SHARK MUSIC: BRINGING JAWS TO MUSICAL LIFE

Upon its release in the US on June 20, 1975, Jaws changed film history forever. It wasn’t just that it was the first film to break the then coveted $100 million barrier at the box office, it was how it swam by it with such ease.

The film about the 25-foot great white shark did that in just 38 days and continued to devour records and the competition.

Its success it down to several things, from it being based on a best-selling book, a fantastic marketing campaign – including the iconic Roger Kastel poster - the film-making skill of the young Steven Spielberg, the editing prowess of Verna Fields. And that score.

Even people who have never seen the film know that score by John Williams, and with good reason. It still creates a sense of foreboding and primal fear within us and countless hands as they slice through swimming pools like a dorsal fin.

Growing up, I was disappointed that whenever I saw a shark on a TV documentary that it wasn’t accompanied by the Jaws theme. To me it wasn’t just music that went with a film, it was a theme tune for a whole species.  

Williams spent almost two months writing the score, creating some 50 minutes of music.

Jaws began recording on Monday, March 3, 1975, less than four months when the film would open up and swallow box office records whole.

The shark (and our fears) were brought to life by a 74-piece orchestra and although Jaws was a Universal Pictures release, it was scored at Fox, on its 7.500-square foot stage.

If proof were needed about how the score for Jaws transcended the film for which it was created, that came with John Williams winning a Grammy Award for the Jaws soundtrack album at the end of February in 1976.

And just over a month later, Jaws won the Best Original Score Oscar at the Academy Awards. Not that Williams had far to go to stage, as he was Music Director at that year’s awards ceremony. It would also devour a Golden Globe and BAFTA, not a bad recording for this vicinity.

And almost 50 years later, Jaws still stands as one of the greatest and most instantly recognisable film scores ever written.

Words by Dean Newman

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