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.

Mike Teavee
Danny Elfman Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The most important thing
That we've ever learned
The most important thing we've learned
As far as children are concerned
Is never, never let them near a television set
Or better still just don't install the idiotic thing at all
(Never, never let them, never, never let them)

(Never, never let them, never, never let them)
It rots the senses in the head
It kills imagination dead
It clogs and clutters up the mind
It makes a child so dull and blind
(So dull and blind, so dull and blind)

He can no longer understand
A fairytale in fairyland
(In Fairyland, in Fairyland)
His brain becomes as soft as cheese
His thinking powers rust and freeze
He cannot think he only sees
(He only sees, he only sees)

Regarding little Mike Teavee
We very much regret that we (regret that we)
Shall simply have to wait and see
We very much regret that we
Shall simply have to wait and see
If we can get him back to size

But if we can't
It serves him right

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Danny Elfman's song "Mike Teavee" contains a very important message for parents. The most important thing that we have learned for the children is to never let them near a television set or better still just don't install the idiotic thing at all. The song urges parents not to allow their children to get addicted to televisions as it rots their senses in the head, kills imagination dead and clogs and clutters up the mind. It also makes children dull and blind, which leads to them not being able to understand a fairytale in Fairyland. The song talks about how watching television can have several negative effects on children, like their brain becoming soft as cheese, thinking powers rusting and freezing, and they cannot think anymore, they only see.

The song also talks about a character named Mike Teavee who has probably experienced these negative effects of watching television. The lyrics say that they regret what has happened to little Mike Teavee and that they will have to wait and see if they can get him back to size. However, the song ends with a message that if they can't get him back to his original size, then it serves him right.

Overall, the song "Mike Teavee" can be interpreted as a message to parents that they need to be careful and mindful of the amount of television they allow their kids to watch.

Line by Line Meaning

The most important thing
This is the essential lesson

That we've ever learned
The most important one we’ve learnt

The most important thing we've learned
As far as kids are concerned, never let them near a TV

As far as children are concerned
The following applies to kids

Is never, never let them near a television set
Never let them too close to a TV set

Or better still just don't install the idiotic thing at all
In truth, it's better to not even have a TV at all

(Never, never let them, never, never let them)
(Never let them!)

(Never, never let them, never, never let them)
(Just don't let them!)

It rots the senses in the head
It adversely affects thinking abilities

It kills imagination dead
It eliminates the capacity for creativity

It clogs and clutters up the mind
It causes mental blockages