Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953 in Los Angeles, CA) is an A… Read Full Bio ↴Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953 in Los Angeles, CA) is an American composer, best known as the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Oingo Boingo, from 1976 to 1995 and later for scoring music for television and film and creating The Simpsons main title theme as well as the 1989 Batman movie theme. He has scored the majority of the films for his long-time friend Tim Burton.

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.

Jack’s Obsession
Danny Elfman Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

[CITIZENS OF HALLOWEEN]
Something's up with Jack
Something's up with Jack
Don't know if we're ever going to get him back

He's all alone up there
Locked away inside
Never says a word

Hope he hasn't died

Something's up with Jack
Something's up with Jack

[JACK]
Christmas time is buzzing in my skull
Will it let me be? I cannot tell
There are so many things I cannot grasp
When I think I've got it, and then at last
Through my bony fingers it does slip
Like a snowflake in a fiery grip

Something's here I'm not quite getting
Though I try, I keep forgetting
Like a memory long since past
Here in an instant, gone in a flash
What does it mean?
What does it mean?

In these little bric-a-brac
A secret's waiting to be cracked
These dolls and toys confuse me so
Confound it all, I love it though

Simple objects, nothing more
But something's hidden through a door
Though I do not have the key
Something's there I cannot see
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
Hmm...

I've read these Christmas books so many times
I know the stories and I know the rhymes
I know the Christmas carols all by heart
My skull's so full, it's tearing me apart
As often as I've read them, something's wrong
So hard to put my bony finger on

Or perhaps it's really not as deep
As I've been led to think
Am I trying much too hard?
Of course! I've been too close to see
The answer's right in front of me
Right in front of me

It's simple really, very clear
Like music drifting in the air
Invisible, but everywhere
Just because I cannot see it
Doesn't mean I can't believe it

You know, I think this Christmas thing
It's not as tricky as it seems
And why should they have all the fun?
It should belong to anyone

Not anyone, in fact, but me
Why, I could make a Christmas tree
And there's no reason I can find
I couldn't handle Christmas time

I bet I could improve it too
And that's exactly what I'll do

Hee,hee,hee
Eureka! I've got it

Overall Meaning

The citizens of Halloween are concerned as they notice something off about Jack, the king of Halloween. He has locked himself away and doesn't speak a word. They're afraid they might not get him back. Meanwhile, Jack is having an internal struggle. Christmas is buzzing inside his head, and he can't make sense of it. He's read all the Christmas books, knows the stories and rhymes, and even the carols, but he can't understand what it's all about. There's something he's missing, and it's making him lose his grip on reality. He starts to see Christmas-related things everywhere, and although he doesn't know what they mean, he knows he loves them.

Jack becomes obsessed with the idea of understanding Christmas and thinks he might be able to handle it better than anyone else. He realizes that the answer he's been looking for is simple and clear, like music drifting in the air. The fact that he can't see it doesn't mean he can't believe in it. He decides that he will take Christmas and make it his own, and he's confident that he'll do it better than anyone else. He's excited that he's finally made sense of it and is proud of himself for figuring it out.

Overall, the song is about Jack's obsession with understanding Christmas and his determination to make it his own. He's struggling to make sense of it, but once he understands it, he becomes excited about the idea of having Christmas in Halloween town.

Line by Line Meaning

Something's up with Jack
The citizens of Halloween notice that something is wrong with Jack.

Don't know if we're ever going to get him back
They are unsure if he will ever return to his normal self.

He's all alone up there
Jack is isolated and alone in his thoughts.

Locked away inside
His thoughts and ideas are trapped inside his mind.

Never says a word
Jack is not communicating or expressing his feelings to others.

Hope he hasn't died
The citizens of Halloween fear that Jack may have died or lost touch with reality.

Christmas time is buzzing in my skull
Jack is consumed and overwhelmed by thoughts of Christmas.

Will it let me be? I cannot tell
Jack is unsure if he can escape these thoughts or if they will continue to plague his mind.

There are so many things I cannot grasp
Jack is struggling to understand the concept of Christmas and its meaning.

When I think I've got it, and then at last
Just when Jack thinks he has a grasp on the idea of Christmas, it slips away from him.

Through my bony fingers it does slip
The concept of Christmas is not something that Jack can hold onto or control.

Something's here I'm not quite getting
Jack knows that there is a missing piece to this puzzle that he cannot comprehend.

Though I try, I keep forgetting
Despite his best efforts, Jack cannot seem to retain the information he has learned about Christmas.

Like a memory long since past
Jack feels like the missing piece of the Christmas puzzle is something he has forgotten from his past.

Here in an instant, gone in a flash
The missing piece of the puzzle comes and goes in Jack's mind quickly and without warning.

What does it mean?
Jack is questioning the true meaning of Christmas.

In these little bric-a-brac
Jack is surrounded by various Christmas decorations and items.

A secret's waiting to be cracked
Jack is convinced that there is a hidden message or lesson within the Christmas decorations and items that he can uncover.

Jack’s ObsessionDanny Elfman Lyrics

Jack’s Obsession
Danny Elfman Lyrics