Musical Connections in Zimmer Scores

• The first connection that I noticed, the one which is the easiest to spot, is in the TLK track "This Land." One of the two primary themes comprising this movement is wholly original, the "Lea Halalela" theme; the other, however, is a newer, more polished incarnation of the theme called "The Journey" in Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World. The earlier theme has the same chordal structure as the later one, the same general format, the same imagery of timeless and steadfast beauty-- but the melody is rather different, resulting in a more "exotic" feel as compared to the later theme, which is more natural and calm in style.
  Compare:
  • TLK, track 6, 1:45 to 2:14
  • Millennium, track 3, 0:25 to 0:52

• The second link, a great deal more obscure, is also to be found in "This Land." The harmonious and very emotionally versatile end-cadence to the "Lea Halalela" theme, only a few seconds long, is nevertheless one of the most musically crucial points in the whole score, where the music can either calm serenely from the passion of "Lea Halalela" into a subtle and controlled statement of the "This Land " theme, or else it can rise (as it does at the end) exuberantly to provide an entrance for that theme as it soars in the "Ascending Pride Rock" line. It works so well that it is small wonder that it is in fact a quote of a single submerged point in the K2 score, where it appears cast in stately brass to finalize a passage there.
  Compare:
  • TLK, track 6, 1:36 to 1:44 and track 9, 4:13 to 4:20
  • K2, track 1, 11:07 to 11:14

• There are lyrical links as well. From the sequence that has become, with the release of ROTPL, known as the "Lala" theme, several lines have appeared in past works. The chorus of "Lala" focuses on the line "We sangoma ngi velelwe," meaning "Oh, spiritual healer, I am troubled." It is remarkable to think how well this line fits with its cue in the movie, where Rafiki has entered and has revealed his vision to Simba, whose lifelong pain he knows how to cure. Yet the line appears earlier, in another project Zimmer worked on with Lebo M.: The Power of One. The theme entitled "Mother Africa" consists of a constantly restated chorus with a background chant in counterpoint; this chant takes two forms, one with a dynamically changing line (the primary form) and the other being nothing other than that line: "We sangoma ngi velelwe."
  Compare:
  • TLK, track 8, 1:55 to 2:04, and ROTPL, track 9, 1:37 to 1:46
  • The Power of One, track 2, 3:23 to 3:45 (et al.)

• Yet another connection between the TLK/ROTPL score lyrics and The Power of One also occurs in "Lala." In track 3 of Po1, "Of Death and Dying," the the lead female vocal solo sings variations on the verse in "Lala" containing the motif "Oh mama wam." That line, repeated and adapted in many occurrences, can be heard. Here, in contrast, the lyrics fit better in the Po1 context than in the later version, mourning for the singer's lost brethren who are gone in a very real way under the conditions in South Africa, rather than being rather inapplicable as in "Lala.".
  Compare:
  • ROTPL, track 9, 0:24 to 0:44
  • The Power of One, track 3, 1:50 to 2:46

• Pointed out to me by Peter Holm, there is a connection between the TLK score and that of Point of No Return. Following is the observation in Holm's own words:

  It's not a rip off, but if one listens one can hear the resemblance between them. In TLK it's strings with lower percussion and in PoNR it's a Sam Ellis' voice that represents the strings and it has stronger percussion. But it's easy to forget that Zimmer wrote PoNR before TLK. Just like it's easy to forget that Basil Poledouris wrote the powerful theme to Conan the Barbarian (1982) before Jerry Goldsmith came up with his theme to Total Recall in 1990, which is a complete rip off.
  Compare:

  • TLK, track 7, 1:36 to 1:46
  • Point of No Return, track 4, 1:55 to 2:08

• A connection noted by Hans2go@aol.com is this: "I was just listening to the soundtrack of K2 and I recognised the music from somewhere I then realized it was almost identical to Radio Flyer."
  Compare:
  • K2, track 1, 7:55 to 8:14
  • Radio Flyer, track 1, 0:54 to 1:21

• Noted by Eric Daley (Hans2go@aol.com):
  My name is Eric Daley. It was really late at night and everyone in the house was asleep exept for me. So, I decided to put on headphones and listen to my Muppet Treasure Island CD. When I heard the connection I started to laugh out loud. In one of the tracks of Muppet Treasure Island Hans uses the same notes that won him a grammy for Crimson Tide, only with different. It sounds so different and somehow comical.
  Compare:
  • Muppet Treasure Island track 14, 2:30 to 2:58
  • Crimson Tide track 5, the famous 'Roll Tide' theme.

• Again by Eric Daley (Hans2go@aol.com):
  My name is Eric Daley and I have a new connection for your page. Compare the style of the entire album of Renaissance Man to Driving Mrs. Daisy, but more specifically compare:
  • Renaissance Man track 6, 6:53 to 7:08
  • Cool Runnings track 11, 2:23 to 2:45.

• Noted by Paul Stamp (stamp@lightspeed.net):
  The main theme to Crimson Tide, which all of us Zimmer Fans have come to know and love, can also be found in song number six of the Backdraft soundtrack. In the early Backdraft version of Zimmer's awesome rythme, the theme is not as complete as it is in Crimson Tide, but it still is cool!

• Noted by Ellen Edge (eeedge@soltec.net):
  Listen to the second track on the Rock soundtrack and tell me you can't hear the March track from Toys. . .

• Noted by Amanda Parrish (afp0001@jove.acs.unt.edu):
  I just visited the Hans Zimmer page and I have noticed similarities between a certain theme in Crimson Tide and The Rock.
  Compare:
  • Crimson Tide track 1, 5:35 to 5:58
  • The Rock track 2 4:02 to 4:18,

• Noted by Julius Horsthuis (han.julius.romer@pi.net):
  The beginning of Burn it all (Backdraft) is heard a lot in The Rock (in Hummel gets the Rockets, second part)

  One theme of the K2 soundtrack is the theme of Drop Zone.

  Somewhere in the 19th minute of Alabama (Crimson Tide) is a passage that is heard a lot in Broken Arrow. (the end of Mine for example)

• Noted by Mike Greenberg (spiffyc@ibm.net):
  Listen to the very end of track 7 on drop zone - it sounds just like an early version of a theme heard in crimson tide....a bit different but then it follows the same chord change, almost sounds like they are the exact same scores for a second though!

• Comments by Machieste DeMiro (Machieste@aol.com):
  "I believe to any avid Zimmer listener such as myself,a few things should be apparent.1:He works with the same producers most of the time,which no doubt contribute to his recurring attributes.Bruce Fowler,Don Harper and Jay Rifkin are the most influencial ones in his past.2:He also works with other film composers in thier own right on some of his scores,like Nick Glennie-Smith and Harry Gregson Williams whom he co-wrote the score to "The Rock" with.NGS in turn helped produce "Broken Arrow" with Zimmer,which I believe to be his crowning achievement along with "Crimson Tide".NGS has gone on to write great scores of his own like the very Zimmer-esque "Man In conclusion,Zimmer is the natural evolution of film music on it's way into the next millenium,just as John Williams was responsible for bringing the film score back from the dead in such great charicteristic works like "Star Wars" and "Superman" in 77' and 78' respectively.Who could possibly argue that he is responsible for the next wave of young,ennergetic film composers that have besieged Hollywood in recent years like Trevor Rabin,Mark Mancina,Harry Gregson Williams and Nick Glennie Smith?These men are truly blazing a trail for the film music of 2000 and beyond...."

Please e-mail me if you've heard or know of any further connections. Thanks!

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