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.
The Cowboys
John Williams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She held her head up high
She had that sparkle at her feet
And that twinkle in her eye
She smiled at me
And as I wondered why
She said I'm looking for a cowboy
And he can rope me on the prairie
And he can ride me on the plain
And I will be his Cinderella
If he'll be my cowboy man
She said I've got a forty-gallon stetson hat
With a thirty eight-foot brim
We could dance around the outside baby
'Til we both fall in
And you can rope me on the prairie
And you can ride me on the plain
And I will be your Cinderella
If you'll be my cowboy man
Now I ain't never been no cowboy
But heaven knows I try
Cause I'll be riding tall in my saddle
With that Cinderella by my side
And I can rope her on the prairie
And I can ride her on the plain
And she will be me my Cinderella
If I'll be her cowboy man
The song Cowboy Man by John Williams tells the story of a woman who is looking for a cowboy to take her for a ride. She wears glass slippers and holds her head up high with a sparkle at her feet and twinkle in her eye. She asks the singer if he can be her cowboy man and rope her on the prairie and ride her on the plain.
The woman also has a large 40-gallon Stetson hat with a 38-foot brim, and suggests that they dance around the outside until they both fall in. The singer, who has never been a cowboy, says that he'll try, because he wants to ride tall in his saddle with Cinderella by his side. He agrees to rope her on the prairie and ride her on the plain, and in return, she'll be his Cinderella.
The song is a playful and flirty take on the traditional cowboy love story. The lyrics are inspired by Western mythology and folk tales of cowboys and the wide-open plains, with a touch of fairy tale charm. The idea of a woman in glass slippers and a man with a large Stetson hat dancing around outside is a clever blend of cowboy and fairytale imagery.
Line by Line Meaning
She wore glass slippers
She appeared elegant and sophisticated
She held her head up high
She was confident and self-assured
She had that sparkle at her feet
Her footwear was opulent, almost twinkling
And that twinkle in her eye
Her demeanor was playful, yet entrancing
She smiled at me
She greeted me warmly
And as I wondered why
I became curious about her intentions
She said I'm looking for a cowboy
She shared her desire for someone with a rugged, western appeal
To take me for a ride
To embark on an adventure, presumably across the landscape
And he can rope me on the prairie
She's open to someone who is skilled in lassoing and controlling animals in a wide-open space
And he can ride me on the plain
She's willing to let someone take charge and lead during exploration
And I will be his Cinderella
She offers herself up as a companion to the right person
If he'll be my cowboy man
As long as he fits the specific qualifications she's outlined
She said I've got a forty-gallon stetson hat
She has a sizable hat, which is a symbol of western culture
With a thirty eight-foot brim
The circumference of the hat is exaggerated to show how proud she is of it
We could dance around the outside baby
She's open to playful moments outside
Til we both fall in
Until we are exhausted or overwhelmed by joy
Now I ain't never been no cowboy
The singer admits he has no experience in the realm of the western cowboy
But heaven knows I try
Despite his inexperience, he'll make an effort and learn as he goes
Cause I'll be riding tall in my saddle
He'll be perceived as a confident, knowledgeable cowboy
With that Cinderella by my side
And he'll have a partner who complements his newfound, learning identity
And I can rope her on the prairie
He, too, wants to be seen as someone who can tame and manage animals
And I can ride her on the plain
He wants to be seen as a strong, yet gentle leader
And she will be me my Cinderella
He wants her to accept and complement his learning journey
If I'll be her cowboy man
In exchange, he vows to be the kind of western man she's looking for
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: LYLE PEARCE LOVETT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@mickeysapprentice4013
Guys. Just letting you know, he wrote this music before Star Wars and even Jaws. This was his first real hit.
@donsalveson4492
John William's is a GIFT to those that love the marriage of celluloid and music!
@awesomerikd168
Had a roadtrip into some of the west US national parks. Had this song playing as I was driving into Yosemite National Park, it was the most beautiful moment of my life as Half Dome came into view during the climax of the song 😭😭😭😭
@nosystem1098
Most people (even those who count themselves as John Williams fans) have no idea he wrote this. The man is a balls to the wall genius.
@paoloriva8713
Real Genius for me
@mikebeckner714
One of the greatest composers ever...and I'm not going to even say "film score composer." Hands down, I'll put him up there with any of "The Masters."
@dangrund
I was just pacing around my house and Grandma had this movie going. I knew it had to be Williams. Love that man so much.
@freezor80
I do. It was part of our marching show my freshman year of high school. It brings back great memories.
@phillipwhite7904
John Wayne should have won 2nd Oscar 4 this performance. Yah hah!
@Lauren-gw5yj
This is my go-to song whenever we're on a road trip through some countryside.