Danny Elfman's Nightmare songs began with stories, not a script

An October interview clip recalls Tim Burton narrating scenes while Elfman imagined the songs.

Channel: Danny Elfman Story of November 11, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

The Nightmare Before Christmas was such a unique and amazing experience.

Danny Elfman would listen to Tim Burton describe Jack Skellington wandering through the forest, start hearing a song in his head, then send Burton away so he could write it. A couple of days later, he would have something to play back.

That wonderfully informal routine is the heart of "The Nightmare Before Christmas was such a unique and amazing experience." Posted in late October, the interview clip is attracting the most daily views among the channel's active uploads. Elfman recalls an animation studio ready to work but no script to start from: Burton brought a short story, drawings and regular installments of spoken storytelling instead.

"And I would start hearing a song in my head," Elfman says. They repeated the process until the songs were complete. For a film full of elaborate stop-motion craftsmanship, it is a pleasingly simple account of how its musical world took shape.

There were no new uploads this week, but the channel added about 1,000 subscribers, bringing it to 198,000. June's Batman anniversary clip and September's fall-tour countdown also continue to draw views, though the Nightmare recollection is the busiest of the three right now.

In the accompanying description, Elfman says one of his greatest joys is seeing more people come to love the film and its characters over the years. This little account gives those viewers something beyond the familiar songs: the image of Burton telling the story aloud, and Elfman already hearing the next piece of it.

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More from Danny ElfmanThis week on the channel +1,000 subscribers this weekBatman and Pee-wee keep Danny Elfman's archive in viewNo new uploads arrived, but the channel gained about a thousand subscribers.Channel: Danny Elfman · Story of October 12, 2026 Also in Rock, metal and bandsVideo taking off 30x its usual first dayDragonForce fills "Neverending Nightmare" with mannequins and guitar solosAlissa White-Gluz moves from quiet singing to growls in a horror-styled video whose chapter list supplies its own running commentary.Channel: DragonForce · Story of November 11, 2026 A different discovery todayVideo taking off 49x its usual first dayWomen in ITV's Power and Silence say David Walliams pursued them as teenagersTwo of the women were 15 when they met him. Walliams denies all wrongdoing, saying in a statement: "I am not a sexual predator".Channel: ITV News · Story of November 11, 2026

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Danny Elfman's Nightmare songs began with stories, not a script The full story on Trari: https://trari.com/en/story/dannyelfman-33584/

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The videos drawing views on Danny Elfman right now

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The numbers

Here is how Danny Elfman's channel moved this week.

subscribers

198,000

▲ 1,000 in the last 7 days

total views

265,056,652

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

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301,000

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299,000

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242,000

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205,000

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198,000

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184,000

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149,000

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140,000

As of November 11, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.