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Monday, March 24, 2008

Help! What's this song from?

Still crankin' away on Crogan's, but I'm consistently irritated by a song that's been bouncing around my head for a while now.

Film scores tend to stick in my head something fierce, sometimes movies that I haven't seen since I was ten. Usually I'll figure it out - it may take me a few days, but I'll usually be able to place in within the context of a scene, and that'll do it - the opening song on the Miyazaki-scripted Aladdin movie was one tough one, the song from where the little boy is stretching robin williams' face in Hook is another - usually it takes a little while, but eventually it comes to me.

This song, though - months! Or at least a month. I cannot for the life of me place it, so I'm hoping that you can. I did a quick vocal version in garageband, in the hopes that someone will recognize it. It may sound a little more Baroque than I meant for it too, but this is the tune, as I remember it:

Mystery Song mp3

I think it's from when I was in middle school or earlier. I don't think it's Hook, or Forrest Gump, or Homeward Bound, or Home Alone, but I don't know. Could it be part of a score from a Disney animation? Arrrrrrrg! It's driving me crazy.

Any ideas, suggestions, assistance, etc, would be EXTREMELY welcomed.

5 comments:

Alec Longstreth said...

Ha ha, funny that you could MAKE A WHOLE VOCAL ARRANGEMENT of the song, but couldn't think what it is! Not ringing any bells....

Anonymous said...

Your bass line is the bass line from the Pachelbel Kanon in D---don't know the melody line, though. Lots of things go with that bass line: Jolly Old St. Nicholas, One Tin Soldier ("Listen, children, to a story, that was written long ago, 'bout a kingdom on the mountain and the valley folk below..."), etc., etc....mom

Chris Schweizer said...

I noticed that, too... I was just throwing in a bass line in lieu of chords - I've no idea what that particular structure is called - is there a name for it? That particular progression finds regular enough use that it should have a name! It's also used every now and then in pop songs - I can think of half a dozen off the top of my head, from Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" to Blues Traveler's "Hook".

It's the melody that most concerns me, though.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

It's called a "ground bass". That is one that repeats over and over. The progression of those chords isn't called anything specifically.

Chris Schweizer said...

Edit - finally figured it out/stumbled upon it - it's the having-dinner-with-the-new-guy's-family scene from the 1991 Disney live action musical "Newsies."