Star Wars (Main Title)

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"Star Wars (Main Title)"
Star wars main title LSO US single side-A original pressing.png
Side A of original 1977 US single pressing
Single by John Williams
B-side "Cantina Band"
ReleasedJuly 29, 1977
Recorded1977
Genre Film score
Length5:52
Label 20th Century
Songwriter(s) John Williams
Producer(s) George Lucas
John Williams singles chronology
"Main Title (Theme from Jaws)"
(1975)
"Star Wars (Main Title)"
(1977)
"Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
(1977)

"Star Wars (Main Title)" is a musical theme composed and conducted by John Williams. The 1977 London Symphony Orchestra recording peaked at number ten on Billboard Hot 100 and number thirteen in Canada RPM Top Singles. Meco's disco version of "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" was a global hit in the same year.

Contents

History

It is the main musical theme of Star Wars and is also considered the primary leitmotif for Luke Skywalker, the protagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy. The original 1977 recording was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The track became a hit in the United States (#10) and Canada (#13) during the fall of that year. The composition draws influence from Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score for the 1942 film Kings Row [1] and Gustav Holst's Jupiter from his orchestral suite, The Planets.

The B side featured the original movie score of Cantina Band.

"Star Wars (Main Title)" was the lesser of two hits featuring music from Star Wars . Meco's disco version of "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" reached number one concurrently with the chart run of Williams' original movie score version.

Charts

Patrick Gleeson cover

The Star Wars main title theme was covered by Patrick Gleeson a month after the release of the London Symphony Orchestra performance. [12] His version was released in France and the United States.

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References

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  11. Billboard , December 24, 1977.
  12. "Patrick Gleeson - Star Wars Theme". Discogs. Retrieved 23 April 2018.