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.
Somewhere In My Memory
John Williams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Shadows painting the ceiling
Gazing at the fire glow
Feeling that gingerbread feeling
Precious moments, special people
Happy faces, I can see
Christmas joys all around me
Living in my memory
All of the music, all of the magic
All of the family, home here with me
The lyrics of the song Somewhere in My Memory by John Williams evoke a sense of nostalgia and reminiscence about Christmas. The opening lines describe the cozy ambiance of a home during the festive season, with candles casting shadows on the ceiling and a warm fire filling the room with a pleasant radiance. The singer then conveys the feeling of comfort and joy that comes with indulging in delicious treats like gingerbread, making one feel like a child again.
The subsequent lines paint a picture of the different elements that make Christmas special and unique. The singer reflects on the people who have made a positive impact on their life, the happy expressions of those who are dear to them, and the overall feeling of bliss that permeates the air during this time of the year. The chorus extols the experience of being transported back to time when all these memories were created, and how they are still vividly etched in our minds.
Line by Line Meaning
Candles in the window
By seeing the burning candles in the window, the person remembers the Christmas eve when they saw them last time.
Shadows painting the ceiling
The person recollects the moments they spent under the flickering candle light, which was casting shadows that seemed like it was painting the ceiling.
Gazing at the fire glow
The person looks at the fire glow and the firewood burning in the fire and recollects the warmth and coziness that he/she felt the last time.
Feeling that gingerbread feeling
The person feels the same excitement and anticipation he/she used to feel on that special day, which is like the sweet gingerbread smell that fills the room during Christmas.
Precious moments, special people
The person remembers and cherishes the moments and people who made Christmas eve special and memorable for them.
Happy faces, I can see
The person can vividly recall the happy faces of their loved ones around them, who brought joy and happiness to the occasion and made it a special one.
Somewhere in my memory
The person travels back in time and remembers the special moments that he/she cherished in the past.
Christmas joys all around me
The person recollects and feels the joy and happiness that surrounded him/her on the Christmas eve, which made it a special and memorable one.
Living in my memory
The person lives those special moments and memories in their mind, which brings them joy and happiness whenever they think about it.
All of the music, all of the magic
The person remembers the sweet music and the magical atmosphere around them, which made Christmas eve special and memorable for them.
All of the family, home here with me
The person misses their family members who are no longer with them, but feels their presence during Christmas, which makes them feel homely and surrounded by love and care.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: John T. Williams, Leslie Bricusse
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@loveyouzen
Candles in the window
Shadows painting the ceiling
Gazing at the fire glow
Feeling that gingerbread feeling
Precious moments, special people
Happy faces, I can see
Somewhere in my memory
Christmas joys all around me
Living in my memory
All of the music, all of the magic
All of the family, home here with me ❤️
@devenflores3342
Lyrics:
Candles in the window
Shadows painting the ceiling
Gazing at the fire glow
Feeling that gingerbread feeling
Precious moments
Special people
Happy faces
I can see
Somewhere in my memory
Christmas joys all around me
Living in my memory
All of the music
All of the magic
All of the family home here with me
@Ozymandias-
A message to the future generations. Don't let this song die.
@eduardo_corrochio
@FN-1701AgentGodzillaRangerPrime Ω Why isn't this played on the radio after Thanksgiving and through New Years Eve? It ought to be, along with all the other superior songs of Christmas.
@taimursmom4418
Of course
@kathleengoehring5329
Agreed
@rovhalt6650
They're not gonna listen. They prefer "gangsta rap"
@Elite21021
@@rovhalt6650 yeah wouldn’t be surprised.
@jemsmom04
Now that my parents have passed away, I realized the “Christmas magic” I felt as a kid was really just a mom and dad that loved me so very much. 🎄❤️
@thatmormoncarguy7687
I'm in the same boat with you.
@fameworld9340
Stay strong ❤
@reniisgod
Right in the feels 😢