To Hans Zimmer
An ode to the Zim four years later
I’ve only been to one concert. Well, the only one that I’ve ever paid for. It was for Hans Zimmer 4 years ago.
I remember it was the summer before and Zimmer was a surprise performer at Coachella with Skrillex. I was scouring the internet to see just a second of what that looked like. I was also livid and shocked and confused. People…knew about Hans Zimmer? Conversely, Hans Zimmer knew and was willing to go to Coachella? Despite being a world-renown academy award-winning musician, I would not have assumed this composer would grace the wildly overrated and overhyped scene filled with rich kids. Regardless, the man has never done a concert tour before, so if I had to toughen up and run through the perfume department of another Coachella just see him, then I’d do it.
Because it was Hans Zimmer
I started listening to soundtrack music around 2013
It started with straight pianists on Pandora. The reasoning was that I always enjoyed listening to the piano, even as a kid. And so to spice up my 9th-grade summer reading, I tailored my genre on Pandora and Philip Wesley turned into my anthem for background music. I leveled up one once I got ahold of 8 Tracks — a music playlist-making platform (a nod to the OG of playlists themselves).
I found a few soundtrack playlists and that was it for me. I was in a whole new world and I haven’t left since.
On one of the playlists, someone made had Time, by Hans Zimmer from the movie Inception. Now I had several oh my god this song is incredible I need to stop what I’m doing to take this in, but Time was out of body. I was doing homework at the time and turned it up suddenly taken back. I felt goosebumps take over my arms. My body was numb. My jaw dropped. Tears welled in my eyes. By the end of it, I just sat there, completely overwhelmed. I didn’t understand how a song could do that to me. I listened to it again and again. I needed it seared into my brain. I wanted to bathe in it. I was changed.
I was hooked on him ever since.
Zimmer was a slow burn
I didn’t go through his whole discography after that. When they would come they would come and for some reason, I always knew when it was him.
Hans doesn’t just play. You can tell, you can feel that the melody matters to him. How much of it all plays a role into the story on screen. How it elevates and how it intensifies. It doesn’t overpower but dances with characters on screen. It is moving and moved with intention and he understands that.
- Time
- Solomon
- Faith
- One Day
- Cornfield Chase
- Duck Shoot
There is life in what he creates and it feels incredible.
My friend Sebastian and I were leaving the concert having been some magical whirlwind of a ride. Hans didn’t play Time however. I was bummed, but ultimately know that there can’t always be winners. As we were heading out the front doors everyone else sat down and we turned around. Hans turned back to the piano and the blessed melody began. We stood there in the aisle of the first floor with gasped breath. My knees were starting to buckle and I needed Sebastian to hold me up for a moment. It took me back. It took me forward. It carried me. Transported me. Elevated me. I cried. I don’t think I could ever express the hold that Time has on me.
If I died after that, I would’ve been okay, completely at peace actually.
Hans Zimmer you are a wonder, thank you.
