Who wrote the music and lyrics for Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Danny Elfman wrote the music and lyrics for Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Elfman composed the songs and score and also provided the singing voice for Jack Skellington. The film’s musical structure is central to its storytelling: songs such as “This Is Halloween,” “What’s This?”, and “Jack’s Lament” reveal characters’ feelings and move the narrative forward.

Burton and Elfman had already worked together on Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice. Their collaboration continued through many later Burton films, but The Nightmare Before Christmas gave Elfman an unusually extensive creative role because the songs were developed alongside the story and characters.

Henry Selick directed the 1993 stop-motion feature, while Burton served as the writer and producer whose original concept inspired it. This division of roles can cause confusion: Selick directed the movie, but Elfman created its musical identity.