Newman has been nominated for 15 Academy Awards and 4 Golden Globes, and has won 2 BAFTAs, 6 Grammys and an Emmy Award. Newman was honored with the Richard Kirk award at the 2000 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.
Born in Los Angeles, California, he is the youngest son of Martha Louis Montgomery (1920–2005) and composer Alfred Newman (1900–1970), who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score nine times. He is a member of a film-scoring dynasty in Hollywood that includes his father Alfred, brother David Newman, sister Maria Newman, uncles Lionel Newman and Emil Newman, cousin Randy Newman (also known as a singer and songwriter), and his first cousin, once removed, Joey Newman. His paternal grandparents were Russian immigrants, and his mother was from Mississippi.
During their upbringing, Martha herded her sons into violin lessons in the San Fernando Valley every weekend. Newman later studied composition and orchestration for two years at the University of Southern California, before transferring to Yale University, where he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1977 and a Master of Music in 1978. While at Yale, he met composer Stephen Sondheim, who became an early mentor.
Newman and his wife, Ann Marie, have three children. They reside in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
At first, Newman was more interested in musical theater than in film composition, working with Sondheim in Broadway plays. Lionel, who succeeded Alfred as music director for 20th Century Fox, gave Thomas his first scoring assignment on a 1979 episode of the series The Paper Chase. In 1983, John Williams, who was a friend of both Alfred and Lionel, invited Newman to work on Return of the Jedi, orchestrating the scene where Darth Vader dies. Afterwards Newman met in New York producer Scott Rudin, who invited him to compose the score for Reckless (1984). Newman said that he thought "it was a tough job, at first" for requiring him to "develop vocabularies and a sense of procedure", only getting comfortable with writing scores "and not fraudulent in my efforts" after 8 years.
In 1992, Newman composed the score to Martin Brest's film Scent of a Woman.
In 1994, he got his first Academy Award nominations with the scores to The Shawshank Redemption and Little Women. He also scored the film The War. In 1996, he scored Diane Keaton's Unstrung Heroes, receiving yet another Oscar nomination. In 1998, he scored Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer as well as Meet Joe Black. In 1999, Newman composed the score to Sam Mendes' first feature film American Beauty, created using mainly percussion instruments. Newman believed the score helped move the film along without disturbing the "moral ambiguity" of the script, saying "It was a real delicate balancing act in terms of what music worked to preserve that." This was his first collaboration with Mendes, and he would go on to score all of the director's subsequent films except for the comedy-drama Away We Go, which featured songs instead of a score. He received a fourth Oscar nomination for this score, and although he lost again (to John Corigliano for The Red Violin), he did receive a Grammy and a BAFTA.
His critical and commercial success has continued in the following years with his scores for films such as Meet Joe Black, The Green Mile, Erin Brockovich, In the Bedroom and The Salton Sea. He was nominated consecutively for a further three Academy Awards, for Road to Perdition (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). However, he lost on each occasion to Elliot Goldenthal (for Frida), Howard Shore (for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), and Jan A. P. Kaczmarek (for Finding Neverland) respectively.
He was again nominated for an Oscar for scoring Steven Soderbergh's The Good German (2006). At the Oscar ceremony, he appeared in the opening segment by Errol Morris, who jokingly stated that Newman had been nominated for and failed to win an Oscar eight times. Newman replied: "No, I've failed seven but this will be my eighth", and indeed, he again lost, this time to Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel.
His first score since The Good German was for the 2008 animated film WALL-E, collaborating for the second time with director Andrew Stanton (with the first collaboration being Finding Nemo). The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (as had Nemo). Newman received two Oscar nominations: one for Best Original Score, and another for Best Original Song for "Down to Earth", which he co-wrote with Peter Gabriel. He was nominated in the Original Score category with two other veteran composers, James Newton-Howard and Danny Elfman, both of whom have also been nominated for several Oscars but each time unsuccessfully. Newman lost both the score and song nominations to A R Rahman for his work on Slumdog Millionaire. He and Peter Gabriel did however win a Grammy for "Down to Earth".
In 2008, Newman scored Towelhead and Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road and in 2009 he scored Brothers. In 2011 he scored The Help, The Debt, The Iron Lady, and The Adjustment Bureau.
In 2012, Newman scored The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. He also scored the 23rd James Bond movie Skyfall, directed by his longtime collaborator Sam Mendes, which celebrates the film franchise's 50th anniversary. His work on this film earned him his eleventh Oscar nomination and a second BAFTA win. During 2013, he scored Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects and Saving Mr. Banks. The latter score was very well received by film music critics, earning Newman BAFTA and Oscar nominations for the second consecutive year, both of which he lost to Steven Price for Gravity.
Newman's 2014 projects included The Judge and Get on Up. He scored 2015's The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, marking the first time Newman has scored a sequel to a film he also wrote the score for.
In 2016, Newman scored the motion picture Passengers starring Andy Garcia, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt.
Newman likes to vary the instrumentation in his scores, ranging from full orchestra to percussion-only music. He is also fond of incorporating unusual instruments such as the zither, hurdy-gurdy, psaltery and hammered dulcimer, or unexpected sounds, like Aboriginal chants and the chirping of cicadas. The composer declared that he has "an interest in mundane experimentation."
La vie en rose
Thomas Newman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose
When you kiss me, Heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose
And in a world apart
A world where roses bloom
And when you speak
Angels sing from above
Every day words
Seems to turn into love songs
Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose
The lyrics to Thomas Newman's song "La vie en rose" depict a sense of overwhelming love and magic spell that one experiences. The first stanza, "Hold me close and hold me fast, The magic spell you cast, This is la vie en rose" portrays an enchanting moment that takes us into another world where love governs everything. This world is painted as a place of ultimate beauty and perfection. The singer seems to be awestruck by the feelings they are experiencing, as if it is larger than them, and they are content with it.
The following stanza, "When you kiss me, Heaven sighs, And though I close my eyes, I see la vie en rose," takes us deeper into the meaning behind the song. The singer is so in love with their partner that even if they close their eyes, they can still see the beauty that they bring to their life. The use of the phrase "Heaven sighs" stands out, as it helps to show how special this moment really is.
The third stanza, "When you press me to your heart, And in a world apart, A world where roses bloom," brings a sense of simplicity to the complexities of love. Here, the world described is one with roses in full bloom, which connotes the perfection of this world created by the love shared by the two people. It shows someone holding their loved one so closely that they feel like they are in their own world, a world where everything is just right.
Line by Line Meaning
Hold me close and hold me fast
Please hold me closer and tighter
The magic spell you cast
The enchanting power of your presence
This is la vie en rose
This is the way life is meant to be
When you kiss me, Heaven sighs
The celestial realm reacts to our love
And though I close my eyes
Even when I'm not looking, I still see love
I see la vie en rose
I see the beauty and love in life
When you press me to your heart
When you embrace me, I feel safe
And in a world apart
We create our own private paradise
A world where roses bloom
A world where love blossoms and thrives
And when you speak
Every time you talk
Angels sing from above
Even the heavens are drawn to your presence
Every day words
Regular, mundane language
Seems to turn into love songs
Elevated to the realm of love and romance
Give your heart and soul to me
Please give me all of yourself
And life will always be
You will find true happiness in living
La vie en rose
Life seen through the lens of love
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Mack David, Edith Piaf
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Liam-wg1nn
It has been 13 years now, and I still come back for Wall E
@lukeday7846
you said how long?
@MsAnnity
Wall-E is the BEEEEEST Animated Film ever.. so sweet, so touchy,. soooo everything... and with this song.. pff just perfect!
@felixargyle7509
Especially in 2020
@Viney-id6rb
Such a sensational film and a breath taking song by louis Armstrong
@gingerels
oml this song randomly popped into my head & I couldn’t think for the LIFE of me where it was from, it was bugging me so bad, & I’d finally narrowed it down to a Disney film, then probably a Pixar, & then it STRUCK ME it’s from Wallie!!! Hearing the song out loud & finally not in my head is honestly pure euphoria 🤣🤩
@NoahNikeSB
Still a wonderful movie to remember for generations
@miriamaraujo8861
Essa música é muito linda, esse filme é muito lindo!!
@ilovepopcornsia
until today im still watching it , never outdated . Just simply perfect of a love story between robots.
@saturnthetruth3105
Still watching it to this day? XD