- published: 31 Oct 2009
- views: 57717
Jonathan Elias (born 1956) is a U.S. composer and record producer, known for his movie soundtracks, production for several pop and rock acts, and his award-winning advertising music including the PBS logo instrumental from October 1, 1984 to October 1, 1989.
Elias was born in New York City in 1956. He started playing piano at the age of six, and was composing his own music by twelve, inspired in part by Broadway musicals. He liked rock music, but also admired Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
He attended the Eastman School of Music with aspirations of becoming a classical composer and conductor, and then Bennington College in Vermont in 1976. While still in school, he cut his teeth doing the music for movie trailers, most notably Alien, and later scored the trailers for Blade Runner, Gandhi, and Back to the Future. He went on to work on numerous movie soundtracks, starting with Children of the Corn and including Tuff Turf, Parents, Chaplin, and more.
He and his brother Scott Elias founded the music and advertising firm Elias Associates in 1980; it later became Elias Arts. The company had several notable successes, including the crunching "Moon Landing" theme used in the top-of-the-hour branding of MTV, the Columbia Pictures logo theme, and the famous Yahoo! yodel.
Somewhere on the waterfront
Johnny's hiding with a gun
Swears he'll kill any man that tells his story
He's not sorry for what he's done
He broke into a drugstore
Just to cure his daily need
Didn't mean to shoot the guard
But he was blinded by the greed
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
You see that nun, she's his sister
She doesn't know that he's gone bad
When they told it to his father
It drove the old man mad
Just like his mother warned him
From her dying bed
It's alright to lose your heart
But never lose your head
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
Now the cops have got him surrounded
And he doesn't stand a hope
He wonders how he could be in so much trouble
Over just a little dope
Five to one he gets away
That's the odds I'm going to give
Five to four they blast him away
Three to one he's going to live
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny, you better run
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
Back in the alley where he was slain
Thought I heard something move
Beside the trash can lay a heart and chain
The picture had been removed
Just another [Incomprehensible]
Looking for a bed
It's alright to lose your heart
But never lose your head
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny
Oh Johnny