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.
Rooster
Danny Elfman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
Wife and kids household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah, hey yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die
Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah, hey yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die
Walkin' tall machine gun man
They spit on me in my home land
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy
Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death
My Buddy's breathin' his dyin' breath
Oh god please won't you help me make it through
Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no ya know he ain't gonna die
Rooster, a song by Danny Elfman, is a ballad that speaks about the traumatic experiences of a soldier who has been to war. The song talks about the soldier's struggles to keep himself alive as he battles with bullets screaming from somewhere to take him down. He reminisces about his past life, the choices he made, and the risks he took as he finds himself in a hopeless situation.
The song's lyrics describe the soldier's struggle to survive and his hopelessness when he is at the point of giving up. He thinks about his family back home, his wife, kids, and pet, and he wonders if he will make it out alive to reunite with them. The image of a rooster is used to symbolize the soldier's courage and determination to stay alive. The soldier hopes that he will not be snuffed out like a rooster, and he believes that he will overcome his challenges.
The lyrics touch on the emotional and psychological trauma that soldiers face during and after war. The song's message is powerful and communicates the struggles of soldiers who return home to rebuild their lives after experiencing the horrors of war.
Line by Line Meaning
Ain't found a way to kill me yet
I haven't been killed yet and I am still alive.
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
My eyes are burning with sweat and I am in pain.
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
I feel lost and helpless, and all my efforts are in vain.
Wife and kids household pet
I have a wife, kids and a pet that I care about.
Army green was no safe bet
Joining the army was not a safe option for me.
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
I can hear the bullets whizzing by and it is terrifying.
Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah, hey yeah
They are coming to kill me, like they would a rooster.
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
I am the rooster, and they are coming to kill me.
You know he ain't gonna die
I won't die, even though they are trying to kill me.
No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die
I am not going to die, no matter what they do.
Walkin' tall machine gun man
I am facing an enemy soldier armed with a machine gun. He is tall and intimidating.
They spit on me in my home land
The enemy soldiers humiliate me by spitting on me in my own country.
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy
My wife, Gloria, sends me pictures of my son, who I miss dearly.
Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death
I have medicine to protect me from mosquito-borne diseases.
My Buddy's breathin' his dyin' breath
My friend, who is fighting alongside me, is taking his last breaths before he dies.
Oh god please won't you help me make it through
I am praying to God to help me survive this battle and make it through.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., BMG Rights Management
Written by: JERRY CANTRELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Austin Clark
very underrated movie!! Best Terminator movie made...T2 close second
Casual Introvert
Is it just me, or are the film versions of older songs like this better than the originals? I'm just talking from a purely sound quality perspective. This even sounds better than the remasters.
Terry Gyimah
Best Terminator song hands down...they should have included this song in Genisys
Happy & Addicted
Genisys sucked in my opinion.
R L Greenfire
Terry Gyimah
Frogger 251
Best terminator movie since 2. Man they fucked that franchise up
Atomic Lit Zilla
I remember hearing this song in March 2016.
Myk McGrane
Godddaaaaammnn man... 2:10 kicks in hard son.... So great
Chis Wolfenden
A very underrated band and a very underrated film
Ben Terpening
NO WE AINT GONNA DIE.