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.
true
Danny Elfman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You need my energy
I just can't help myself
Why do I live in hell?
You need someone just like me
That's what I need to believe
True or not, it doesn't matter
I'm looking for a broken hand
Something I can understand
Time has not been kind to me
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
I got no destination
I just got termination (we talk about our harmony)
(We think about our termination)
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
True just like me to think
I make big plans for change
You don't need me no more
I'm still looking for the door
It's just like me to say I'm sorry
It's just like me to do it again
It's just like me to plan tomorrow
It's just like me to forget what it was
It's just like me to chart a course
To drift at sea, an empty vessel
I'm right back where I started
I've got no destiny
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our harmony
We think about our termination
I got no destination
The song "True" by Danny Elfman seems to be about a person who feels stuck in their current situation, unable to escape the feeling of being trapped and alone. The first verse of the song suggests that the singer believes that they are essential to someone else's life, someone who needs their energy. However, the singer also acknowledges that they cannot help themselves and are living in hell. This could allude to the idea that the singer is constantly putting others' needs ahead of their own, to the point where they have lost their own identity and sense of purpose.
The second verse of the song seems to suggest that the singer is seeking something broken, which they can understand. This could be interpreted as the singer's need to find something or someone they can relate to, someone who is also suffering or struggling in some way. Meanwhile, the chorus remains consistent, emphasizing that the characters in the song talk about their destinies and destinations but have nowhere to go.
The third and final verse sees the singer admitting to their mistakes and expressing their difficulty in holding on to their plans for the future. The lyrics "I'm still looking for the door" suggest that the singer is searching for a way out of their predicament, but they do not know where to go.
Overall, "True" conveys a sense of helplessness, uncertainty, and feeling lost. The song's message might be that sometimes we get so caught up in helping others or trying to find meaning in our lives that we forget about taking care of ourselves.
Line by Line Meaning
True just like me to think
It's characteristic of me to think that way
You need my energy
You require my vigor and enthusiasm
I just can't help myself
I am unable to control my situation
Why do I live in hell?
Why do I exist in such an emotionally distressing situation?
You need someone just like me
You require an individual that holds similar characteristics to me
That's what I need to believe
It is what I must comprehend
True or not, it doesn't matter
Whether accurate or not, it is not of significance
I've got no place to go
I am without a certain location or purpose
I'm looking for a broken hand
I am searching for something damaged that I can empathize with
Something I can understand
Something that I can comprehend
Time has not been kind to me
Time has treated me poorly
We talk about our destiny
We discuss fate
We talk about our destinations
We converse about where we're headed
I got no destination
I am aimless
I just got termination
All I have is an end
(we talk about our harmony)
(we discuss our compatibility)
(We think about our termination)
(we ponder our conclusion)
I make big plans for change
I create significant goals for modification
You don't need me no more
You no longer require me
I'm still looking for the door
I am still trying to find a way out
It's just like me to say I'm sorry
It is typical of me to apologize
It's just like me to do it again
I tend to repeat my actions
It's just like me to plan tomorrow
It is characteristic of me to prepare for the future
It's just like me to forget what it was
I have a tendency to overlook how things were
It's just like me to chart a course
I tend to create a specific path
To drift at sea, an empty vessel
To float aimlessly, without direction
I'm right back where I started
I have returned to my initial position
I've got no destiny
I am without a predetermined future
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Danny Elfman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@InHellITrust
True just like me to think
You need my energy
I just can’t help myself
Why do I live in hell?
You need someone just like me
That’s what I need to believe
True or not, it doesn’t matter
I‘ve got no place to go
I‘m looking for a broken hand
Something I can understand
Time has not been kind to me
(We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations)
I got no destination
I just got termination
We talk about our harmony
We think about our termination
(Guitar Solo)
(We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations)
True just like me to think
I make big plans for change
You don’t need me no more
I’m still looking for the door
It’s just like me to say I’m sorry
It’s just like me to do it again
It’s just like me to plan tomorrow
It’s just like me to forget what it was
It’s just like me to chart a course
To drift at sea, an empty vessel
I’m right back where I started
I’ve got no destiny
(We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations)
I got no destiny, I got no destiny, I got no destiny
We talk about our harmony
We think about our termination
I got no destination
@gerardochavez5654
True just like me to think
You need my energy
I just can't help myself
Why do I live in hell?
You need someone just like me
That's what I need to believe
True or not, it doesn't matter
I've got no place to go
I'm looking for a broken hand
Something I can understand
Time has not been kind to me
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
I got no destination
I just got termination (we talk about our harmony)
(We think about our termination)
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
True just like me to think
I make big plans for change
You don't need me no more
I'm still looking for the door
It's just like me to say I'm sorry
It's just like me to do it again
It's just like me to plan tomorrow
It's just like me to forget what it was
It's just like me to chart a course
To drift at sea, an empty vessel
I'm right back where I started
I've got no destiny
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our destiny
We talk about our destinations
We talk about our harmony
We think about our termination
I got no destination
@GTAfan421
This makes me want a full Elfman Reznor album tbh, this is so far beyond what I even expected. Perfection.
@waffensuperninja
Except for Danny (or whoever) singing
@diegstroX8032
@J Hearld It’s both Danny & Trent. Don’t like, then ok. But good to know many would love to hear both sing together on more stuff. Usual naysayers aside, Danny & Trent together — perfection indeed
@Barberdan
Nobody here dislikes Danny's singing with Trent. OP was just unsure as I was of who joined into solo singing. This is Industrial as hell and I love it!
@mana_beast_beats1114
DanTrent ElfRez
@grixalimaar6469
Nine Inch Elf?
@zenserotonin
i would never inter anything that would take away from the brilliant musicianship of either Danny Elfman or Trent Reznor but i hear the ghost of Bowie all throughout this track. utterly gorgeous. do a concept album together, you two. just hole up in a cheap hotel room with a big box of synthesizers and throw lunch meat at each other until it gets done.
@dr.pitmee_vocc2378
I majorly second the feeling of David Bowie in this track.
@gunstar420
I second the suggestion of bologna darts
@Drumyx
definitely feels bowie here, i'm afraid of americans.