The Music of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin the actor is universally synonymous with his beloved Tramp character, and Chaplin the director is considered one of the great auteurs and innovators of cinema history. Less well known is Chaplin the composer.
Chaplin is probably best known as the composer of the chart-topping hit songs "Smile," "Eternally," and "This Is My Song,” but he could not read or write music. It took a rotating cast of talented musicians to translate his unorthodox humming, off-key singing, and amateur piano and violin playing into the singular orchestral vision he heard in his head.
Drawing on numerous transcriptions from 60 years of original scores, The Music of Charlie Chaplin is the first comprehensive study that reveals the untold story of Chaplin the composer and the string of famous (and not-so-famous) musicians he employed, shedding new light on the man behind the icon and offering a new way to approach Chaplin’s films — through his music.
Reviews
"Jim Lochner has written a biographical study of Charlie Chaplin that doesn’t duplicate anyone else’s work, to the best of my knowledge. … [His] extensive citations (and excerpts from the scores themselves) speak to the thoroughness of this endeavor, which is long overdue." — Leonard Maltin
"Jim Lochner’s The Music of Charlie Chaplin [is] a rare kind of film and music history book…rich in detail. … The way Lochner fleshes out the behind-the-scenes drama of Chaplin’s scores, his workaholism, and deficiencies (where they existed) can be riveting." — Tina Hassannia, The Atlantic
“The book represents that rarest of things, a new Chaplin monograph that actually fills a gap in Chaplin studies...offering a fine view of the entire arc of Chaplin’s musical career and loads of fun detail along the way, as well. The book is meticulously researched...the wealth of information is fresh and entertaining.” — John Fawell, Film International
“This new study by Jim Lochner takes a very fresh approach. ... We can rewatch each of the Chaplin classics with a fresh eye and ear, thanks to this insightful Lochner book.” — Paul Freeman, Pop Culture Classics
The Sound of Charlie Chaplin
Take a new look at Charlie Chaplin through the music he composed for his films. Published to accompany an exhibition at the Paris Philharmonic in 2019, The Sound of Charlie Chaplin is fully illustrated with photographs, documents, and ephemera from the Chaplin archives.
Essay contributor:
“Charlie Chaplin: The World's Most Curious Composer"
“The Musical DNA of Charlie Chaplin"
The Palgrave Handbook of Music in Comedy Cinema
This handbook tackles the understudied relationship between music and comedy cinema by analyzing the nature, perception, and function of music from fresh perspectives. The volume addresses gender representation, national identities, stylistic strategies, and employs inputs from cultural studies, musicology, music theory, psychology, cognitivism, semiotics, formal and stylistic film analysis, and psychoanalysis.
Essay contributor:
“‘Valse Elegante’: The Comedic Film Music of Charlie Chaplin”