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Yeah, I don’t get it really. Sure there is the money question but having the sequel handed to a close collaborator is far from unusual. Nobody would have cared if it was publicized as co-composed.
The Grinch
1. The Big Opening – Elfman
2. Going to Town – Elfman
3. Jaunty Kitchen – Elfman
4. Mailing a Letter – Elfman
5. It’s Better This Way – Elfman
6. Northward Bound – Elfman
7. Christmas in Whoville – Elfman/Bacon (Bacon helped with ‘Catapult’, but the bulk of the cue on album is by Elfman)
8. Lost Lonely Boy – Elfman
9. Welcome Song/Forlorn – Elfman
10. To the Fort – Elfman
11. Dog Tongue – Elfman
12. Walking Toward Destiny – Elfman
13. Loudest Snow – Elfman
14. Puppy Eyes – Elfman
15. Command Centre – Elfman
16. Grinch’s Wild Ride – Elfman
17. Kids Can’t Sleep – Elfman
18. Stealing Christmas – Elfman
19. Taking the Bait – Elfman/Bacon
20. It’s My Fault – Elfman
21. Welcome Christmas – Elfman
22. An Apology – Elfman
23. First Christmas – Elfman
24. Big Finale – ElfmanBacon handled a few other minor cues and some of the background Christmas music. Couldn’t find anything on Lindgren’s involvement.
Dumbo
Chris Bacon did some arranging on ‘Breakout’ and ‘Soaring Suite’, and Lindgren did some arranging on the ‘Rescuing the Farriers’ cue. The rest is all Elfman.
No problem.
Bacon and Lindgren are just credited with arrangements, so based on other credits for other scores, Elfman is probably responsible for 85-90% of those three cues. It’s impossible to tell because Bacon is also with BMI. But, for example, Deborah Lurie is credited for ‘additional arrangements’ for Alice, and she is credited for 13% of a track. I might be wrong, but I assume in these cases that Elfman writes a cue, the edit changes, and the other guys rejig the cue so it fits the new edit.
Elfman’s not shy about giving either of these guys ‘additional music’ credit, so their roles must have been relatively minor.
I treated myself to Elfman’s Masterclass and found this interesting: there’s a section where he talks about his little charts he has with the amount of days left until recording and the cue titles. He discusses writing a cue then checking it off. You get to see many of these boards at the beginning, nearer to the recording date….
For Mr Peabody, a score with four ‘additional music’ composers, a lot of the cues that have other composers credits were some of the first that Elfman tackled. For example, ‘Reign of Terror’ and ‘The Flying Machine’ (whose final versions have other composers involved) were ticked off before many cues which only credit Elfman. It might be a one-off example, but it seems to imply that, at least in some cases, the other guys are brought in to adapt already-written music for a new edit.
Dolittle
Elfman has solo credits for
Opening
Chess Match
Revelry
Lunchtime
Investigation
Evil Deed (No idea what this is)
Remembering Lily
Onward
We Belong Together
Save The Queen
Dragon IndigestionThe rest all have Bacon credited, too :/
My guess is that with the delays on DOLITTLE, Elfman was not available to do all of the rewrites himself. It’s probably better that way, as it’s not likely the score is destined to become an eternal fan favourite…!
Probably. Woman in the Window seems to be a solo gig – I wonder if he’s just better off sticking to the smaller movies and concert works nowadays.
GEMA has more information.
1. Opening – Elfman
2. Wonder – Elfman/Bacon (Second part of the track is all Elfman)Ran out of editing time…
1. Opening – Elfman
2. Wonder – Elfman/Bacon (Part II is all Elfman)
3. Chess Match – Elfman
4. Revelry – Elfman
5. Lunchtime – Elfman
6. He’s Back – Elfman/Bacon
7. Teamwork – ?
8. Betsy Chase – Elfman/Bacon
9. Investigation – Elfman
10. The Voyage Begins – Elfman
11. Remembering Lily – Elfman
12. The Getaway – Elfman/Bacon (Part II is all Elfman)
13. Well Done Everybody – ?
14. Monteverde – Elfman/Bacon
15. Pep Talk – Elfman/Bacon
16. Onward – Elfman
17. The Dragon – Elfman/Bacon
18. The Extraction – Elfman/Bacon
19. We Belong Together – Elfman
20. Save the Queen – Elfman
21. Revelation – Elfman/Bacon
22. Victory – Elfman
23. Dragon Indigestion – ElfmanDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
1. Multiverse of Madness – Elfman
2. On the Run – Elfman/Bacon/Giacchino
3. Strange Awakens – Elfman
4. The Apple Orchard – Elfman
5. Are You Happy – Elfman
6. Gargantos – Elfman/Giacchino
7. Journey With Wong – Elfman
8. Home – Elfman
9. Strange Statue – Elfman/Giacchino
10. The Decision is Made – Elfman
11. A Cup of Tea – Elfman
12. Discovering America – Elfman
13. Grab My Hand – Elfman/Bacon
14. Battle Time – Elfman/Giacchino
15. Not a Monster – Elfman
16. Forbidden Ground – Elfman
17. Tribunal – Elfman/Bacon
18. Illuminati Vs Wanda – Elfman/Bacon
19. They’re Not Coming Back – Elfman/Bacon
20. Stranger Things Will Happen – Elfman
21. Buying Time – Elfman
22. Book of Vishanti – Elfman
23. Looking for Strange – Elfman
24. Strange Talk – Elfman
25. Lethal Symphonies – Elfman
26. Getting Through – Elfman
27. Only Way – Elfman
28. Trust Your Power – Elfman
29. They’ll Be Loved – Elfman
30. Farewell – Elfman
31. An Interesting Question – Elfman
32. Main Titles – Elfman
33. An Unexpected Visitor – Elfman/Bacon*
34. Wanda at Home – Elfman/Bacon/Lopez
35. Illuminati – Elfman*Of note – Bacon is credited with only that strange synth that opens the cue. The rest is Elfman. Makes me wonder how many other times Elfman has credited other composers for giving him a sound…
On a side note, I went through the entirety of the Marvel Music Catalogue to get this information, and Bear McCreary doesn’t have a single solo credit for all those years of Agents of Shield. Seems a bit like the Zimmer of TV?
Thank you for the effort ! It’s always very interesting.
This paper from a few months ago talks a bit about the “additional composers” situation : https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/the-ugly-truth-of-how-movie-scores-are-made
Deborah Lurie paints Elfman as one of the “good guy” regarding the matter, for what it’s worth. I don’t mind additional composers, they are often a necessity as post-production is getting wilder every year, especially on these big products.
What I do mind is lack of proper credit or ambiguous one. Additional composers should always be credited per track on releases and even in the end credits; these things last forever anyway.I listened to a radio interview with Elfman around the time DS2 came out, and when he was asked about his team, he mentioned Bacon and said ‘he’s great at taking over a cue’. I take that to mean that Bacon revises cues that Elfman can no longer devote time to.
Incidentally, I love the Illuminati theme, and I especially love that action version that opens Illuminati Vs Wanda. But when I first heard it, it struck me as really not sounding like Elfman. It might be that it was him and Bacon was revising other parts of the cue or something, but that whole cue never sounded like Elfman to me.
But then you have ‘On the Run’, which is the most Elfmany Elfman action cue that ever was, which opens the movie and introduces the Strange and America themes (and the end of the cue largely informs the end of ‘Not a Monster’ and ‘Book of Vishanti’) and there’s no way Elfman didn’t have a lot to do with that cue.
It used to bother me a fair bit, but I’m mostly over it. I think the only time it actively bothers me still is with Fifty Shades Freed which doesn’t sound like Elfman much at all bar a few cues and was recorded when he was writing Justice League. I appreciate that there were certainly contracts and deals in place, but Elfman’s composer credit there seems…generous.
Elfman talks more about his team and criticises ‘team effort’ scoring.
Danny Elfman Breaks Down Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’s Biggest Musical Moments
Elfman talks about Bacon at 45:25
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