Throughout his prolific career, James Newton Howard has scored films of all scales and genres, earning multiple award nominations for his work. Howard began studying music as a young child and went on to attend the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California and then majored in piano performance at the University of Southern California. After Howard left college, he toured with Elton John and Toto as a keyboardist during the late 1970s and early 1980s before moving into film music in the mid-1980s.
By the 1990s, Howard truly hit his career stride, scoring the surprise blockbuster romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990) and receiving his first Academy Award nomination for his score for Barbra Streisand's drama The Prince of Tides (1991). Setting the musical mood for numerous films throughout the decade, Howard's skills encompassed a plethora of genres, including two more best original score Oscar nominations, the Harrison Ford actioner The Fugitive (1993) and the Julia Roberts romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding. In addition, Howard scored the Western epic Wyatt Earp (1994), the legal drama Primal Fear (1996), and the blockbuster M. Night Shyamalan suspense thrillers The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), and The Village (2004). His collaborations on tunes for One Fine Day (1996) and Junior (1994) garnered Best Song nods. Along with scoring such smaller, character-driven films as Five Corners (1988), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), and American Heart (1993), Howard proved equally skilled at composing for big-budget Hollywood spectacles, including Space Jam (1996), Dante's Peak (1997), Dinosaur (2000), and Collateral (2004). Although for Dante's Peak he only composed the main theme only, the score itself was composed by John Frizzell. Though he concentrated primarily on films, Howard has also contributed music for TV series, earning an Emmy nomination in 1995 for his theme to NBC's ratings smash ER.
Howard is now one of the most recognized composers for film. His work in 2004 on The Village, with violin solos by Hilary Hahn, earned him an Oscar nomination. Since, he has composed for several major motion pictures, notably the score for Batman Begins which he co-wrote with Hans Zimmer. On October 14, 2005, it was officially announced that Howard would replace Howard Shore as composer for King Kong, due to "differing creative aspirations for the score" between Shore and director Peter Jackson. The resultant score earned Howard his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score.
Since then he has been nominated for Best Original Score for the legal thriller Michael Clayton in 2008 and the war film Defiance in 2009. Since then he has composed music for blockbuster franchises and solo films including I Am Legend,The Dark Knight with Hans Zimmer, all of The Hunger Games films and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He was nominated for another Academy Award nomination in 2021 for his work on News of the World
Gone
James Newton Howard Lyrics
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Hush the night and the morning loon
Tell the horses and beat on your drum
Gone their master, gone their son
Dark the oceans, dark the sky
Hush the whales and the ocean tide
Tell the salt marsh and beat on your drumGone their master, gone their son
Dark to light and light to dark
Three black carriages, three white carts
What brings us together is what pulls us apart
Gone our brother, gone our heart
Hush the whales and the ocean tide
Tell the salt marsh and beat on your drum
Gone their master, gone their son
At first glance, the lyrics of James Newton Howard's song "Gone" seem rather dark and depressing. The opening lines set the scene with a sense of foreboding, as the stars and moon are described as "dark" and the night and morning "loon" are "hushed." The following lines add to the sense of loss and mourning, as the horses are told of the absence of their "master" and "son," and the oceans and sky are similarly darkened and quieted in the wake of this absence.
As the song progresses, it becomes clear that the absence being mourned is that of a family member, specifically a brother. The line "What brings us together is what pulls us apart" suggests that despite the tragedy, the family is still united in their grief. The repetition of the lines regarding the ocean and the beating drum create a sense of ritual, as if the family is performing some kind of ceremony to honor their lost loved one.
Overall, the lyrics to "Gone" are haunting and evocative, painting a picture of deep loss and sadness. However, they also suggest that in the face of tragedy, people can come together and find solace in their shared grief.
Line by Line Meaning
Dark the stars and dark the moon
The sky is dark, without any light from the stars or the moon.
Hush the night and the morning loon
The night is quiet without any sounds, even the morning loon is silent.
Tell the horses and beat on your drum
Notify the horses about the loss and make a sound on drumming.
Gone their master, gone their son
The horses have lost their owner and the owner's child.
Dark the oceans, dark the sky
The sky and the ocean are both without any light.
Hush the whales and the ocean tide
The whales and the sound of the waves are quiet.
Tell the salt marsh and beat on your drum
Inform the salt marsh about the sad news and make a sound on drumming.
Gone their master, gone their son
The salt marsh has lost their owner and the owner's child.
Dark to light and light to dark
The cycle of day and night, light and darkness, continues.
Three black carriages, three white carts
The funeral procession is made up of three black carriages and three white carts.
What brings us together is what pulls us apart
The bond that unites us also separates us when it is broken.
Gone our brother, gone our heart
The singer has lost their brother, who was their heart.
Hush the whales and the ocean tide
The singer repeats the quietness of the whales and the waves.
Tell the salt marsh and beat on your drum
The singer repeats to inform the salt marsh and drum the sad news.
Gone their master, gone their son
The song ends with the repetition of the horses' loss.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JOANNA GIKA, JOANNA G. GIKAS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind