The Nightmare Before Christmas (soundtrack)

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.

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. 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." 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."

Track listing
''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
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.

Performers

 * Danny Elfman – principal artist (Jack Skellington, Barrell), vocals
 * Catherine O'Hara – principal artist (Sally, Shock), vocals
 * Glenn Shadix – principal artist (Mayor), vocals
 * Ken Page – principal artist (Oogie Boogie), vocals
 * Paul Reubens – principal artist (Lock), vocals
 * Ed Ivory – principal artist (Santa), vocals

Additional performers

 * Sherwood Ball – background vocals
 * Debi Durst – background vocals
 * Randy Crenshaw – background vocals
 * Kerry Katz – background vocals
 * Susan McBride – background vocals
 * Bobbi Page – background vocals
 * Greg Proops - background vocals
 * Carmen Twillie – background vocals
 * Glenn Walters – background vocals

Musicians

 * Steve Bartek – musical director, song orchestration
 * Mark McKenzie – score orchestration
 * Chris Boardman – song conductor
 * J.A.C. Redford – score conductor
 * Mark Mann – additional orchestration

Technical

 * Danny Elfman – producer
 * Bob Badami – associate producer, music editor
 * Richard Kraft – associate producer
 * Bill Jackson – vocal recording engineer
 * Robert Fernandez – song recording engineer
 * Shawn Murphy – song and score recording engineer, audio mixing
 * Sharone Rice – assistant engineer
 * Bill Easystone – assistant engineer
 * Mike Piersante – assistant engineer
 * Andy Bass – assistant engineer
 * Dave Collins – digital editing, mastering engineer
 * Letitia Rogers – assistant music editor
 * Bobbi Page – vocal contractor
 * Patti Zimmitti – orchestra contractor
 * Mark Mann – music preparation
 * Joel Franklin – music copyist
 * Megan Cavallari – demo assistant
 * Gary Adler – art director

Bonus Content
1. "This Is Halloween"
 * Produced and Mixed by Marilyn Manson and Tim Skold

2. "Sally's Song"
 * Produced by Mike Elizondo
 * Mixed by Adam Hawkins
 * Engineered by Adam Hawkins @ Phantom Studio, Westlake Village, CA
 * Assistant Engineer: Erin J. Funk-Dublan
 * Keyboards: Zac Rae
 * Upright Bass: Mike Elizondo
 * Drums: Charley Drayton
 * Strings: The Section Quartet - Eric Gorfain, Daphne Chen, Leah Katz, Richard Dodd
 * String Arrangement by Eric Gorfain
 * Project Coordinator: Jolie Levine

3. "What's This?"
 * Produced and Mixed by Neal Avron
 * Recorded by Neal Avron and Erich Talaba
 * Pro Tools Engineer: Matt Green
 * Assistant Engineer: Zeph Sowers
 * Recorded at The Pass Studios, Los Angeles, CA
 * Mixed at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, CA
 * Mix Assistant: George Gumbs

4. "Kidnap the Sandy Claws"
 * Produced by KoRn

5. "This Is Halloween"
 * Produced by Panic! At the Disco and Rob Mathes
 * Vocals Arranged by Ryan Ross and Brendon Urie
 * Recorded by Panic! At the Disco at Ryan's house Las Vegas, NV
 * Orchestra Arranged and Conducted by Rob Mathes
 * Recorded by Mark Mandelhaum, assisted by Alex Venguer at Legacy Recording Studio, New York, NY
 * Concertmaster and Orchestra Contractor: Sandra Park
 * Music Copyist: Mike and Lori Casteel
 * Mixed by Chris Shaw at Avatar Studios, New York, NY

6-11. Demos
 * All Demo Vocals Performed by Danny Elfman
 * Synth Demo Tracks Arranged, Orchestrated and Performed by Danny Elfman
 * Recorded by Bill Jackson
 * Mixed by Noah Snyder
 * Produced by Danny Elfman and Tim Burton


 * 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)