Tag: Thomas Newman

Six Feet Under Theme Song

Great show with a great opening theme—as with most HBO originals.

The theme from Six Feet Under is the work of one of the most recognized American film composers, Thomas Newman. He has had multiple Academy Award nominations, ten in total, but has yet to win one. Examples of his nominated works include the scores for the films Little Women and The Shawshank Redemption, which were both nominated in 1994.

Now, the theme is officially entitled “Six Feet Under Title Theme”. The album version—from the first of two soundtracks—lasts 1 minute and 36 seconds, which is exactly what you get in the title sequence. However, in the same disc, two remixes (longer ones at that) were added.

The first is called the “Rae & Christian Remix”, after the British production duo Rae & Christian, comprised of Mark Rae and DJ Steve Christian. Below is their take on the song—version taken from the soundtrack.

The other remix is called the “Photek Remix”. After some snooping around, I found out that Photek is the artist name of Rupert Parkes, another British, who is a producer and a DJ. Below is his rendition of the song (as it appears in the album).

I think I like the Photek version more.

So, what else? Well, “Six Feet Under Title Theme” is an award-winning song. In 2002 it won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music, besting the titles from the likes of Justice League (cartoons) and the short-lived Wolf Lake. And, in 2003, it won two Grammy Awards namely Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition and Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement—remember that these awards are not only limited to film and television music.

So I guess that’s it for this one. So, without further ado, I give you the theme. (Below are two versions of the opening sequence—one has the names of the stars but I’m not sure what’s the story behind it or when the change happened.)

Angels in America Theme Song

2003

Angels in America is that award-winning HBO TV miniseries that starred Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, and Emma Thompson among others.

Its music did good as well, as it was nominated for the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. However, and as expected, it lost to a worthy titan-of-a-foe—music from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

All original scoring for Angels in America was done by one man—Thomas Newman. Mr. Newman is one of the most sought-after film composers, and has done work for Finding Nemo, American Beauty, and Little Women to name a few.

Music for the miniseries is available in an official original motion picture soundtrack, where the opening theme song, track two, is simply credited as “Angels in America (Main Title)”.

Below is the original opening sequence featuring the title theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASjIxVK_3DU&feature=player_embedded

Below is a better-quality, music-only video of the theme song.

Boston Public Theme Song

Boston Public was yet another David E. Kelley creation. I remember watching this show because of two reasons—it was “strategically” placed between Monday sitcoms, and, it had hot babes—Jessalyn Gilsig, Jeri Ryan, and for a brief period, Michelle Monaghan. So I watched it anyway, and, I have to admit, it was good.

The theme song for Boston Public is an original by Thomas Newman, an American composer who has composed scores to over fifty feature films. It (Boston Public theme) is most probably only referred to as the “Boston Public Theme,” as I have not seen or heard any commercial releases of it anywhere.

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