The Nightmare Before Christmas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Danny Elfman
ReleasedOctober 12, 1993 (1993-10-12)
GenreSoundtrack
Length61:09
LabelWalt Disney
ProducerDanny Elfman
The Nightmare Before Christmas chronology
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(1993)		 Nightmare Revisited
(2008)
Danny Elfman chronology
Batman Returns
(1992)		 The Nightmare Before Christmas
(1993)		 Black Beauty
(1994)
2006 Re-release cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

The Nightmare Before Christmas is the fifteenth soundtrack album by American composer Danny Elfman. It was released on October 12, 1993, by Walt Disney Records to promote the 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Composed by Danny Elfman, the soundtrack was nominated for the 1993 Golden Globe for Best Original Score. The album peaked at #64 on the US Billboard 200.[2][3]

For the film's 2006 re-release in Disney Digital 3-D, a special edition of the soundtrack was released, a bonus disc which contained covers of five of the film's songs by Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple and She Wants Revenge. Four original demo tracks (six on the Best Buy exclusive) by Elfman were also included.[4] For the film's 15th anniversary in 2008, the cover album Nightmare Revisited was released, which includes two re-recordings by Elfman.

Background

The soundtrack was composed by composer and then-Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman. Elfman sought to make the soundtrack timeless and drew on classic popular composers for inspiration. He explained: "I wanted it to sound like it was written 50 or 100 years ago, so I turned my own influences for that stuff. Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, which was a major thing in my life, was a source, as well musicals from Cole Porter and Gershwin, and to a certain extent, Rodgers and Hammerstein."[5] For "What's This?" Elfman sought to capture the rapid-pace lyricism of Gilbert and Sullivan.

In a later interview, Elfman likened Jack Skellington's experience as the leader of Halloweentown looking to escape to a different world to his discontentment with being the leader of his band, Oingo Boingo. He recalled, "'I always felt Jack was a part of me. ... When I wrote those songs, I was in kind of a unique position, because like Jack I was the king of my own little kingdom – that was Oingo Boingo. And like Jack, I really wanted a way out, but I didn't know how to get out because so many people depended on me. So my own psychological mindset at the time was that I was writing from my own perspective as much as his, because I understood what it felt like to want something else."[6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Danny Elfman

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Overture (score)" 1:48
2."Opening"Patrick Stewart0:57
3."This Is Halloween"The Citizens of Halloween Town3:16
4."Jack's Lament"Danny Elfman3:14
5."Doctor Finkelstein/In the Forest (score)" 2:36
6."What's This?"Danny Elfman2:59
7."Town Meeting Song"Danny Elfman, Halloween Cast2:56
8."Jack and Sally Montage (score)" 5:17
9."Jack's Obsession"Danny Elfman, Halloween Cast2:46
10."Kidnap the Sandy Claws"Paul Reubens, Catherine O'Hara, Danny Elfman3:02
11."Making Christmas"Danny Elfman, The Citizens of Halloween Town3:57
12."Nabbed (score)" 3:04
13."Oogie Boogie's Song"Ken Page, Ed Ivory3:17
14."Sally's Song"Catherine O'Hara1:47
15."Christmas Eve Montage (score)" 4:44
16."Poor Jack"Danny Elfman2:31
17."To the Rescue (score)" 3:38
18."Finale/Reprise"Danny Elfman, Catherine O'Hara, The Citizens of Halloween Town2:45
19."Closing"Patrick Stewart1:26
20."End Title (score)" 5:05

On some versions of the CD, "End Credits" is two tracks (20 and 21) with lengths of 1:10 and 3:55 respectively. In this case, track 21 is considered a "hidden track" but features the same music as the 20-track release, which keeps "End Credits" as one track.

2006 reissue bonus disc

All tracks are written by Danny Elfman

No.TitleContributing artistLength
1."This Is Halloween"Marilyn Manson3:22
2."Sally's Song"Fiona Apple3:20
3."What's This?"Fall Out Boy3:00
4."Kidnap the Sandy Claws"She Wants Revenge5:09
5."This Is Halloween"Panic! at the Disco3:36
6."Making Christmas" (Demo)Danny Elfman5:34
7."Oogie Boogie's Song" (Demo)Danny Elfman3:15
8."Kidnap the Sandy Claws" (Demo)Danny Elfman2:51
9."This Is Halloween" (Demo)Danny Elfman3:19
Best Buy exclusive bonus tracks
No.TitleContributing artistLength
10."Town Meeting Song" (Demo)Danny Elfman2:47
11."What's This?" (Demo)Danny Elfman3:00

The "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" and "This Is Halloween" demos are reversed in the track listing on the backside of the album cover and in the album booklet.

Personnel

Credits and personnel adapted from the 2006 edition of the soundtrack's liner notes.

Bonus Content

  • A&R: Dani Markman
  • Business affairs: Jeff Lowy
  • Mastered by Pat Sullivan at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, CA
  • Creative Direction: Steve Gerdes
  • Album Design: Greg Ross for Orabor

Foreign-language versions

There are several foreign-language versions of the soundtrack, each features tracks sung by vocalists in their native language as well as original score tracks by Danny Elfman.

  • French, L'Étrange Noël de Monsieur Jack
Jack - Olivier Constantin
Sally - Nina Morato
Oogie Boogie - Richard Darbois
Santa Claus (Père Noël) - Henri Poirier
  • German, Nightmare Before Christmas
Jack - Alexander Goebel
Sally - Nina Hagen
Oogie Boogie - Ron Williams
Santa Claus - Manfred Lichtenfeld
  • Italian, Nightmare Before Christmas
Jack - Renato Zero
Sally - Marjorie Biondo
Oogie Boogie (Bau-Bau) - Andrea Surdi
Santa Claus (Babbo Natale) - Silvio Spaccesi
  • Japanese, ナイトメアー・ビフォア・クリスマス
    Jack (ジャック) - Masachika Ichimura (市村正親)
    Sally (サリー) - Yuko Doi (土居裕子)
    Oogie Boogie (ブギー) - Kobayashi Atom (小林アトム)
    Santa Claus (サンタクロース) - Tomoaki Nagae (永江智明)
  • Castilian Spanish, Pesadilla antes de navidad
Jack - Tony Cruz
Sally - María Caneda
Oogie Boogie - Jesús Castejón
Santa Claus - Julio Núñez
  • Latin American Spanish, El extraño mundo de Jack
    Jack - Sergio Zaldivar
    Sally - Gabriela Vega
    Oogie Boogie - Rubén Cerda
    Santa Claus - José Lavat
  • Russian, Кошмар перед Рождеством
    Jack (Джек) - Aleksej Kortnyev (Алексей Кортнев)
    Sally (Салли) - Tutta Larsen (Тутта Ларсен)
    Oogie Boogie (Бугимэн) - Nikolai Fomenko (Николай Фоменко)
    Santa Claus (Санта-Клаус) - Sergej Mazayev (Сергей Мазаев)

Charts

Chart performance for The Nightmare Before Christmas
Chart (2019–2023) Peak
position
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[7] 33
US Billboard 200[8] 36

Certifications

Certifications for The Nightmare Before Christmas
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[9] Silver 60,000‡
United States (RIAA)[10] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

  1. ↑ AllMusic review
  2. ↑ "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: John Legend & Pentatonix Debut in Top 40 With New 'Christmas' Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  3. ↑ "Charts and awards for The Nightmare Before Christmas". Allmusic. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  4. ↑ Montgomery, James (August 28, 2006). "Fall Out Boy, Panic, Marilyn Manson Add To New 'Nightmare Before Christmas' Soundtrack". MTV News. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  5. ↑ LeDonne, Rob (22 October 2018). "'The Nightmare Before Christmas' at 25: Composer Danny Elfman on the Undying Classic". Billboard. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  6. ↑ Krovatin, Chris. "How Danny Elfman made goths love Christmas". Kerrang!. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  7. ↑ "Billboard Canadian Albums Chart: Week of November 11, 2023". Billboard. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Billboard 200 - Week of November 13, 2021". Billboard. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  9. ↑ "British album certifications – Danny Elfman – The Nightmare Before Christmas". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  10. ↑ "American album certifications – Soundtrack – Nightmare Before Christmas". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
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