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.
Wait For Me
Vangelis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
"Deckard"
"Do you have those files on me?"
"The incept date"
"Those things, you saw them?"
"Deckard"
"What if I go north?"
"Would you come after me?"
"Hunt me?"
The lyrics of Vangelis's song Wait For Me are inspired by the movie Blade Runner, which tells the story of Rick Deckard, a retired police officer, who is tasked to track down and kill replicants, bio-engineered human-like beings. Rachel is one of the replicants, who falls in love with Deckard. The lyrics in this section refer to a conversation between Rachel and Deckard, where she questions him about the information he has on her. She asks for the incept date, which is the date when she was created, and the longevity, which refers to her programmed lifespan. She also asks if he saw her do something incriminating, and finally questions his loyalty by asking if he would follow her if she were to escape.
The lyrics reveal the underlying themes of the movie, which are the questions around humanity, consciousness, and free will. The replicants are shown to possess emotions and memories and are treated as sub-human by society, raising questions about what it means to be human. Rachel's questioning of Deckard's loyalty and her own existence shows her struggle with identity and free will.
Overall, the lyrics of Wait For Me convey the emotional complexity of the movie and the central themes it explores.
Line by Line Meaning
Deckard
Addressing Deckard, the singer is seeking attention and acknowledgment
Do you have those files on me?
The singer is curious if Deckard possesses personal information about them and if so, how much
The incept date
Reference to the date the singer was 'born' or created
The longevity
A reference to the artist's lifespan and how long they were designed to exist
Those things, you saw them?
Asking if Deckard witnessed something they find significant, possibly wanting to discuss or understand it better
Deckard
Reiterating the singer's desire for Deckard's attention
What if I go north?
Hypothetically asking what Deckard would do if the singer were to leave or go in a certain direction
Would you come after me?
Asking if Deckard cares enough about the artist to actively seek them out
Hunt me?
Questioning if Deckard's search for them would be more aggressive or harmful than simply trying to find them
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: EVANGELOS PAPATHANASSIOU
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind