Glass founded the Philip Glass Ensemble, with which he still performs on keyboards. He has written numerous operas and musical theatre works, twelve symphonies, eleven concertos, eight string quartets and various other chamber music, and film scores. Three of his film scores have been nominated for Academy Awards.
Glass was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Ida (née Gouline) and Benjamin Charles Glass. His family were Jewish emigrants from Lithuania. His father owned a record store and his mother was a librarian. In his memoir, Glass recalls that at the end of World War II his mother aided Jewish Holocaust survivors, inviting recent arrivals to America to stay at their home until they could find a job and a place to live. She developed a plan to help them learn English and develop skills so they could find work. His sister, Sheppie, would later do similar work as an active member of the International Rescue Committee.
Glass developed his appreciation of music from his father, discovering later his father's side of the family had many musicians. His cousin Cevia was a classical pianist, while others had been in vaudeville.
Glass has composed many film scores, starting with the orchestral score for Koyaanisqatsi (1982), and continuing with two biopics, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985, resulting in the String Quartet No. 3) and Kundun (1997) about the Dalai Lama, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. In 1968 he composed and conducted the score for director Harrison Engle's minimalist comedy short, Railroaded, played by the Philip Glass Ensemble. This was one of his earliest film efforts.
The year after scoring Hamburger Hill (1987), Glass began a long collaboration with the filmmaker Errol Morris with his music for Morris's celebrated documentaries, including The Thin Blue Line (1988) and A Brief History of Time (1991). He continued composing for the Qatsi trilogy with the scores for Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). In 1995 he composed the theme for Reggio's short independent film Evidence. He made a cameo appearance—briefly visible performing at the piano—in Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998), which uses music from Powaqqatsi, Anima Mundi and Mishima, as well as three original tracks by Glass. In the 1990s, he also composed scores for Bent (1997) and the thriller Candyman (1992) and its sequel, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), plus a film adaptation of Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent (1996).
In 1999, he finished a new soundtrack for the 1931 film Dracula. The Hours (2002) earned him a second Academy Award nomination, and was followed by another Morris documentary, The Fog of War (2003). In the mid-2000s Glass provided the scores to films such as Secret Window (2004), Neverwas (2005), The Illusionist and Notes on a Scandal, garnering his third Academy Award nomination for the latter. Glass's most recent film scores include No Reservations (Glass makes a brief cameo in the film sitting at an outdoor café), Cassandra's Dream (2007), Les Regrets (2009), Mr Nice (2010), the Brazilian film Nosso Lar (2010) and Fantastic Four (2015, in collaboration with Marco Beltrami). In 2009, Glass composed original theme music for Transcendent Man, about the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil by filmmaker Barry Ptolemy.
In the 2000s Glass's work from the 1980s again became known to wider public through various media. In 2005 his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1987) was featured in the surreal French thriller, La Moustache, providing a tone intentionally incongruous to the banality of the movie's plot. Metamorphosis: Metamorphosis One from Solo Piano (1989) was featured in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica in the episode "Valley of Darkness" and also in the final episode ("return 0") of Person of Interest. In 2008, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto IV featuring Glass's "Pruit Igoe" (from Koyaanisqatsi). "Pruit Igoe" and "Prophecies" (also from Koyaanisqatsi) were used both in a trailer for Watchmen and in the film itself. Watchmen also included two other Glass pieces in the score: "Something She Has To Do" from The Hours and "Protest" from Satyagraha, act 2, scene 3. In 2013 Glass contributed a piano piece "Duet" to the Park Chan-wook film Stoker. In 2017 Glass scored the National Geographic Films documentary Jane (a documentary on the life of renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall).
Glass's music was featured in two award-winning films by Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, Elena (2011) and Leviathan (2014).
For television, Glass composed the theme for Night Stalker (2005).
Koyaanisqatsi: Koyaanisqatsi
Philip Glass Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
The repeated use of the word "Koyaanisqatsi" in the song is a reference to the Hopi Native American word for "life out of balance." The lyrics are repeated over and over again, giving a sense of unease and disturbance. This sense of chaos and imbalance is reflected in the music itself, which is full of dissonant sounds and irregular rhythms.
The song was composed for the 1982 experimental film of the same name, which was directed by Godfrey Reggio. The film explores the relationship between man and nature, and the ways in which modern technology has disrupted the balance of the natural world. The music is an integral part of the film, providing a powerful and haunting soundtrack to the stunning and often disturbing visuals.
Overall, the lyrics of "Koyaanisqatsi" are a powerful statement about the state of the modern world, and the ways in which we have disrupted the natural balance of the planet. The repetition of the word drives this point home, emphasizing the sense of unease and disruption that permeates the song and the film.
Line by Line Meaning
Koyaanisqatsi
Life out of balance
Koyaanisqatsi
Chaos and confusion
Koyaanisqatsi
Disintegration
Koyaanisqatsi
Life in turmoil
Koyaanisqatsi
Catastrophe
Koyaanisqatsi
Deterioration
Koyaanisqatsi
A state of imbalance
Koyaanisqatsi
A world out of control
Koyaanisqatsi
Life in disarray
Koyaanisqatsi
A society in decline
Koyaanisqatsi
Nature at odds with man
Koyaanisqatsi
When life is out of balance
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION
Written by: Philip Glass
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Trevor Grismore
I will never, never forget the first time I heard this. It was the middle of the night. I was really sick with a 103° fever, a headache, body aches, and everything else. I'd been taking all kinds of medicine trying to make something feel better, and I was exhausted and couldn't sleep. My fever was so high, I could feel the heat in my eyeballs. I was a mess. I was laying in bed frustrated, tired, and feeling terrible, and I decided to get up for awhile.
I pulled up YouTube on my computer and scrolled through a ton of videos. Nothing looked good. I scrolled through what had to be over 100 videos before I came across this. It might not have been this exact video, but the video was this entire album. I had never heard of Philip Glass or Koyaanisqatsi before. I was almost taken aback when it popped up, it looked very strange. I remember thinking, "What is that? Koya... what?". Then I saw how long it was and thought "Forget that". I scrolled past it and watched some other videos.
About 30 minutes pass, and I go back to the YouTube homepage. Now this video is on the second or third line of my recommended videos. My opinion changed about the length of the video. I felt so sick and miserable, I wanted something long so I could play it and be done looking for awhile. I decided I'd give this a try.
It's hard to put into words how I felt hearing it. I had never heard anything quite like it. Between the fever, the medicine, the exhaustion, it being the middle of the night, and the strangeness and uneasiness of the music, it was a profound experience. Profound is the only word I can think of to describe the feeling.
I listened to the entire album, and then sat in the darkness and silence thinking about what I had just heard. It was so unusual, and I felt like my brain had been on a rollercoaster. So I decided to listen to it a second time, start to finish. At this point it's been hours. It's still dark out, but twilight was just starting. I had gone on a full journey with this album twice, and just like the first time, I sat in darkness and silence after it was over and was dumbstruck.
In the days and weeks after, I didn't listen to it again. I figured it had to have been a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I figured everything collided at once that night, and there'd be no set of circumstances that would align that way again. Then I was recommended Akhnaten about a month later, also by Philip Glass. I wasn't sick, I hadn't taken any medicine, I was well-rested, and I decided to listen to it. Akhnaten made me feel like Koyaanisqatsi did, but even more. Then I listened to Koyaanisqatsi again, and felt the same profound shock I had a month earlier. I don't know what it is about Philip Glass, but everytime I listen to his music, it's flips a switch in my head. I love it.
If it weren't for that miserable, sleepless, fever-dream of a night, I might not have ever listened to this. Thank god for that fever.
notKevin
Lyrics for Prophecies:
Yaw itam it
Awk haykyanayawk
Yaw oova iwiskövi
Naanahoy lanatini
Naap yaw itamit hiita kya-hak
Hiita töt sqwat angw ipwaye
Yaw itam hiita qa löl mat awkökin
Yaw yannak yangw sen kisats
Köö tsaptangat yaw
Töövayani oongawk
Translation:
If we
Dig precious things from the land
We will invite disaster
Near the day of Purification
There will be cobwebs
Spun back and forth
In the sky
A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky
Which could burn the land
And boil the oceans
Koyaanisqatsi (life out of balance)
XatoMonstar
Wow... I was tripping on mushrooms with this music blasting thru my house, I started speaking in tongues and what felt like evil entities trying to take control of me while the tongues i spoke out loud kept them outside or away from me.... this was an experience like no other Ive had before, i literally felt I was in the spirit world and that this reality was just ficticious. I felt how I died 4 different ways each more real than the last.... What an Intense Trip... (also Im an atheist or was until today, now I just know I dont know shit)
Also, LOVED THE WHOLE ALBUM
Aldric
We are living in the apocalypse, soon there will be sights seen upon this world which has not been seen before, there will be a great cataclysm and a great dying, then at the end the Lord shall return for his harvest.
XatoMonstar
@Aldric Im starting to believe all religions are based on mushroom trips our ancestors had, and all those "gods/demons/angels/monsters/etc" it's their best interpretations of those trips, being it so hard to put in words they started creating religions and religions kept getting farther away from nature and being more corrupted by greedy humans.
MR. FILM REVIEW!
@XatoMonstar research "Truthiracy" on a video search...
DoDo Boodrough
God works through us in amazing ways. I first heard this from my oldest son when I saw the video this music goes with. If you haven't seen the video, get it NOW, and you won't need schrooms.😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫
Linkamus
I've probably watched this film over 50 times, and listened to the soundtrack many more. It is ingrained in my soul. Absolute masterpiece.
Grazia Cavasino
I watched this film only once, when it first came out. It struck me so much that I couldn't watch it any more, even if I tried later many times. I am deeply troubled also by the music, wich is an absolute masterpiece - both the entire threefold project, films and soundtracks, are. That's the power of true art.
Matías Meroño
Amen
Eddie Mush
First time I saw this film I was really stoned and it was one of the greatest things ever.
Matías Meroño
Sometimes, in different situations and in not so spiritual moments, those fleeter images emerge from I don't know where. Like the hand in the bed of the hospital or the slow motion disappointed face of someone's girlfriend in Las Vegas. A late and windy afternoon in September 2013 I was there, in Horseshoe Canyon, in front of The Great Gallery, alone.