Not a word,” Thompson explained to Script Apart’s Al Horner in October 2020. “The problem with the prior script was that there was no script. Until that is, struggling with addiction and health problems that led to his death from an AIDS-related illness in 1999, McDowell failed to deliver. McDowell had previously written the 1988 Burton-directed Beetlejuice, Thompson had previously written the 1990 Burton-directed Edward Scissorhands, and McDowell originally got the Nightmare gig. Three writers are officially credited on A Nightmare Before Christmas: Tim Burton for the story and characters, Michael McDowell for the adaptation, and Caroline Thompson for the screenplay. She’s regularly performed the song since at Elfman’s annual The Nightmare Before Christmas live concerts, always to a rapturous reception. “I excused it by saying Sally’s not that well-formed so it’s okay that she can’t sing that well,” O’Hara joked. O’Hara told E! that she initially found ‘Sally’s Song’ scary to perform, by her own admission not being a professional singer. Her first take on Sally, O’Hara told E! at the time of the film’s release, was a characterised broken voice, “as stitched up as her body,” but director Henry Selick preferred a more natural sound. In the film and on the soundtrack release, ‘Sally’s Song’ was performed by Catherine O’Hara, the actor who voiced the character and who’d worked with creator Tim Burton in Beetlejuice. Those two have been #relationshipgoals for decades, their status as emo sweetheart icons certified in the 2000s by a gold-selling Blink 182 record, and a cover version of ‘Sally’s Song’ by Evanescence’s Amy Lee. Like the film that made them famous, they’re also not only a kid thing – just Google ‘Jack and Sally wedding cake’ for evidence. From October to December each year, she and paramour Jack Skellington are everywhere, from trick or treating costumes to theme park rides to a mountain of ever-increasing Disney merchandise. In 2021, Sally really needs no introduction. ‘Sally’s Song’ is a broken-hearted lament written for a broken character – a Frankensteinian stitched-together rag doll brought to life by an evil scientist in the town of Halloween. The song wasn’t hers, but a Danny Elfman composition from the 1993 soundtrack to animated feature Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

This Halloween, pop star Billie Eilish wore a patchwork dress and painted stitch scars to sing in front of a sold-out crowd at LA’s Banc of California stadium.

Rule 63 jack skellington