Alfred Newman - How The West Was Won

To recapture its former glory, MGM embarked in 1961 on a grand multi-generational epic, so grandiose in its storytelling that three directors would be needed to shoot its five chapters. To bring the project to fruition, producer Bernard Smith hired James R. Webb to write a complete screenplay. Henry Hathaway was commissioned to direct three chapters (The Rivers, The Plains and The Outlaws). John Ford directed one (The Civil War) and George Marshall the last (The Railroad). What is also remarkable about this film is the presence of a superb cast, which many consider to be the greatest assembly of actors ever hired for a single project.
As for the music, Smith first approached Dimitri Tiomkin, but he was unavailable due to eye surgery. So Alfred Newman was given the project. Although experienced, he soon realised that he would need help to compose the music. So he invited his long-time friend and collaborator, composer, choirmaster, arranger and lyricist Ken Darby, because the traditional folk songs would have to be infused into the soundscape to provide an authentic ‘Americana’ identity. This is the case, for example, with A Home In The Meadow sung by Debbie Reynolds. Taken from a work entitled Greensleeves, this English ballad was reworked for the needs of the film with alternative lyrics by Sammy Cahn.
Newman was tasked with translating five separate stories, countless characters and the musical continuity that needed to hold the film together. I believe he succeeded on every level, providing one of the finest and most iconic main themes ever written, a vibrant and unashamed celebration of the indomitable « Americana » spirit. For this mammoth undertaking, he infused his soundscape with accordion, guitar and harmonica, and brought in a multiplicity of wonderful themes and folk songs, which brought authenticity, and instilled the film with the necessary American auras. In every sense, this score fully enhanced the storytelling and matched the panoramic cinematic beauty depicted in the grand vistas of the American West.