After having taken piano lessons, Vangelis began his professional musical career working with several popular bands of the 1960s such as the Forminx and Aphrodite's Child, with the latter's album 666 going on to be recognized as a psychedelic classic. Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed music scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage and Opéra sauvage; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes, and the duo went on to release several albums together as Jon & Vangelis.
In 1981, he composed the score for the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The soundtrack's single, the film's "Titles" theme, also reached the top of the American Billboard Hot 100 chart and was used as the background music at the London 2012 Olympics winners' medal presentation ceremonies. Vangelis also received acclaim for his synthesizer-based soundtrack for the 1982 film Blade Runner.
Having had a career in music spanning over 70 years and having composed and performed more than 50 albums, Vangelis is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of electronic music.
Vangelis was born 29 March 1943, in Agria, near Volos, Greece. Largely a self-taught musician, he reportedly began composing at the age of three. His earliest memory is "playing piano, some percussion and whatever else that was available that made a noise. Right from the start, I was only interested in playing my own music". He refused to take traditional piano lessons, and throughout his career did not have substantial knowledge of reading or writing musical notation. When he was six, Vangelis's parents enrolled him at a specialist music school in Athens. He recalls "I was lucky not to go because music schools close doors rather than open them". He studied painting, an art he still practices, at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
In 1989 received Max Steiner Award. France made Vangelis a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1992 and promoted to Commander in 2017, as well Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur in 2001. In 1993 received music award Apollo by Friends of the Athens National Opera Society. In 1995, Vangelis had a minor planet named after him (6354 Vangelis) by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; the name was proposed by the MPC's co-director, Gareth V. Williams, rather than by the object's original discoverer, Eugène Joseph Delporte, who died in 1955, long before the 1934 discovery could be confirmed by observations made in 1990. In 1996 and 1997 was awarded at World Music Awards.
NASA conferred their Public Service Medal to Vangelis in 2003. The award is the highest honour the space agency presents to an individual not involved with the American government. Five years later, in 2008, the board of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens voted to make Vangelis an Honorary Doctor, making him Professor Emeritus at their Faculty of Primary Education. In June 2008, the American Hellenic Institute honoured Vangelis with an AHI Hellenic Heritage Achievement Award for his "exceptional artistic achievements" as a pioneer in electronic music and for his lifelong dedication to the promotion of Hellenism through the arts. On 16 September 2013, he received the honour of appearing on the Greek 80 cent postage stamp, as part of a series of six distinguished living personalities of the Greek Diaspora.
Tears in Rain
Vangelis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
"I've seen things, you people wouldn't believe, hmmm.
... attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I've watched see Beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
All those moments, will be lost in time like tears in rain..."
["... time to die ..."]
The lyrics of Vangelis's song Tears in Rain consist of a monologue by the character Roy, played by Rutger Hauer, towards the end of the motion picture Blade Runner. The character reflects on various memories and experiences that he had during his short life, as he is dying, and realizes that they will soon disappear forever, just like tears in the rain. The opening line, "I've seen things, you people wouldn't believe," is one of the most famous and often quoted lines from the movie. It suggests that Roy has experienced things that are beyond the imagination of most people.
The subsequent descriptions of "attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion" and "sea beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate" are highly imaginative and evocative. They give the impression of a vast and complex universe, full of wonder and danger, that Roy has had the privilege to witness. The phrase "shoulder of Orion" refers to the constellation of Orion, and the Tannhauser Gate is a science fiction reference to a fictional space-time portal that was created by Richard Wagner in his opera Tannhauser.
The final line, "All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain," is one of the most poignant and memorable lines in cinema history. It sums up the fleeting nature of human existence and the inevitability of mortality. The line has been interpreted by many as a reflection on the transience of human experience and the importance of cherishing the moments that we have.
Line by Line Meaning
I've seen things, you people wouldn't believe, hmmm.
I've witnessed things so extraordinary, that you humans would find it hard to comprehend.
... attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I've seen spaceships being destroyed while burning near the constellation Orion.
I've watched sea Beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
I've observed light beams spark during the night near a hypothetical gateway called the Tannhauser.
All those moments, will be lost in time like tears in rain...
All of those extraordinary experiences will eventually fade away from my memory like tears getting washed away by the rain.
[... time to die ...]
I'm acknowledging and accepting my death since all of my remarkable experiences will soon be forgotten, making my life meaningless.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: . VANGELIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@thegameknight8916
"I've... Seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire near the shoulder of Orion.
I've watched C-beams... Glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate.
All those... Moments... Will be lost... In time...
Like... Tears... In the rain...
Time... To die."
@wolterzz3267
'All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain'.
R.I.P. Rutger Hauer and Vangelis. Your memories will not be forgotten like tears in rain.
@tylermorgan5230
How v died
@catwoe5707
May his music live forever
@ruru7169
Wait! He did the song??? I didn't know that... Rest in peace...
@tamatovimimudte5359
He wasn't a man, he was something else, much higher then us
@cheyennealvis8284
Like tears in rain.
@USER_UCsy8cDNwPFvm1etDe1y9sEg
@@cheyennealvis8284prevent the rain from falling onto this message
@qui-gontimtherandomraptor1072
"I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire of the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams... glitter in the dark by Tanhäuser gate. All those... moments... will be lost in time, like... tears... in the rain. Time... to die."
Rest in peace, Rutger Hauer. rest in peace, Vangelis. May your works glisten like raindrops on a window forever.
@phamtrunghieu1503
so sorry if i'm being a nitpick but its C-beam not sea beams. Hope it helps :P
@qui-gontimtherandomraptor1072
@@phamtrunghieu1503 Thank you!! I've always wondered exactly what a C-beam is.