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.
Pirates!
John Williams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pirate birthday party
Pirate birthday party
Pirate birthday party
Invite your friends from all over town
They will be coming to all gather 'round
Open your presents and have lots of fun
Party
Pirate birthday party
Pirate birthday party
Pirate birthday party
Walk the plank
Walk the plank
We're gonna find some buried treasure
Walk the plank
You gotta walk the plank
We're gonna find some buried treasure
Invite your friends from all over town
They will be coming to all gather 'round
Open your presents and have lots of fun
Look all around and enjoy everyone at your...
Party
Pirate birthday party
Pirate birthday party
Pirate birthday party
These lyrics describe a lively and fun pirate-themed birthday party. The song encourages the listener to invite friends from all over town to come and gather together for a celebration. The party is filled with excitement and joy, as gifts are opened and everyone is encouraged to have lots of fun. The repeated chorus emphasizes the theme of the party, emphasizing that it is a "pirate birthday party."
The second part of the lyrics introduces an activity commonly associated with pirates: walking the plank. This is a playful reference to the pirate tradition of forcing captives to walk off a wooden board into the sea as a form of punishment. However, in this context, it is presented as a game where the participants go in search of buried treasure. The line "We're gonna find some buried treasure" suggests that the party guests are engaged in an adventurous treasure hunt.
Overall, the lyrics convey a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and adventure that one would experience at a pirate-themed birthday party. They encourage the listener to embrace the festivities and make the most of the celebration.
Line by Line Meaning
Party
A celebration or gathering
Pirate birthday party
A birthday party with a pirate theme
Pirate birthday party
A birthday party with a pirate theme
Pirate birthday party
A birthday party with a pirate theme
Invite your friends from all over town
Ask your friends from different locations to join the celebration
They will be coming to all gather 'round
They will come together and gather around for the party
Open your presents and have lots of fun
Unwrap your gifts and enjoy yourself
Look all around and enjoy everyone at your...
Observe and appreciate everyone present at your party
Walk the plank
Walk a narrow board as part of a pirate game or activity
Walk the plank
Walk a narrow board as part of a pirate game or activity
We're gonna find some buried treasure
We will search and discover hidden treasure
Walk the plank
Walk a narrow board as part of a pirate game or activity
You gotta walk the plank
You must walk the plank as required
We're gonna find some buried treasure
We will search and discover hidden treasure
Invite your friends from all over town
Ask your friends from different locations to join the celebration
They will be coming to all gather 'round
They will come together and gather around for the party
Open your presents and have lots of fun
Unwrap your gifts and enjoy yourself
Look all around and enjoy everyone at your...
Observe and appreciate everyone present at your party
Party
A celebration or gathering
Pirate birthday party
A birthday party with a pirate theme
Pirate birthday party
A birthday party with a pirate theme
Pirate birthday party
A birthday party with a pirate theme
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Shreya Seepersaud
this is a great soundtrack. Everything is so beautifully executed. I especially enjoy around 4:00 - it's one of my two favorite things about this film series. The other being Jack Sparrow's character.
Juan Lobo
Thank you very much for this. It's very hard to listen to good music with little or no money here in Brazil. Once again, thanks to all people in this wonderful performance.
Cherry Berry
I love this movie series so this makes me very happy to hear some of the most iconic songs played so beautifully. 😃
Qaqamba Ntshobane
It had me smiling and tapping all the way to the end. Beautiful :)
Lawrence Cook
Close your eyes, and you can feel the salty sea wind on your face.
Geta coll
I love the orchestra!
Om Nepuri
literally awesome
I can feel Jack Sparrow in my heart
Francesca DP
Incredibly beautiful! Very inspiring music.
Mariama Cruz
That was a beautiful performance! 👏
jerm
I played this on my violin concert this year! It was really fun to play in front of my teacher of music and normal teacher in elementary school. We didn't have a band but only the violin, base, chello (Is that how you spell it?) and thats it.