He collaborated with some of film history's most accomplished directors, including Robert Wise, Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger, Joe Dante, Richard Donner, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, Michael Winner, Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhoeven, and Franklin J. Schaffner. His work for Donner and Scott also involved a rejected score for Timeline and a controversially edited score for Alien, where music by Howard Hanson replaced Goldsmith's end titles and Goldsmith's own work on Freud: The Secret Passion was used without his approval in several scenes.
Goldsmith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and eighteen Academy Awards (winning in 1976 for The Omen). He composed the Paramount Pictures Fanfare used from 1976 through 2011. The American Film Institute respectively ranked Goldsmith's scores for Chinatown (1974) and Planet of the Apes (1968) No. 9 and No. 18 on their list of the 25 greatest film scores. He is one of only five composers to have more than one score featured in the list, including Elmer Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, and John Williams.
Goldsmith was born February 10, 1929 in Los Angeles, California. His family was Romanian-Jewish. His parents were Tessa (née Rappaport), a school teacher, and Morris Goldsmith, a structural engineer. He started playing piano at age six, but only "got serious" by the time he was eleven. At age thirteen, he studied piano privately with concert pianist and educator Jakob Gimpel (whom Goldsmith would later employ to perform piano solos in his score to The Mephisto Waltz) and by the age of sixteen he was studying both theory and counterpoint under Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who also tutored such noteworthy composers and musicians as Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, Herman Stein, André Previn, Marty Paich, and John Williams.
At age sixteen, Goldsmith saw the 1945 film Spellbound in theaters and was inspired by veteran composer Miklós Rózsa's soundtrack to pursue a career in music. Goldsmith later enrolled and attended the University of Southern California where he was able to attend courses by Rózsa, but dropped out in favor of a more "practical music program" at the Los Angeles City College. There he was able to coach singers, work as an assistant choral director, play piano accompaniment, and work as an assistant conductor.
Jerry Goldsmith has often been considered one of film music history's most innovative and influential composers. While presenting Goldsmith with a Career Achievement Award from the Society for the Preservation of Film Music in 1993, fellow composer Henry Mancini (Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther) said of Goldsmith, "... he has instilled two things in his colleagues in this town. One thing he does, he keeps us honest. And the second one is he scares the hell out of us." In his review of the 1999 re-issue of the Star Trek: The Motion Picture soundtrack, Bruce Eder highly praised Goldsmith's ability, stating, "...one of the new tracks, 'Spock's Arrival,' may be the closest that Goldsmith has ever come to writing serious music in a pure Romantic idiom; this could have been the work of Rimsky-Korsakov or Stravinsky — it's that good." In a 2001 interview, film composer Marco Beltrami (3:10 to Yuma, The Hurt Locker) stated, "Without Jerry, film music would probably be in a different place than it is now. I think he, more than any other composer bridged the gap between the old Hollywood scoring style and the the modern film composer."
In 2006, upon composing The Omen (a remake of the Goldsmith-scored 1976 film), Marco Beltrami dedicated his score to Goldsmith, which also included an updated arrangement of "Ave Satani" titled "Omen 76/06". Likewise, when composer Brian Tyler was commissioned in 2012 to update the Universal Studios logo for the Universal centennial, he retained the "classic melody" originally composed by Goldsmith in 1997, opting to "bring it into the 21st century."
Goldsmith was greatly influenced by movements of early 20th-century classical music, notably modernism, Americana, impressionism, dodecaphonism, and early film scores. He has cited Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Miklós Rózsa, Bernard Herrmann, Béla Bartók, and Alban Berg, among others, as some of the main influences to his style of composition.
His style has been noted for its unique instrumentation, utilizing a vast array of ethnic instruments, recorded sounds, synthetic textures, and the traditional orchestra, often concurrently. When asked about his inclination for embracing new techniques and constantly shifting his musical palette throughout his career, Goldsmith said, "It seems like it's me, and that's that! Certain composers are doing the same thing over and over again, which I feel is sort of uninteresting. I don't find that you grow very much in that way. I like to keep changing, trying to do new things. Basically, I'm saying the same thing with a little different twist on it. Once you get caught up in the creative process, something inside takes over, and your subconscious just does it for you."
One reason for the consistency of Goldsmith's aural resonance and signature sound is his long time professional association with orchestrator Arthur Morton. Their first collaboration was on the film, Take Her She's Mine. In 1965, Goldsmith was tapped to score the features, Von Ryan's Express and Morituri. He recruited Morton to serve as his orchestrator. Their bond for a unique and expressive sound was borne, and their friendship flourished. Goldsmith went on to compose the soundtracks for Our Man Flint, The Trouble with Angels (with Frank De Vol), The Blue Max, The Sand Pebbles, and Stagecoach, all in 1966. Morton was there providing his orchestration services, assisting Goldsmith in attaining his visionary sounds. Their partnership endured for over 30 years and included the notable scores for Planet of the Apes (1968), Patton (1970), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Papillon (1973), Chinatown (1974), The Omen (1976), MacArthur (1977), Capricorn One (1978), Alien (1979), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Poltergeist (1982), First Blood (1982), Under Fire (1983), The Russia House (1990). The final score that Arthur Morton orchestrated for Goldsmith was L.A. Confidential (1997).
Goldsmith died at his Beverly Hills home on July 21, 2004, from colon cancer at the age of 75. He was survived by his wife Carol and his children Aaron, Joel (who also died of cancer on April 29, 2012), Carrie, Ellen Edson, and Jennifer Grossman.
Let Go
Jerry Goldsmith Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My pulse is racin'
As the rain streams down my face
There's no turning back now
To fight with fate
Outnumbered an' out of place
It's there you'll feel no pain"
Bel-Air's okay if you dig the grave
But I want to live again
Can't let go
There's a madness in my soul tonight
Can't let go
Must stop ridin' like the storm
Can't let go
Will I run out of control tonight?
Can't let go
Until every trace is gone
It's a winding road from Cuesta way
Down sunset to the beach
Though Canoga Park is a straight safe drive
It's too far outta reach
But now the headlights are flashin' by so fast
All directions seems the same
And the windscreen wipers keep a beat repeatin'
You can't let go again
What's in a name on the street tonight
I'm only a face in the crowd
I'm all in the dark and afraid tonight
There's nowhere to run or to hide
But I can't let go, no, no, no
Sometimes the world outside'll take you in
With just a smile
And you're so blinded with desire
A hundred sleepless nights have left me
Wasted and so cold
But I can take it I'm hangin' on
Can't let go
There's a madness in my soul tonight
Can't let go
Must stop ridin' it like the storm
Can't let go
Will I run out of control tonight?
Can't let go
Until every trace is gone
Can't let go
Can't let go
Can't let go
Can't let go
Can't let go
Can't let go
Can't let go
Can't let go
Can't let go
The lyrics of Jerry Goldsmith's song Let Go describe the inner turmoil of a person who is caught in a difficult situation and feels overwhelmed by their circumstances. In the opening lines, the singer is rushing out, aware of the dangers he faces but ready to face them. The chorus repeats the phrase, "Can't let go," indicating the singer's reluctance to back down or surrender.
The second verse alludes to the idea of taking a risk by going out west, where the singer, while not immune to pain, feels he will be better able to live and thrive. The singer is aware of the risks he is taking and that he is in a dangerous situation, but he cannot back down because he has too much at stake. The song's repeated refrain, "Can't let go," underscores the singer's determination and will to succeed, no matter the cost.
Overall, the lyrics of Let Go portray a person's struggle to survive and defend himself in a hostile world. It's a reminder that, no matter how difficult or daunting the challenge, never to give up.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, I rush out blazin'
I am in a hurry and ready to face any challenges
My pulse is racin'
My heart is beating fast with excitement
As the rain streams down my face
It is raining heavily, and the raindrops are flowing down my face
There's no turning back now
I have to continue on this path and face what comes next
To fight with fate
I have no choice but to confront my destiny
Outnumbered an' out of place
I am outnumbered, and I feel like I am in the wrong place
They said, "Go west young man, that's best
People advised me to go west, as it is the best option
It's there you'll feel no pain"
They said I will not feel any pain if I go west
Bel-Air's okay if you dig the grave
Bel-Air may seem like an okay place, but it is not worth risking my life
But I want to live again
I want to have a chance to experience life again
Can't let go
I cannot abandon this challenge
There's a madness in my soul tonight
I feel an intense madness stirring within me tonight
Must stop ridin' like the storm
I need to stop acting recklessly like a storm
Will I run out of control tonight?
I fear that I may lose control tonight
Until every trace is gone
I cannot let go until there is not a single trace left
It's a winding road from Cuesta way
The road from Cuesta way is not straightforward
Down sunset to the beach
I need to travel all the way from sunset to the beach
Though Canoga Park is a straight safe drive
Canoga Park is a safer and straightforward route
It's too far outta reach
Unfortunately, Canoga Park is too far for me to reach
But now the headlights are flashin' by so fast
The headlights of the cars are moving very quickly
All directions seems the same
I am lost, and all the directions look the same to me
And the windscreen wipers keep a beat repeatin'
The sound of the windscreen wipers is repetitive and monotonous
What's in a name on the street tonight
Nobody knows my name or who I am
I'm only a face in the crowd
I am just one of the many people in the crowd
I'm all in the dark and afraid tonight
I am afraid and lost in the darkness tonight
There's nowhere to run or to hide
I have nowhere to go, and I cannot hide from my problems
But I can't let go, no, no, no
I cannot abandon my challenges
Sometimes the world outside'll take you in
Sometimes, the world will welcome you with open arms
With just a smile
All it takes is a smile
And you're so blinded with desire
Desire can blind a person
A hundred sleepless nights have left me
I have not slept for a hundred nights
Wasted and so cold
I am exhausted and cold
But I can take it I'm hangin' on
I can endure it, and I am not giving up
Can't let go
I cannot abandon my challenges
There's a madness in my soul tonight
I feel an intense madness stirring within me tonight
Must stop ridin' it like the storm
I need to stop acting recklessly like a storm
Will I run out of control tonight?
I fear that I may lose control tonight
Until every trace is gone
I cannot let go until there is not a single trace left
Can't let go
I cannot abandon my challenges
Can't let go
I am determined to hang on
Can't let go
I cannot abandon my challenges
Can't let go
I am determined to hang on
Can't let go
I cannot abandon my challenges
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BRYAN FERRY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind