I watch the movies and listen to them, and I find myself asking this question time and again: Would Star Wars be what it is without the music?

Continuing the "Star Wars Couldn't Live Without" series of blogs, today I'm praising a real behind the scenes magician of the saga, John Williams, whose fantastic musical score provided so much emotion and background to the saga that it's difficult to imagine a world where Star Wars sound like anything other than "Duh DAH dun-dun-dun DAH duh, dun-dun-dun DAH duh, duh-duh-duh-daaa."


I had some trouble finding a picture for this blog, but once I saw this one, I had to pick it. I hope you recognize it. It's from the Order 66 sequence; it's Plo Koon's death. The music of Order 66 perfectly matched the emotion. The scene in this picture in particular was special. The music picks up a bit while they're soaring through the sky, then everything continues to come crashing down.

Battle of the Heroes, the track played during Anakin and Obi-Wan's Mustafar battle, is one of the most powerful pieces I've heard. Just listening to it sends chills down my spine and a tear to my eye.

That happens a lot with John Williams's music. The score punctuates what is going on in any dramatic scene perfectly. When listening to the ANH soundtrack for the first time, at the part when Obi-Wan died, I instinctually mimicked Luke's "NO!" and the following "Luke it's too late!" "Blast the door, kid!" I hadn't even realized the sound of the scene had been so ingrained, but there I was watching the scene by listening to that one musical cue.

What other scenes can you remember the had extreme musical impact? The gloomy Imperial theme in the background of Vader's revelation in ESB. The high speed Zam Wessel chase scene. The love theme from Attack of the Clones. The final climax with the Emperor in the Death Star Throne room in ROTJ.

Thank you John Williams, for doing it all so perfectly, and bringing so much to the movies.

What would Star Wars be without his amazing dramatic music? Would the saga have been so successful? Would the movies have been so popular? Would the story be so exciting? It's impossible to know, but one thing is certain: Star Wars would not be the same without John Williams.