In Appreciation Of | Shirley Walker

Originally Posted 12/01/06 by Jeff Harris

Close your eyes.

What do you hear?

You're probably hearing background noise, either the ambient sound of the air around you, a television or radio playing either behind you, people arguing, or the sound of someone snoring.

A few years ago, Cartoon Network (back when they had some kind of sense) actually did a commerical which asked the question "What if Batman wasn't Batman?" It basically had the Dark Knight detective sitting around with all sorts of crime taking place in the background. No action whatsoever. It's a scene that kind of fits my thoughts after I heard of the passing of Shirley Walker, who died on November 29 at the age of 61.

I can't imagine what Batman: The Animated Series would have been like without her signature sound. Like Carl Stalling before her and her colleague Richard Stone did with the comedic cartoons from the same studio, Ms. Walker made music a vital character in all the series she was involved in. The circusy, yet psychotic tune that played everytime The Joker entered the room was just as vital as the actual character himself. She knew how to make animation fit the mood, from the shock of the Flying Grayson's death, to Victor Fries's eternal sadness, to the first time Clark Kent met Lois Lane. She took Danny Elfman's theatrical theme for Batman (which she also orchestrated) and made it just as powerful for the small screen, even more so. In fact, nearly every DCAU series (plus the live-action Flash series) has been blessed with her signature sound. Heck, even Todd McFarlane's Spawn has Ms. Walker's fingerprints on it, giving that series a haunting, yet hypnotic sound.

My favorite composition of Ms. Walker's? Her powerful theme song to The New Batman/Superman Adventures. Probably one of the few theme songs I actually have on my computer startup and shutdown sounds, it's probably the most fitting and most perfect theme song ever done for any animated series, and I haven't heard one that's even reaches it. Justice League's theme comes close, but close only counts in horseshoes.

That said, a moment of silence for Shirley Walker, one of the three most important Warner Bros. Animation composers. It would be hard to imagine the DCAU without her.