Alf Clausen
Encyclopedia
Alf Clausen is an American
film and television composer
. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons
, of which he has been the sole composer since 1990. Clausen has scored or orchestrated music for more than 30 films and television shows, including Moonlighting
, The Naked Gun
, ALF
and Ferris Bueller's Day Off
.
and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota
. Clausen was interested in music from a young age. He counts composer Henry Mancini
as one of his heroes; his book Sounds and Scores inspired him. He sang in his high school choir and began playing the French horn in the seventh grade and also learned piano
. He continued playing and learned to play the bass guitar
, stopping singing because the choir met at the same time as the band. He studied mechanical engineering at North Dakota State University
although, after being inspired by his pianist cousin, switched his major to musical theory. Whilst there, Clausen took a correspondence course
at Boston
's Berklee College of Music
in jazz and big band writing. He went on to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison
to complete his master's degree
, but quit as he disliked the place, especially what he felt was an "anti-jazz" attitude. He then worked for a period as a musician. He later attended Berklee and graduated with a diploma in arranging and composition in 1966. Clausen was the first French horn player to ever attend the college and took part in many ensembles; he is also featured on some Jazz in the Classroom albums. Clausen taught at Berklee for a year after graduation.
in 1967 in search of television work, wanting to became a full-time composer. For nine years he did some arrangement work for singers, ghostwriting
and other composing jobs such commercial jingles, as well as working as a teacher, music copyist and a bassist. He eventually became a score writer and later the music director and conductor for Donny & Marie
between 1976 and 1979. Initially he was requested to write an emergency chart
for the following day, but he was hired as a score writer and continued writing and conducting on the show, before replacing Tommy Oliver
as music director. When the show moved to Utah
, Clausen flew there each week from Los Angeles to record the score. He had the same role on The Mary Tyler Moore Hour
in 1979. In 1981 he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Achievement In Music Direction for Omnibus.
Clausen served as the composer for the series Moonlighting
from 1985 to 1989, scoring 63 of the 65 episodes. His favorite episode to score was the episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice", which featured two lengthy black and white dream sequences and enjoyed the episode "Atomic Shakespeare", also a fantasy episode. He received an Emmy nomination for each episode in the category Outstanding Achievement In Music Composition For A Series (Dramatic Underscore)
in 1986 and 1987, earning two more nominations over the next two years for the episodes "Here's Living with You, Kid" and "A Womb with a View". In 1988 and 1989 he also received nominations for the Emmy for Outstanding Achievement In Music Direction. He was also the composer on ALF
from 1986 to 1990, a job he got after seven months of unemployment.
Other television compositions included Wizards and Warriors
(1983), Fame
(1984), Lime Street (1985), Christine Cromwell (1989) and My Life and Times (1991) as well as the television films Murder in Three Acts
(1986), Double Agent (1987), Police Story: The Watch Commander (1988), My First Love (1988), She Knows Too Much (1989) and the feature film Number One with a Bullet (1987). He also conducted the orchestras and, for some, provided additional music for several films including The Beastmaster
(1982), Airplane II: The Sequel
(1982), Splash
(1984), Weird Science
(1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off
(1986), Dragnet
(1987) and The Naked Gun
(1988).
Following ALF' s conclusion, Clausen was unemployed for a period. Clausen's friend suggested him to a producer from the Fox animated series The Simpsons
who were looking for a new composer. Clausen "had no interest in doing animation" and "wanted to be a drama composer." However, the show's creator Matt Groening
told him "we don't look upon this as being a cartoon but a drama where the characters are drawn, and we would like it scored that way." Clausen took the job. Groening told Clausen that the "emotion [should be] scored first and the action scored second", unlike many other cartoons, and that "scoring the emotions of the characters" was the primary aim for The Simpsons. Clausen's first episode was "Treehouse of Horror
", the third episode of season two
, in 1990. It served as an audition and he was hired permanently after that. He has since scored almost all of the music and songs which have appeared on the show, across a wide range of musical styles. He conducts a 35 piece orchestra for the music, a rarity for television shows, and records the score for an episode every week. Clausen writes an episode's score during the week, recording it on a Friday, with some variation if vocals are required. The limited timeframe proves the most challenging aspect of the job for Clausen; he was once required to write 57 musical cues in one week. For the show's original songs production is much longer; Clausen records the music to the writers' lyrics, over seven or eight months the scene is animated, and then Clausen can re-record the song with a full orchestra. The full orchestra allows easy transition between the wide range of musical styles required for the show. Clausen noted: "The greatest composing challenge has been to try to make some kind of musical sense out of the cues when I have only a few seconds to make a musical statement. We have a joke on the scoring stage that I can make you feel five ways in thirteen seconds. We say it in jest, but the reality of the situation is that I am required to do just that quite often." Clausen intentionally opted against composing themes for each character, which some exceptions such as Mr. Burns, and instead "[gives] each story its own theme and thematic development...That approach helps to give each story its own special identification, more like individual mini-movies." He supplements the orchestra with additional instruments, such as extra brass for the episode "Cape Feare
", for which Clausen composed Sideshow Bob
's theme, which continued to be played whenever Bob gets out of prison in subsequent episodes. It is based on the score of the movie Cape Fear
, composed by Bernard Herrmann
. The musical requests of the writers range from rerecord a specific piece of music to compose something based on this character's emotion in a scene.
Clausen has received two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on The Simpsons, winning the award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics two years in a row. The first was for "We Put The Spring In Springfield" from the 1997 episode "Bart After Dark
", the second was for "You're Checkin' In" from the 1998 episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson
"; the lyrics of each song were written by Ken Keeler
. He has been nominated in the category a further seven times in 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Clausen has also received twelve nominations for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) between 1992 and 2011 and has twice been nominated for Outstanding Music Direction, in 1997 and 1998. With 30 nominations, Clausen has received more Emmy nominations than any other musician.
He has won five Annie Awards for his work on The Simpsons. He won the 1997 award for Best Music in a TV Production, the award for Outstanding Music in an Animated Television Production in 1998, again for "You're Checkin' In", the same award in 2000 for the episode "Behind the Laughter
", the award for Best Music in an Animated Television Production in 2003 for "Dude, Where's My Ranch?
", and again in 2007 for "Yokel Chords
".
His work on the show has been released as part of three albums: Songs in the Key of Springfield
(1997), Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons
(1999) and The Simpsons: Testify
(2007). Clausen was not asked to score the film adaptation of the show, The Simpsons Movie
, with Hans Zimmer
getting the job. He noted: "sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug".
Whilst working on The Simpsons, Clausen scored The Critic
from 1994 to 1995 and Bette in 2000. He also scored the 1998 film Half Baked
. He recorded the album Swing Can Really Hang You Up The Most in 2003, comprising the arrangements he made over his career, performed by his jazz orchestra, after self-financing it.
In 2011, Clausen was awarded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Golden Note Award. ASCAP President Paul Williams
said his "decades of scores for The Simpsons and other TV programs and films are as endlessly inventive as the imaginations of the shows' writers and animators. It takes a lot of serious work and thought to compose, arrange and conduct such wonderfully happy music."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film and television composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, of which he has been the sole composer since 1990. Clausen has scored or orchestrated music for more than 30 films and television shows, including Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
, The Naked Gun
The Naked Gun
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a 1988 American comedy film that is the first in a The Naked Gun series of films starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson...
, ALF
ALF (TV series)
ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
and Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 American teen coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by John Hughes.The film follows high school senior Ferris Bueller , who decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago...
.
Early life
Clausen was born in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota
Jamestown, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,527 people, 6,505 households, and 3,798 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,246.7 per square mile . There were 6,970 housing units at an average density of 559.6 per square mile...
. Clausen was interested in music from a young age. He counts composer Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
as one of his heroes; his book Sounds and Scores inspired him. He sang in his high school choir and began playing the French horn in the seventh grade and also learned piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. He continued playing and learned to play the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, stopping singing because the choir met at the same time as the band. He studied mechanical engineering at North Dakota State University
North Dakota State University
North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, more commonly known as North Dakota State University , is a public university in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU has about 14,000 students and it is the largest university in North Dakota based on full time students and land size...
although, after being inspired by his pianist cousin, switched his major to musical theory. Whilst there, Clausen took a correspondence course
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
at Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
's Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
in jazz and big band writing. He went on to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
to complete his master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
, but quit as he disliked the place, especially what he felt was an "anti-jazz" attitude. He then worked for a period as a musician. He later attended Berklee and graduated with a diploma in arranging and composition in 1966. Clausen was the first French horn player to ever attend the college and took part in many ensembles; he is also featured on some Jazz in the Classroom albums. Clausen taught at Berklee for a year after graduation.
Career
Clausen moved to Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1967 in search of television work, wanting to became a full-time composer. For nine years he did some arrangement work for singers, ghostwriting
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
and other composing jobs such commercial jingles, as well as working as a teacher, music copyist and a bassist. He eventually became a score writer and later the music director and conductor for Donny & Marie
Donny & Marie (1976 TV series)
Donny & Marie was an American variety show which aired on ABC from January 1976 to January 1979. The show stars brother and sister pop duo Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond...
between 1976 and 1979. Initially he was requested to write an emergency chart
Chord chart
A chord chart is a form of musical notation that in addition to writing out non-embellished melody, describes harmonic and rhythmic information. It is the most common form of notation used by professional session musicians playing jazz or popular music. It is intended primarily for a rhythm section...
for the following day, but he was hired as a score writer and continued writing and conducting on the show, before replacing Tommy Oliver
Tommy Oliver (musician)
Tommy Oliver was an American musician, bandleader, and music producer.Oliver arranged and produced albums for artists such as Doris Day, Edie Adams, Wayne Newton, Donny and Marie Osmond, Charles Boyer, Frankie Avalon, Joey Heatherton, Pat Boone, Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Joanie Sommers, Denny...
as music director. When the show moved to Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Clausen flew there each week from Los Angeles to record the score. He had the same role on The Mary Tyler Moore Hour
The Mary Tyler Moore Hour
The Mary Tyler Moore Hour was a television series broadcast by CBS in the spring of 1979.Like her first series, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Moore's eponymous sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show , had been highly-rated, critically acclaimed, and the recipient of many Emmy Awards...
in 1979. In 1981 he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
for Outstanding Achievement In Music Direction for Omnibus.
Clausen served as the composer for the series Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
from 1985 to 1989, scoring 63 of the 65 episodes. His favorite episode to score was the episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice", which featured two lengthy black and white dream sequences and enjoyed the episode "Atomic Shakespeare", also a fantasy episode. He received an Emmy nomination for each episode in the category Outstanding Achievement In Music Composition For A Series (Dramatic Underscore)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series
This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series.-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-Total Awards:* CBS - 10* ABC - 7* NBC - 6* FOX - 3* Syndicated - 3* Discovery Channel - 2...
in 1986 and 1987, earning two more nominations over the next two years for the episodes "Here's Living with You, Kid" and "A Womb with a View". In 1988 and 1989 he also received nominations for the Emmy for Outstanding Achievement In Music Direction. He was also the composer on ALF
ALF (TV series)
ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
from 1986 to 1990, a job he got after seven months of unemployment.
Other television compositions included Wizards and Warriors
Wizards and Warriors (TV series)
Wizards and Warriors was a CBS television series from 1983, starring Jeff Conaway, Julia Duffy, Walter Olkewicz, Duncan Regehr, and Clive Revill. Only eight one hour episodes were made of this offbeat fantasy-comedy. The series was created by Don Reo for Warner Bros. Television and most of the...
(1983), Fame
Fame (1982 TV series)
Fame is an American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987. The show was based on the 1980 motion picture of the same name. Using a mixture of drama and music, it followed the lives of the students and faculty at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. Although...
(1984), Lime Street (1985), Christine Cromwell (1989) and My Life and Times (1991) as well as the television films Murder in Three Acts
Murder in Three Acts
Murder in Three Acts is a 1986 British-American television film produced by Warner Bros. Television, featuring Peter Ustinov as Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot...
(1986), Double Agent (1987), Police Story: The Watch Commander (1988), My First Love (1988), She Knows Too Much (1989) and the feature film Number One with a Bullet (1987). He also conducted the orchestras and, for some, provided additional music for several films including The Beastmaster
The Beastmaster (film)
The Beastmaster is 1982 fantasy film directed by Don Coscarelli that starred Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, John Amos and Rip Torn. The film was marketed with the tagline "Born with the courage of an eagle, the strength of a black tiger, and the power of a god."-Summary:The Beastmaster tells the story...
(1982), Airplane II: The Sequel
Airplane II: The Sequel
Airplane II: The Sequel is an American comedy sequel to the 1980 film Airplane!. First released on December 10, 1982, the film was written and directed by Ken Finkleman and stars Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges, Chad Everett, William Shatner, Rip Torn, and Sonny Bono.-Plot:In the near...
(1982), Splash
Splash (film)
Splash is a 1984 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Ron Howard and written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The original music score was composed by Lee Holdridge...
(1984), Weird Science
Weird Science (film)
Weird Science is a 1985 American teen comedy film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly LeBrock...
(1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 American teen coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by John Hughes.The film follows high school senior Ferris Bueller , who decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago...
(1986), Dragnet
Dragnet (1987 film)
Dragnet is a 1987 film comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, directed by Tom Mankiewicz, based on the television crime drama of the same name starring Jack Webb. The screenplay is written by Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel and Mankiewicz. The original music score is by Ira Newborn...
(1987) and The Naked Gun
The Naked Gun
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a 1988 American comedy film that is the first in a The Naked Gun series of films starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson...
(1988).
The Simpsons and other work
| "The show provides him the opportunity to score realistic drama, overblown comedy, gritty urban jazz, Broadway Broadway theatre Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City... -worthy show tunes, and some of the most clever and loving parodies of cheap-o television news themes, '70s action music, and feature film scores ever done. Alf delivers in spades, always bringing his trademark stylistic verve and technical precision. He has proved beyond a doubt that television scoring is not the vast wasteland it is often purported to be and that an intelligent composer can take even the most demanding shows and elevate them to new heights." |
| — Doug Adams of Film Score Monthly Film Score Monthly Film Score Monthly is an online magazine founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 as The Soundtrack Correspondence List... on Clausen's work on The Simpsons. |
Following ALF
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
who were looking for a new composer. Clausen "had no interest in doing animation" and "wanted to be a drama composer." However, the show's creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
told him "we don't look upon this as being a cartoon but a drama where the characters are drawn, and we would like it scored that way." Clausen took the job. Groening told Clausen that the "emotion [should be] scored first and the action scored second", unlike many other cartoons, and that "scoring the emotions of the characters" was the primary aim for The Simpsons. Clausen's first episode was "Treehouse of Horror
Treehouse of Horror
"Treehouse of Horror" is the third episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 25, 1990. The episode was inspired by 1950s horror comics, and begins with a disclaimer that it may be too scary for children. It is the first of a...
", the third episode of season two
The Simpsons (season 2)
The Simpsons second season originally aired between October 11, 1990 and May 9, 1991, and contained 22 episodes, beginning with "Bart Gets an F". Another episode, "Blood Feud" aired during the summer after the official season finale. The show runners for the second production season were Matt...
, in 1990. It served as an audition and he was hired permanently after that. He has since scored almost all of the music and songs which have appeared on the show, across a wide range of musical styles. He conducts a 35 piece orchestra for the music, a rarity for television shows, and records the score for an episode every week. Clausen writes an episode's score during the week, recording it on a Friday, with some variation if vocals are required. The limited timeframe proves the most challenging aspect of the job for Clausen; he was once required to write 57 musical cues in one week. For the show's original songs production is much longer; Clausen records the music to the writers' lyrics, over seven or eight months the scene is animated, and then Clausen can re-record the song with a full orchestra. The full orchestra allows easy transition between the wide range of musical styles required for the show. Clausen noted: "The greatest composing challenge has been to try to make some kind of musical sense out of the cues when I have only a few seconds to make a musical statement. We have a joke on the scoring stage that I can make you feel five ways in thirteen seconds. We say it in jest, but the reality of the situation is that I am required to do just that quite often." Clausen intentionally opted against composing themes for each character, which some exceptions such as Mr. Burns, and instead "[gives] each story its own theme and thematic development...That approach helps to give each story its own special identification, more like individual mini-movies." He supplements the orchestra with additional instruments, such as extra brass for the episode "Cape Feare
Cape Feare
"Cape Feare" is the second episode of the fifth season of American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 1993, and has since been featured on DVD and VHS releases...
", for which Clausen composed Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale, a member of...
's theme, which continued to be played whenever Bob gets out of prison in subsequent episodes. It is based on the score of the movie Cape Fear
Cape Fear (1962 film)
Cape Fear is a 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Polly Bergen. It was adapted by James R. Webb from the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and released on April 12, 1962...
, composed by Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
. The musical requests of the writers range from rerecord a specific piece of music to compose something based on this character's emotion in a scene.
Clausen has received two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on The Simpsons, winning the award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics two years in a row. The first was for "We Put The Spring In Springfield" from the 1997 episode "Bart After Dark
Bart After Dark
"Bart After Dark" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons eighth season, first aired by the Fox network on November 24, 1996. After accidentally breaking a stone gargoyle at a local house, Bart is forced to work there as punishment. He assumes it will be boring work, but is pleasantly surprised when...
", the second was for "You're Checkin' In" from the 1998 episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson
"The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" is the first episode of The Simpsons ninth season, and premiered on September 21, 1997 on Fox. The episode sees the Simpson family traveling to Manhattan to recover the family car, which was taken by Barney Gumble and abandoned outside the World Trade Center...
"; the lyrics of each song were written by Ken Keeler
Ken Keeler
Kenneth "Ken" Keeler is an American television producer and writer. He has written for numerous television series, most notably The Simpsons and Futurama. According to an interview with David X. Cohen, he proved a theorem which appears in the Futurama episode "The Prisoner of Benda".-Career:After...
. He has been nominated in the category a further seven times in 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Clausen has also received twelve nominations for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) between 1992 and 2011 and has twice been nominated for Outstanding Music Direction, in 1997 and 1998. With 30 nominations, Clausen has received more Emmy nominations than any other musician.
He has won five Annie Awards for his work on The Simpsons. He won the 1997 award for Best Music in a TV Production, the award for Outstanding Music in an Animated Television Production in 1998, again for "You're Checkin' In", the same award in 2000 for the episode "Behind the Laughter
Behind the Laughter
"Behind the Laughter" is the twenty-second episode of The Simpsons eleventh season. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network on May 21, 2000. In the episode, which is a parody of the VH1 series Behind the Music, the Simpson family are portrayed as actors on a sitcom, and their...
", the award for Best Music in an Animated Television Production in 2003 for "Dude, Where's My Ranch?
Dude, Where's My Ranch?
"Dude, Where's My Ranch?" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons fourteenth season. The episode aired on April 27, 2003. It was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham and was the first episode directed by Chris Clements.-Plot:...
", and again in 2007 for "Yokel Chords
Yokel Chords
"Yokel Chords" is the fourteenth episode of the eighteenth season of The Simpsons, which was originally broadcast on March 4, 2007. It was written by Michael Price, and directed by Susie Dietter. Guest starring Meg Ryan as Dr. Swanson, Peter Bogdanovich as a psychiatrist and Andy Dick, James...
".
His work on the show has been released as part of three albums: Songs in the Key of Springfield
Songs in the Key of Springfield
Songs in the Key of Springfield is a soundtrack/novelty album from The Simpsons compiling many of the musical numbers from the series. The album was released in the United States on March 18, 1997, and in the United Kingdom in June 1997...
(1997), Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons
Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons
Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons is the 1999 soundtrack album from The Simpsons. It takes many of the musical numbers from the series which were either not included in the previous album, Songs in the Key of Springfield, or were created since the previous album's release. The album has 53 tracks,...
(1999) and The Simpsons: Testify
The Simpsons: Testify
The Simpsons: Testify is an album that features songs from the animated television series The Simpsons. It was released on September 18, 2007 and includes songs from season 11 to season 18...
(2007). Clausen was not asked to score the film adaptation of the show, The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
, with Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
getting the job. He noted: "sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug".
Whilst working on The Simpsons, Clausen scored The Critic
The Critic
The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...
from 1994 to 1995 and Bette in 2000. He also scored the 1998 film Half Baked
Half Baked
Half Baked is a 1998 stoner comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams and Guillermo Díaz. The movie was directed by Tamra Davis, and co-written by star Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan...
. He recorded the album Swing Can Really Hang You Up The Most in 2003, comprising the arrangements he made over his career, performed by his jazz orchestra, after self-financing it.
In 2011, Clausen was awarded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Golden Note Award. ASCAP President Paul Williams
Paul Williams (songwriter)
Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American composer, musician, songwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World",...
said his "decades of scores for The Simpsons and other TV programs and films are as endlessly inventive as the imaginations of the shows' writers and animators. It takes a lot of serious work and thought to compose, arrange and conduct such wonderfully happy music."
Discography
- Songs in the Key of Springfield
- Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons
- Testify
- Swing Can Really Hang You Up The Most
- Orchestral arrangements on John DenverJohn DenverHenry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
's Higher GroundHigher Ground (John Denver album)Higher Ground is the 20th album by American singer-songwriter John Denver released in September 1989. It was recorded at Denver's private studio in Snowmass, Colorado, with the exception of "For You" and the didjeridu part in "Sing Australia." These were recorded in Sydney, Australia.-Track...