James Horner’s first theatrical film score was for The Lady in Red (1979). Over a 36 year career he would leave behind a filmography spanning more than 100 movies, as well as a collection of songs written specifically for their end credits. So, exactly how many were there?
While soaring end credits like The Rocketeer’s “End Title” make you want to put a helmet on and jump from the nearest bedpost (don’t do that), we’re here to count down the songs. For this article, only end credits songs written or co-written by James Horner and featuring lyrics are included.
We’ll mostly focus on Horner’s point-of-view. See the end of the article for a full list of songwriting credits.
1. “Somewhere Out There” – An American Tail (1986)
Songwriter Tom Bahler was originally brought aboard to compose songs for An American Tail. Bahler reportedly composed a few songs, but for undisclosed reasons, his work was ultimately considered not the best fit for the film.
By the time Bahler left, James Horner had been brought in to compose the score. Executive producer Steven Spielberg paired him with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, the songwriting duo responsible for The Righteous Brother’s, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”. After hearing the completed songs, Spielberg singled out “Somewhere Out There” as having radio-hit potential, and arranged for Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram to record it for the end credits.
Ronstadt and James Ingram perform the final end credits version, while the in-film version is sung by Fievel’s voice actor, Phillip Glasser, and singer Betsy Cathcart.
James Horner received his first Oscar nomination(s) at the 1987 Academy Awards. His workload in 1986 resulted in simultaneous Oscar nods—”Best Original Song” for “Somewhere Out There” along with his co-writers, and “Best Original Score” for Aliens.
2. “If We Hold On Together” – The Land Before Time (1988)
Horner’s involvement with The Land Before Time grew directly from his involvement in An American Tail, and marked his second collaboration with director Don Bluth.
Horner initially had fifteen weeks to score the film, but his work on Cocoon: The Return (1988) went into overtime, shortening his schedule down to only five weeks. Land producer Gary Goldman recalled that Horner was “…exhausted before the recordings started.”
The commercial single for “If We Hold On Together” was later released on Diana Ross’ 1991 album, The Force Behind the Power. This version differs slightly from the end credits, with the addition of a piano introduction.
While “If We Hold On Together” did moderately well on the USA charts, it was an unexpected number-one hit in Japan, topping the charts and becoming a karaoke-bar standard. It was ranked as Japan’s 10th best-selling single in 1990.
3. “Dreams to Dream” – Fievel Goes West (1991)
For the sequel’s end credits song, James Horner expanded on a short cue he had written for the first film. This can be heard in several places on the 1988 film’s score, notably on the track “Reunited”.
Singer Anita Baker was originally reported as the singer for the new track, but left for undisclosed reasons. Another singer was then lined up, a then near-unknown Céline Dion. One of Horner’s associates, composer Simon Franglen, later confirmed in a Billboard interview that Dion recorded a demo version of “Dreams to Dream” which “…sounded exquisite, but she wasn’t a big star at the time, and they decided to go back to Linda Ronstadt…”.
In the same vein as An American Tail, the song is first performed by the character Tanya (Cathy Cavadini) in a scene within the film, with the end credits version boasting a more soft-rock pop sound.
While Céline Dion was still virtually unknown at the time of the “Dreams to Dream” demo recording, her breakthrough still came in 1991 via end credits. Several months before the release of Fievel Goes West, she duetted with Peabo Bryson on the song “Beauty and the Beast” from the Disney film.
4. “Once Upon a Time With Me” – Once Upon a Forest (1993)
Producer David Kirschner offered Once Upon a Time in the Forest director, Charles Grosvenor, a choice between two major film composers: James Horner or Randy Newman (The Natural, Toy Story). Grosvenor chose Horner.
Due to his success with recent animated films, Horner was given much more creative freedom. Though Grosvenor was ultimately pleased with the overall score, he has stated that he didn’t care much for Horner’s end credits contribution.
“James was trying to broaden his musical horizons at the time and get into songwriting, and I think this song shows that. It feels more like a symphonic score with words than a true song.” Despite this, Grosvenor went on to praise Horner’s later songs such as “My Heart Will Go On”, politely referring to his Forest song as a “false start”.
The song was performed by Florence Warner with the New London Children’s Choir.
Fox Records distributed the soundtrack for Once Upon a Forest , but the label later collapsed in 1995. The album went out of print and has since become a minor collectible among James Horner fans.
5. “Roll Back the Rock (To the Dawn of Time)” – We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story (1993)
In his second dino-centric film of the year, executive producer Steven Spielberg wanted a big musical number for a scene in A Dinosaur’s Story where the main characters are revealed to be walking among humans.
Horner felt he didn’t have the experience needed to write the requested pop-rock song, and asked songwriter Thomas Dolby for help. While Horner is credited with the film score, Dolby has stated that Horner’s input into “Roll Back the Rock” was minimal. After Dolby created a demo version, Horner then orchestrated it. Both are credited as songwriters.
As reported by SyFy, Tom Jones was the first choice to record the song for the end credits and completed a final recording. Jones ultimately backed out, as he had a new album on the way and his record company took issue with the song possibly overlapping with its success.
The film version is performed by John Goodman, who voices Rex, while the final end credits version is performed by Little Richard.
In a separate SyFy interview in 2018, co-director Phil Nibbelink stated that when it came time to conduct the music, James Horner took a backseat in the soundbooth, while up to four different composers came in to lead the orchestra. He further said that the music may have actually been written by the other composers, as Horner seemed to be “…hearing [the music] for the first time.” Nibbelink and co-director Simon Wells kept this from Steven Spielberg to avoid any conflicts.
6. “Reach For the Light” – Balto (1995)
Balto reunited James Horner with his co-songwriters from An American Tail, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Production of Balto was centered in London, England, while Horner was working out of California.
Due to the distance, the usual composer-director dynamic was eschewed for a “correspondence score”. Horner would send director Simon Wells a completed orchestral track in England, then make alterations to it via the director’s notes that were sent back.
Singer Steve Winwood performed “Reach For the Light”. The song features children’s voices as backing to Winwood’s vocals. His daughters, Elizabeth Winwood and Mary Claire Winwood, are credited among the chorus.
The expanded soundtrack for Balto features a track titled “Not Dog Nor Wolf”, as well as the track “Not Dog Nor Wolf (Rescore)”. After recording sessions in London, Horner identified a theme he felt should be more closely tied to Balto’s wolf-dog identity crisis, and rescored the cue. Intrada Records included both on the album release.
7. “My Heart Will Go On” – Titanic (1997)
Who first thought of Céline Dion for Titanic? Did the studio pressure Cameron to include an end song or was it Horner’s idea? Did Dion record the song in one take? Due to the sheer size of the production and the infamy of the song, accounts differ.
What is well-known is that director James Cameron had no intention of ending Titanic with a grandiose pop ballad. As James Horner later recalled, he began scoring the final pieces of music for the film’s ending and thought he should add something to keep audiences as riveted as possible.
Horner stated in an interview with Empire Magazine, “It’s my personal belief I should never let anyone put their coats on. They have to be as in it as they can be. As I started writing this eight-minute sequence, I was saying, ‘How am I going to do this? Just another orchestra reprise?'”
He then decided to build a song based on the musical themes he had already written, specifically tailoring it for a singer who had recorded a demo of “Dreams to Dream” six years earlier—Céline Dion.
Dion has said she didn’t want to record the song, as she had already performed two movie tracks: the end credits version of “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), and “Because You Loved Me”, from Up Close and Personal (1996). Dion was ultimately convinced after singing a demo version and leaving the group in attendance in tears from her rendition.
Horner kept the demo secret from Cameron, who still opposed the idea. The composer’s friend, music producer Simon Franglen, said that Horner carried a cassette of the demo around for weeks, waiting for the right time to present it to the director. It took over a month-and-a-half of convincing and preview audience reactions to persuade Cameron the song was right for the film.
There are two versions of the song: the original end credits version, and the wide-release version which was also included on Dion’s 1997 album, Let’s Talk About Love.
(See the end of the article for links to further reading on the song’s background. Almost every source has slightly different accounts. Watch for icebergs).
The wordless vocalizing for Titanic’s opening title sequence, as well as for tracks such as “Rose”, were performed by Norwegian soprano, Sissel. She is also known to Lord of the Rings fans for contributing to an unused track from Return of the King, “The Last Debate”.
8. “I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You” – The Mask of Zorro (1998)
Zorro is another Horner film that wasn’t supposed to featured an ending song. After the massive success of Titanic, that quickly changed. James Horner was asked by then-president of Sony Classical, Peter Gelb, to write one for the soundtrack.
Horner decided he needed a theme for the character Elena after viewing footage of her as a baby lying in her bed near the beginning of the film. He built it as a lullaby, taking inspiration from the first notes of the traditional song “Frère Jacques”, and constructing the theme from there. The end credits song naturally followed.
The version used in the end credits is Horner’s original, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. It contains more overt orchestral music, while Horner pointed out that the singing by Marc Antony and Tina Arena “…was slower, more Latin in fact”.
The commercially released version attempted to make the song a better fit for radio. Pop elements take center stage from the orchestra, and the song begins with sound effects of hoofbeats, a drawn sword, and a cracking whip.
James Horner brought in real Flamenco dancers to record their foot-tapping, using it as percussion for various parts of the soundtrack. They are featured prominently in the opening track “The Plaza of Execution”, and “The Fencing Lesson”.
9. “Then You Look At Me” – Bicentennial Man (1999)
Bicentennial Man‘s end credits was a more overt attempt to replicate the success of Titanic, reuniting James Horner with that film’s lyricist, Will Jennings, Céline Dion, and even the same director of the music video for “My Heart Will Go On”, Bille Woodruff.
The song was tailored for release as a single, but that was ultimately nixed after Bicentennial Man became a critical and commercial disappointment. It did appear on Dion’s 1999 album, All the Way… A Decade of Song.
Three versions were produced. The version heard over the end credits features a soft piano accompaniment. The second version (above) was the intended single version, while a slightly rearranged version is featured on the film’s official soundtrack album.
According to a 1999 report from Film Score Monthly, John Williams was originally set to score Bicentennial Man, but had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. Williams had worked with the film’s director, Chris Columbus, on the Home Alone series (1990-92), Stepmom (1998) and later, the first two Harry Potter films.
10. “Where Are You Christmas?” – How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
James Horner co-wrote this Christmas ballad with Holiday Cheermeister, Mariah Carey. Carey recorded a demo version but was blocked from releasing it by her ex-husband, Tommy Mottola, a record executive and CEO of Sony Music. The two were locked in a legal battle seemingly related to their recent high-profile divorce.
To replace Carey, Horner enlisted Faith Hill, who had just scored several massive hits from her 1999 album, Breathe. In 2025, Taylor Momsen (Cindy Lou Who) recorded a pop-rock cover of the song with her band, The Pretty Reckless. Mariah Carey’s original demo has never been released.
The end credits version and the commercial version of the song differ only slightly, with the commercial version featuring a short orchestral lead-in.
James Horner often had his crew decorate the sound stages to match the tone of the music being recorded. On a visit to the stage during a scoring session for Grinch in August of 2000, New York Times reporter Rick Lyman wrote that the stage was adorned with a Christmas tree and wrapped presents were scattered across the room.
11. “Yours Forever” – The Perfect Storm (2000)
Very little of the creative backstory of “Yours Forever” is documented. James Horner co-wrote the song with John Mellencamp (who also performed it), alongside Mellencamp’s childhood friend, songwriter George Green. The song was Mellencamp and Green’s final collaboration before a falling out between the two just after the song’s release.
To see James Horner discussing scoring sessions for The Perfect Storm, check out his interview from the DVD extras.
Musician James Thatcher is credited for playing the french horn on The Perfect Storm soundtrack. Thatcher was a favorite of composer John Williams, performing the horn solo on the track “Journey To The Island” from Jurassic Park, as the helicopter lands on Isla Nublar.
12. “All Love Can Be” – A Beautiful Mind (2001)
The end credits song for A Beautiful Mind wasn’t originally planned with lyrics in mind. Horner brought in Charlotte Church to record only the wordless vocalizations heard throughout the film’s soundtrack, stating that he wanted “To narrate the idea of what the beauty of mathematics is like to Nash (Russell Crowe), I wanted to give the impression of a kaleidoscope: The patterns are always changing, and things move very quickly, but in moving so quickly, they create other patterns…”
To that end, he added “I was looking for a voice that was a child’s voice but not a woman’s voice and not a kid’s voice.”
It wasn’t until Horner had completed roughly three-quarters of the score that he thought an end credits song with Church’s vocals would be appropriate. After completing it, Horner further stated that he kept the song from Ron Howard until shortly before recording, as it didn’t align with Howard’s initial vision for the film’s music. Horner said “I knew they [Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer] wouldn’t be calm about it until they actually heard her singing.” Horner then recalled that Howard said he loved the song during the first day of recording.
In an interview with Soundtrack Magazine, James Horner said that Russell Crowe was hesitant about the vocal music being written for Charlotte Church. He had just come from the huge success of Gladiator in 2000, which featured vocalizing by Lisa Gerrard, and worried that people would associate him too closely with vocal scores.
13. “Eyes of the Heart (Radio’s Song)” – Radio (2003)
Radio‘s end song is primarily based on a theme from the soundtrack, notably introduced in the first entry, “Radio’s Day”. Horner composed the music, while singer India.Arie developed the lyrical and vocal concept. The song credits six writers, including Horner, so it’s unclear how involved Horner was in the development beyond the melody.
Music supervisor Laura Wasserman said that suggesting India.Arie was a “wild card” pitch, resulting in an R&B makeover on Horner’s orchestral music. Universal Music Group’s then-president, Kathy Nelson, further stated that the song was meant to be “…organically part of James’ theme.” rather than an active attempt to create a commercial hit.
The song’s album version differs from the end credits with slightly alternate vocals and orchestration.
Composer Randy Kerber is credited as an orchestrator for Radio. Kerber is the pianist who played the well-known piano solo for Forrest Gump (1993), heard as a white feather is shown floating on the wind in the opening and closing scenes.
14. “Remember” – Troy (2004)
Composer Gabriel Yared (City of Angels, The Talented Mr. Ripley) composed an original score for Troy that ultimately was rejected after poor reviews from test audiences. Warner Brothers quickly contacted James Horner, asking him to deliver a new score in only four weeks.
In addition, the studio wanted an end credits song. Macedonian singer Tanja Carovska had provided vocals for Yared’s score, and Horner conceived the idea of a song with two “voices”, one representing the character of Briseis (Carovska) and one for Achilles.
Horner called Josh Groban to offer him the lead male vocal, which Groban immediately said yes to. Horner and Groban both recalled that the singer showed up at the recording studio less than an hour after the phone call concluded.
In 2017, Intrada Records released an expanded version of the score as a double-album. It contained two versions of “Remember”—an “album” version, and “film version”. The only difference is a longer lead-in of Tanja Carovska’s vocals on the film version, totaling eight seconds.
After watching the film several times, Horner realized that the story hinged on Achilles and his romance with Briseis. He then suggested to director Wolfgang Peterson that “…it would be a good decision to forget about both Helen and Paris in the score and instead focus all my attention on Achilles.” As a result, Helen and Paris, despite being central characters, have no dedicated themes present in the score.
15. “I See You Avatar” – Avatar (2009)
Based on a Na’vi theme from from the film, “I See You” is yet another Horner song that comes in two versions—the end credits orchestra plays softer with more belted vocals from Leona Lewis, while the music video version delivers a pop-oriented sound. The music video had its premiere on MySpace three days before the film debuted.
Reports at the time of the film’s release claimed that Avatar director James Cameron was eager to release “I See You” as a single, hoping to match Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” success. Singer Leona Lewis had just released her album Echo, along with several singles, and didn’t want the promotional campaigns for the songs to overlap. The song therefore never saw release as its own single.
Horner stated that he “invented” new instruments for the score by importing flutes from South America, Finland, and Balinese-like instruments into Pro Tools, then manipulating them to create new sounds. These sounds were then used as percussion, rather than traditional drums, to give the film a “magical glow.”
(16). “Listen To The Wind” – The New World (2006)
Composed as the end credits song for “The New World”, this song ultimately went unused. Director Terrence Malick wrapped filming in 2004, while the film wasn’t released until 2006. In the interim, Malick endlessly recut footage and kept missing editing deadlines, frustrating James Horner as he was waiting to score the final material.
The process affected Horner so much, he later bluntly related his experience working on the film in an “On the Score” radio interview with host Daniel Schweiger, calling the rough cut of the movie “unscorable.” Malick eventually shoehorned classical music pieces into the final cut and sidelined much of Horner’s music.
Some of Horner’s work used in the film was released on the official soundtrack album, including “Listen To The Wind”. The song was performed by then-17-year-old New Zealand singer, Hayley Westenra.
The fim is a fictionalized retelling of the life of Pocahontas. In an interview with Cinéfonia Magazine regarding the music for The New World, Horner said “…I’ll take this opportunity to mention Alan Menken and his admirable Pocahontas. “Listen To The Wind” is an undisguised homage, he should know that.”
Full Song Credits
1. “Somewhere Out There” – Music by James Horner and Barry Mann. Lyrics by Cynthia Weil.
2. “If We Hold on Together” – Music by James Horner. Lyrics by Will Jennings.
3. “Dreams to Dream” – Music by James Horner and Barry Man. Lyrics by Cynthia Weil.
4. “Once Upon a Time With Me” – Music by James Horner. Lyrics by Will Jennings.
5. “Roll Back the Rock” – Music by James Horner and Thomas Dolby. Lyrics by Thomas Dolby.
6. “Reach For the Light” – Music by James Horner and Barry Mann. Lyrics by Cynthia Weil.
7. “My Heart Will Go On” – Music by James Horner. Lyrics by Will Jennings.
8. “I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You” – Music by James Horner. Lyrics by Will Jennings.
9. “Then You Look At Me” – Music by James Horner. Lyrics by Will Jennings.
10. “Where Are You Christmas?” – Written by James Horner, Will Jennings, and Mariah Carey.
11. “Yours Forever” – Written by James Horner, John Mellencamp, and George Green.
12. “All Love Can Be” – Music by James Horner. Lyrics by Will Jennings.
13. “Eyes of the Heart” – Written by James Horner, India.Arie, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, “Big Jim” Wright, and Obataiye Samuel.
14. “Remember” – Music by James Horner. Lyrics by Cynthia Weil.
15. “I See You” – Music by James Horner and Simon Franglen. Lyrics by Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell, and James Horner.
16. “Listen to the Wind” – Music by James Horner. Lyrics by Glen Ballard.
Sources and Further Reading
“Don Bluth-Gary Goldman: A Talented Duo”
“How The Land Before Time Gave Diana Ross a Dino-Sized Hit in Japan”
“Once Upon a Time in the Forest – An Interview with Director Charles Grosvenor”
“An Oral History of We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story (30th Anniversary)”
“An Oral History of We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story (20th Anniversary)”
“The Oral History of ‘My Heart Will Go On'”
“Behind the Buoyant Titanic Hit That Almost Never Was”
“Film Score Monthly – John Williams Bicentennial Man Report”
“The Grinch Gets a Soaring Score”
“The Words of James Horner – The Mask of Zorro“
“James Horner Scores A Beautiful Mind“
“James Horner Film Music – Josh Groban and Tanja Carovska”
“The Words of James Horner – Troy“
“James Horner Talks About Scoring The New World” (video)
“Leona Lewis to emulate Celine Dion’s success?”
“James Horner on Creating a ‘Sound World'”
“The Words of James Horner – The New World“
Notes: The film For Greater Glory (2012), features a short poem written by Horner and sung in Spanish by Clara Sanabras. The piece is used in the end credits, though it is a reprise of the main title, and was not written specifically as an end credits song.
The end credits song from The Pagemaster (1994) is often mistaken as a James Horner composition. Horner did compose the song “Whatever You Imagine”, played during a scene in the film. It was “Dream Away”, written by Diane Warren and performed by Babyface and Lisa Stansfield, that played over the credits.
