1) John Towner Willi… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least five artists with this name;
1) John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. With a career spanning over six decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable, and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history, including those of the Star Wars series, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones series, the first two Home Alone films, Hook, the first two Jurassic Park films, Schindler's List, and the first three Harry Potter films. He has a very distinct sound that mixes romanticism, impressionism and atonal music with complex orchestration. The classical music critic Marcus Paus argues that Williams' "satisfying way of embodying complex dissonances and avant-garde techniques within a larger tonal framework" makes him "one of the great composers of any century".
Williams has been associated with director Steven Spielberg since 1974, composing music for all but three of his feature films. Other works by Williams include theme music for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, "The Mission" theme used by NBC News and Seven News in Australia, the television series Lost in Space and Land of the Giants, and the incidental music for the first season of Gilligan's Island. Williams has also composed numerous classical concertos and other works for orchestral ensembles and solo instruments. He served as the Boston Pops's principal conductor from 1980 to 1993, and is currently the orchestra's laureate conductor.
Williams has won 24 Grammy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Academy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 51 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams's score to 1977's Star Wars as the greatest American film score of all time. The soundtrack to Star Wars was additionally preserved by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl's Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2016. Williams composed the score for eight of the top 20 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office (adjusted for inflation).
John Towner Williams was born on February 8, 1932 in Floral Park, New York, to Esther (née Towner) and Johnny Williams, a jazz percussionist who played with the Raymond Scott Quintet. Williams has said of his lineage, "My father was a Maine man—we were very close. My mother was from Boston. My father's parents ran a department store in Bangor, Maine, and my mother's father was a cabinetmaker. [...] People with those roots are not inclined to be lazy."
Williams married Barbara Ruick, an American actress and singer, in 1956. Together they had three children: Jennifer (b. 1956), Mark Towner Williams (b. 1958), and Joseph (b. 1960), who is the lead singer of Toto. The two remained married until her death in 1974. In 1980, Williams married Samantha Winslow, a photographer.
2) John Christopher Williams is a classical guitar player.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, on 24 April 1941, to an English father (Len Williams) and an Australian-Chinese mother, Williams was taught initially by his father. At the age of twelve he went to Italy to study under "The Maestro," Andrés Segovia. Later, he attended the Royal College of Music in London, studying piano because the school did not have a guitar department at the time. Upon graduation, he was offered the opportunity to create such a department. He seized the opportunity and ran it for the first two years. Williams has maintained links with the College (and with the Northern College in Manchester) ever since.
Williams is best known as a classical guitarist, but has explored many different musical traditions. He has collaborated with Julian Bream and Paco Peña and was a member of the fusion group Sky. He is also a composer and arranger.
Williams has commissioned guitar concertos from composers such as Stephen Dodgson, André Previn, Patrick Gowers, Richard Harvey, and Steve Gray. He has also worked with composers from his native Australia, including Phillip Houghton, Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards (composer), and Nigel Westlake, to produce guitar works that capture the spirit of his homeland.
He enjoyed a worldwide hit single with his recording of Cavatina by Stanley Myers, used as the theme tune to the Oscar-winning film The Deer Hunter (1979). The piece had originally been written for piano, for another film ten years earlier, The Walking Stick (1970) but re-written for guitar and expanded by Myers at Williams' invitation. In 1973, Cleo Laine wrote lyrics and recorded the song "He Was Beautiful" accompanied by John Williams. A year later, it was a top-five UK hit single for Iris Williams (no relation).
At the invitation of producer Martin Lewis he created a highly acclaimed classical-rock fusion duet with celebrated rock guitarist Pete Townshend of Townshend's anthemic "Won't Get Fooled Again" for the 1979 Amnesty International benefit show The Secret Policeman's Ball. The duet was featured on the resulting album and the film version of the show – bringing Williams to the broader attention of the rock audience.
The relationship with Lewis led to Williams' classical-rock fusion band Sky being invited to give the first-ever rock concert to be held at Westminster Abbey – a benefit concert for Amnesty that Lewis produced in February 1981.
He is visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Williams and his artist wife Kathy Panama reside in London and Australia.
3) John Williams
John Williams is internationally regarded as one of the foremost players of Irish music today. With five All-Ireland titles to his credit, John is the only American-born competitor ever to win first place in the "senior concertina" category. His additional talents on flute, button accordion, bodhran, and piano distinguish him as a much sought after multi-instrumentalist in the acoustic scene around the world.
Born and raised on the Southwest Side of Chicago, John spent his summers during college on the Southwest coast of Ireland in his father’s village of Doolin, Co. Clare. Like Chicago, Doolin became a major musical crossroads for John and countless other local and international musicians to meet and exchange music. Gigging every night in the pubs of Doolin and Lisdoonvarna soon led to performances in Galway, Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Paris, Britanny, Zurich, and New York City (bio http://www.johnwilliamsmusic.com/bio.htm).
3) John Williams
A blues/jazz guitarist in Seattle, Washington, whose music is available at Magnatune.com (bio http://magnatune.com/artists/john_williams).
3) John Knowles Williams
An experimental/indie musician. Music is available at sweetnuthin.letsneverdie.net/Music/My_Recordings/ or www.myspace.com/JohnKWilliams.
For Heaven's Sake
John Williams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It rains pennies from heaven
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven
You'll find your fortune
Fallin' all over town
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
You must have showers
So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven
For you and me
The world was bright when you loved me
Sweet was the touch of your lips
The world went dark when you left me
And then there came a total eclipse
Nobody knows how cruel fate can be
How close together love and hate can be
Goodbye, just clean the slate for me
That's life I guess
The lyrics to John Williams's song "For Heaven's Sake" convey a message of optimism, perseverance, and the transformative power of love. The song opens with a metaphorical reference to rain and clouds as a symbol of opportunity. The singer suggests that during every rainstorm, it "rains pennies from heaven," implying that even in difficult times, there are blessings and fortunes to be found. It emphasizes the importance of being aware of these opportunities and being prepared to receive them, represented by the imagery of an upside-down umbrella.
The lyrics then introduce the idea of trading these pennies for "a package of sunshine and flowers," indicating the desire for happiness and the things we love. The song suggests that in order to attain the things we desire, we must be willing to embrace both the good and the bad, symbolized by the need for showers and not running under a tree during a thunderstorm. This implies that life is a combination of joy and challenges, and we must face them in order to find our own "pennies from heaven."
The second part of the song shifts to a more personal and introspective tone. The lyrics describe a past love that brightened the singer's world, but also led to darkness when that love ended. It reflects upon the unpredictability of fate and the thin line between love and hate. The singer acknowledges the pain caused by the departure of their loved one but accepts it as a part of life. The closing phrase, "That's life I guess," hints at a resignation to the ups and downs of love and the inevitability of moving forward.
Overall, "For Heaven's Sake" encourages embracing the opportunities that come our way, learning from the challenges, and accepting life's unpredictable nature.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh every time it rains
Whenever it rains
It rains pennies from heaven
It brings unexpected blessings
Don't you know each cloud contains
Are you aware that every cloud holds
Pennies from heaven
Surprises and good fortune
You'll find your fortune
You will discover your wealth
Fallin' all over town
Scattered throughout the whole city
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down
Make certain your umbrella is turned upside down
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
Exchange them for happiness and beautiful things
It you want the things you love
If you desire the things you hold dear
You must have showers
You must embrace difficulties and challenges
So when you hear it thunder
Therefore, when you hear thunder
Don't run under a tree
Don't seek shelter under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven
There will be unexpected blessings
For you and me
For both of us
The world was bright when you loved me
The world was full of light when you loved me
Sweet was the touch of your lips
The touch of your lips was enchanting
The world went dark when you left me
The world became gloomy when you departed
And then there came a total eclipse
And then a complete darkness overwhelmed everything
Nobody knows how cruel fate can be
No one comprehends the harshness of destiny
How close together love and hate can be
How closely connected love and hatred can be
Goodbye, just clean the slate for me
Farewell, erase everything associated with me
That's life I guess
That's how life goes, I suppose
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Arthur Johnston, Johnny Burke
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@rwkenyon
It is important to know that this recording is by John Thomas Williams, a gifted pianist who recorded with Stan Getz in the late 1950's. He is in his eighties, lives in Florida and performs occasionally in public, usually solo. Some of his recordings have been reissued oon the FreshSound label. He is NOT John Towner Williams, who had a brief career as a jazz pianist and went on to Star Wars and the Boston Pops.
@joeysarmiento1925
Ahhh... music. A rainy Sunday snack of turon, apple carrot juice on the rocks, egg pickle sandwich, guinataan... wow! I've this fare and the music since the 60s era of rotary phones, the characters are altered yet ambiance and tradition remain the same.
@hanboliu2489
Thanks so much ❤
@60otaku4
You're very welcome, Hanbo Liu-san!!
Otaku4 (*^_^)b
@johnnyjackpot
Thanks so much for posting this!
@60otaku4
You're very welcome, Johnnyjackpot-san!!
Otaku4 (*^_^)/
@slurponaut
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