Earworms
Arise, Ye Russian People by Sergei Prokofiev for the film Alexander Nevsky
My husband decided to take a film music class this summer in order to get ahead on his graduate degree. Near the beginning of the term he had to miss a day of class (for a good cause - we found out the sex of our baby! It’s a boy!) so he had to rent the film they watched that day. I watched it with him, partially intrigued because it’s a Russian film, and because Prokofiev did the music for it.
The actual film is pretty dull (released in 1938) and some of the music feels like it doesn’t quite mesh with the story, but this piece really sticks out. Russian composers write the best nationalistic pieces, in my opinion. They must have an incredible amount of pride for their homeland.
I chose this one, even though there was one with slightly better audio, just because it’s interesting to see the words written out in our alphabet.
Fired by Ben Folds
Some swearing, and since the lyrics play with the music, it’s probably NSFW. But it is oh so much fun.
Inútil from the Broadway musical In The Heights
One of the few perks of working security is that I practically get paid to watch concerts and musicals. This particular musical performed for just one night in my town, and I was excited to see a new musical (since the newest one I’ve seen on stage is Phantom of the Opera, which is quite old now.) Overall, I wasn’t totally won over by the story; I just couldn’t connect with it. That’s mostly because I was expecting a kind of Fiddler on the Roof meets West Side Story based on the synopsis I read. There are a few love stories, but nothing nearly so powerful as West Side and the emphasis on tradition is hardly there at all.
Regardless, this song stuck with me. It’s the song Kevin Rosario sings after he’s found out that his daughter has dropped out of school, and that she didn’t come to her parents for financial assistance because she didn’t want to burden him since his business wasn’t doing so well. This leaves him a little stunned, and makes him feel like he might be just as useless as he thought his father was. This is a very lovely, very powerful song.
Comme Un Enfant by Yelle, danced by Nathan Barnatt
I was introduced to this video by iJustine, an internet personality who appears in the video (she’s the one gardening when Nathan appears and smashes her pot.) The editing is so clever - and yes, he really is dancing in all of those places. No green screen! Sometimes I like to watch it when I’m feeling a little bummed, because it makes me feel happy again.
Yesterday, while making the six-hour drive home, this piece came on the classical station:
This is the Troika from the Lt. Kije Suite by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. I’ve never really heard this piece before, but I knew the melody already. I could sing along with it. I’d heard it used somewhere else.
And then it dawned on me.
It doesn’t happen right away, but you hear the same melody around 54 seconds in. This is I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake, of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer fame.
My mind was blown. I’m still picking up the pieces.
I LOVE finding stuff like this. It’s like participating in a treasure hunt, and you figure out the clue that has stumped everyone else. So I figured I’d share this with you.
The purpose of this Tumblr, right here! I first read about earworms in the book Musicophilia, which I heard about on…you guessed it, NPR!
npr:
Earworms: The Songs In Your Head, Bugging You!
This fellow, Flickr user Cayusa, got the McDonald’s Filet O Fish song stuck in his head, and it prompted this photo shoot. NPR spoke with psychologist Vicky Williamson about collecting earworms, the reasons some songs get stuck in our heads, and the implications for understanding human memory. Full story, and a chance to share your earworms, here!
Bang The Doldrums by Fall Out Boy
My husband controls the radio most of the time in the car, so I listen to a lot of the music he likes to listen to…which includes Fall Out Boy. A lot of people don’t like them, and I suppose it’s mostly because of their appearance (and they also suck live, or at least they used to. I haven’t heard them in a few years because I’ve been afraid. :P ) However, their lyrics are pretty clever, and they have some interesting melody lines. I can be pretty judgmental of a lot of rock music because they tend to use a few simple chords over and over, but FOB is pretty varied.
….I just wish they were easier to understand when they were singing.
Les Jours Tristes by Yann Tiersen
Amelie is probably my favorite movie in the history of favorite movies. When I first got married and my husband worked until late in the evening, I’d put that movie in the DVD player. Sometimes I’d watch, but usually I did something else like knit or clean house. I’d seen it enough times that I knew when the funny parts happened, when the happy parts happened, and when the beautiful parts happened. It’s a gorgeous film, and if you haven’t seen it, you really ought to get your hands on a copy and watch. Not only is it visually pleasing, but the soundtrack is incredible also. It’s very charming and whimsical.
(There is a version of this song with lyrics, but I really don’t like it that much. It’s more fun to have your own idea of the song in your mind than his. :P Also, the reason why this is an audio file instead of a YouTube video is because I couldn’t find the instrumental version on YouTube. Boo!)
Solid Rock, performed by Taylor Moore and Tommy Carreras
This is another hymn that gets stuck in my head, mostly because it’s one of Mark’s favorites. There was a performing group who used to go to his church made of two tenors, one who was classically trained and another who was trained for more popular music, and they would sing their own arrangements of hymns. This is one that the operatic tenor sang, and always with such gusto. I couldn’t find his arrangement of it on YouTube and, again, all of the arrangements I found first were so…unenthusiastic. So tame. (And that, ladies and gentlemen is why I don’t like a lot of church music. If you’re going to sing about how awesome our creator is, couldn’t you at least get a little pumped up about it?! I think that’s the least He deserves!) I probably would have skipped over this one too, but the guitar part intrigued me. Enjoy!
Come thou Fount of Every Blessing, performed by Mumford and Sons
For your Sunday listening pleasure. :)
I’m not usually one for hymns, but this one gets stuck in my head a lot. When I was in the orchestra at the First Baptist Church back home, this was one we played a lot. The version that we played was a lot more upbeat than most people’s renditions, this one included. But, you know, I’m such a sucker for Mumford and Sons that I had to use it. I even used a live version! And listen to how silent the audience is…. You can go to a concert and not scream the entire time! Did you know that? In fact, I’d venture to say that you might enjoy the concert more because you can hear the songs they’re playing.
