"Star Wars (Main Title)" is a

musical theme In music, a subject is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based. In forms other than the fugue, this may be known as the theme. Characteristics A subject may be perceivable as a complete mus ...

composed and conducted by

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

. The 1977

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

recording peaked at number ten on ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number thirteen in Canada ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top Singles. Meco's disco version of "

Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" is a song recorded by Meco, taken from the album '' Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk''. It hit number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on October 1, 1977, holding on to the spot for two weeks and peaked at no. 7 on ...

" was a global hit in the same year.

History

It is the main musical theme of ''Star Wars'' and is also considered the primary

leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...

for Luke Skywalker, the protagonist of the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy. The original 1977 recording was performed by the

. 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'' and Gustav Holst's

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

from his orchestral suite,

The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...

. The B side featured the original movie score of

Cantina Band Mos Eisley is a spaceport town in the fictional ''Star Wars'' universe. Located on the planet Tatooine, it first appeared in the 1977 film ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', described by the character Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) as a " ...

. "Star Wars (Main Title)" was the lesser of two hits featuring music from ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

''. Meco's disco version of "

" reached number one concurrently with the chart run of Williams' original movie score version.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Patrick Gleeson cover

The ''Star Wars'' main title theme was covered by

Patrick Gleeson Patrick Gleeson (born November 9, 1934) is an American musician, synthesizer pioneer, composer, and producer. Career Gleeson moved to San Francisco in the 1960s to teach in the English Department at San Francisco State. Gleeson began experimentin ...

a month after the release of the London Symphony Orchestra performance. His version was released in France and the United States.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Star Wars (Main Title) Film theme songs 1977 singles 1977 compositions 20th Century Fox Records singles Compositions by John Williams Compositions for symphony orchestra Compositions in B-flat major Concert band pieces

Main Title The main title is the music, often later recorded on soundtrack albums, that is heard in a film while the opening credits are rolling. It does not refer to music playing from on-screen sources such as radios, as in the original opening credits seq ...

1970s instrumentals Star Wars (film) Songs about outer space