Paeans, the first of his concert pieces to be performed when Moross was seventeen, was conducted by Bernard Herrmann and soon after published by Henry Cowell. Performances and commissions followed. Henry Cowell played THOSE EVERLASTING BLUES (1932), and the composer wrote BIGUINE (1934) for Charles Weidman. At twenty-four, Moross was the youngest composer ever commissioned by the Columbia Composers Commission. A tall story for orchestra resulted and was first performed by CBS radio. Sir Thomas Beecham premiered SYMPHONY NO. 1 at the Seattle Symphony in 1943. Other performances followed, and CBS radio aired one of the several by Alfred Wallenstein and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.Moross wrote the first of his five ballets, PAUL BUNYAN: AN AMERICAN SAGA, for Charles Weidman. The four others, including the best known, FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, were commissioned by Ruth Page of the Chicago Ballet. FRANKIE AND JOHNNY has also been performed as an orchestral suite. THE LAST JUDGEMENT, a ballet of ten dances, is arranged for piano four-hands as well as for orchestra. Moross loved writing for the theatre and his earliest stage work was a revue, PARADE, produced on Broadway by the Theatre Guild when the composer was 21. In the late 1930s Moross began work with John Latouche on BALLET BALLADS which opened in the spring of 1948 at ANTA, moving to Broadway in May of that year. Consisting of three separate pieces without any spoken dialogue, (the fourth piece was not done), "the idea was to so mix the singing and dancing that you didn't know where the singers began or where the dancers ended" said Moross in a 1978 interview. Their next show, THE GOLDEN APPLE, was produced in 1954 and also had no spoken dialogue. Both shows received rave reviews and THE GOLDEN APPLE won the 1954 Drama Critics Awards. After Latouche's death, Moross collaborated with Edward Eager on GENTLEMEN, BE SEATED!, a musical about the Civil War. UNDERWORLD, a show set in 1920s Chicago, was never completed and consists of only seventeen songs, with lyrics by John Hollander and Lester Judson. Premier Recordings released eight of these songs on its CD, 'Broadway Dreams'. The wide spectrum of themes and styles in these shows demonstrates the composer's sharp ear for the diversity of American sounds, and his versatility. Moross' music was instinctively 'American' and remained tonal and melodic throughout his career. He loved folk tunes and popular songs of his day and in his formative years continually sought out indigenous music. An experience his younger brother enjoys recounting is their going off to Coney Island to listen to carousel music.Along with writing musicals, ballets and concert works, Moross worked in Hollywood, first as an orchestrator for innumerable films in the late 1930s adn 1940s, and then beginning in 1948, as a composer. Of his seventeen film scores, THE BIG COUNTRY (1958) is best known and now recognized as a 'Western' classic.The score won an Academy Award nomination. His 'Western' style was shaped largely by his first experience in the Great Plains and far west which occurred in November 1936 when he travelled by bus from Chicago to Hollywood. In a 1979 interview with John Caps he describes it as similar to a religious experience. In a 1973 letter to Christopher Palmer he said, "...as we hit the Plains I got so excited that I stopped off in Albuquerque (which at the time was a small town of about 35,000 people) and the next day I got to the edge of town and walked out onto the flat land with a marvellous feeling of being alone in the vastness with the mountains cutting off the horizon. When it came to writing the Main Title of the film, [The Big Country], I wrote the string figure and the opening theme almost automatically."
The Big Country
Jerome Moross Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
See the lonesome midnight cowboy)
Once his hopes were high as the sky
Once a dream was easy to buy
Too soon, his eager fingers were burned
Soon life's lonely lessons are learned
Hearts are made for caring
Life is made for sharing
(Midnight cowboy, midnight cowboy
See the lonesome midnight cowboy)
Once his hopes were high as the sky
Once a dream was easy to buy
Too soon, his eager fingers were burned
Soon life's lonely lessons are learned
Hearts are made for caring
Life is made for sharing
Love is all that's left in the end
Love can turn the tide for a friend
Love can hold a dream together
Love is all that lasts forever
Love is all that's left in the end
Love can turn the tide for a friend
Love can hold a dream together
Love is all that lasts forever
Love can hold a dream together
Love is all that lasts forever
The song "The Big Country" by Jerome Moross tells the story of a man who was once hopeful and dreamy but has been scarred by life's many challenges. The Midnight Cowboy represents the ultimate picture of loneliness, walking the streets at night with nobody but his thoughts for company. As he reflects on the past, he realizes that his dreams were not so easy to buy and he paid a hefty price for them. His eager fingers were burned, and he learned the hard way that life's lessons can be very lonely.
Despite this, however, the song conveys an important message of hope: that even when all seems lost, love can bring people together and conquer any obstacle. Hearts are made for caring, life is made for sharing, and love is all that's left in the end. The song's final lines emphasize the power of love in holding dreams together and lasting forever. Even the lonesome midnight cowboy is not beyond the reach of love's transformative power.
Overall, "The Big Country" is a reflective ballad that speaks to life's ups and downs while ultimately conveying that love is the most important thing we have.
Line by Line Meaning
Once his hopes were high as the sky
There was a time when he had grand aspirations.
Once a dream was easy to buy
He used to have the ability to achieve his dreams with ease.
Too soon, his eager fingers were burned
His enthusiasm was dampened by a harsh reality.
Soon life's lonely lessons are learned
He gradually learnt the hard truth about life on his own.
Hearts are made for caring
Human hearts are meant to feel empathy and affection.
Life is made for sharing
Life is meant to be shared and enjoyed with others.
Love is all that's left in the end
When everything else fades away, love is the only thing that remains.
Love can turn the tide for a friend
The power of love can bring about positive change in the lives of those we care about.
Love can hold a dream together
Love has the ability to provide the necessary support to achieve one's dreams.
Love is all that lasts forever
Love never truly fades away, it will always remain in some form or another.
Love can hold a dream together
Love has the ability to provide the necessary support to achieve one's dreams.
Love is all that lasts forever
Love never truly fades away, it will always remain in some form or another.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JEROME MOROSS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@songsmith31a
Surely one of the very best combinations of the audio and the visual on YouTube.
The Moross score is a perfect companion for the superb paintings of Charles
Russell. Both capture the edge of existence excitement of an era when
everything seemed as fresh as new paint - full of risk and challenge, with rider
and steed always at the heart of things. Their co-existence depended on mutual
trust and perhaps it is little wonder that stealing someone's horse was considered
akin to an attempt on his very life in a harsh unforgiving environment. The opening
title music used in the film was accompanied by similarly inspired visual images
from another great talent, Saul Bass - utterly memorable. Russell himself would
undoubtedly have approved!.
@Minnesota_Central
The Hanneseys know and admire a real gentleman when they see one and they recognize a high toned skunk when they smell one.
now im not here complainin about 20 of your brave men who beat 3 of my boys till they couldnt stand, anyways their full growed and can take their lickins and im not here cuz i know that your tryin to buy the big muddy, to keep my cows from water.
though it galls me soar to see the granddaughter like clem maragon under this roof.
I'LL TELL YA WHY IM HERE MAJOR TERRIL!
when you come a ridin rough shot over my land scarin the kids and the women folks,
when you invade my home!
like you was the lord God Almighty!
then i say to you......
I've seen every kinda critter God ever made!
and i aint never seen a meaner, more lower, stinkin yellow hypacrit than you!
@Minnesota_Central
*****
now you can swallow up alot of folks and make em like it but you aint swalloin me.
i'm stuck i'm stuck in your craw Henry Terril and ya can't spit me out!
YA HEAR ME NOW!
you rode into my place and beat my men for the last time and i give ya warnin!
you set foot in blanco canyon once more and this countrys gonna run red with blood till there aint none of us left!
now i don't hold mine so precious so if you wanna start HERE!
start now.
whats the matter?
can't ya shoot a man a facin ya?
let me make it easy for ya..
heres my back.............
@jamesstewart1129
This movie score is so great that the movie itself is almost secondary to the score. That progression in the theme just gives me chills every time, so powerful and majestic. Love it.
@caroldavis6928
Amazing and beautiful film score, best ever Western movie theme and the movie itself is brilliant, I've watched it many times.
@barackthecomposer6642
Agreed.
This film score has a BIG sound that is appropriate for a movie called
the BIG country.
@jubalcalif9100
@@barackthecomposer6642 Well said and well put !!
@jubalcalif9100
I heartily concur !!
@barackthecomposer6642
@Jubal Calif
Thank you brother.
There was also a BIGNESS
about Gregory Peck’s
character.
The BIG MUDDY😊
@Armadillarodeo
The most powerful and best produced music score that I've ever listened to. The arrangements and orchestra made this movie.
@peterhodel4341
The Big Country is a classic "Hollywood" Western and one of my favourite films, with a truly magnificent score by Jerome Moross that added to the epic nature of the story. Shame Jerome missed getting a Oscar, he deserved it! Some more judicious editing would have improved the film. But Billy Wyler was the Boss! Thank you for putting that suite together.
Magnificent!
@jubalcalif9100
So well said and so well put. Could not agree more. I do love this film (and this is my favorite film score) but the movie is too long. Better editing to tighten up the story would have been a huge help.
@spartacusvikinga
If you can't appreciate beautiful music like this then you have no soul. It is sublime. Thank you for posting.