being a success, like a toxic pageant mom.