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Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any stuck songs you might get because you read this post. Proceed at your own risk. :)
Sometimes, the overactive pattern-matcher in my brain kicks in when I'm having a stuck song incident (most of the time) and I combine songs in what seems to be an odd way. Most of the time, I don't notice or remember, but a few nights ago, two sequences were so strange, they actually impinged on my consciousness. The connections can be and often are: a base line, chord progression, rhythm, similar lyrics, phrasing (the musical kind and the lyrical kind)...sometimes it can be as simple as the interval between notes. (For example, the first two notes of "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean" is a sixth interval (A-F); my brain switches from "My Bonny" to Leia's Theme from Star Wars seamlessly because it also starts with a sixth interval. The music is in different keys with different tempos and vastly different moods...but I never said my medley-maker was sane or logical.)
See if you can identify why my brain combined the following two sets of three songs in a constant medley of stuck-songeriffic goodness:
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" by The Supremes
"Close To You" by The Carpenters
"An Innocent Man" by Billy Joel.
Then, at some point, the first two songs quietly departed only to be replaced by:
"An Innocent Man" by Billy Joel
"Blue Bayou" by Linda Ronstadt
"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" by Steely Dan
Or, how about this one that lasted more than a week last month::
The Harry Potter Theme (one of the sub-theme variations1, not the opening theme)
The Oompa Loompa Song (from the original Willy Wonka; I haven't seen the new)
I actually do know, this time, why my pattern-matcher put the songs together. See if you can spot the connection. (I feel all James Burke all of a sudden.)
You must also keep in mind that these connections may have more to do with my perception of the song, rather than the music itself.
You were warned. I'm not a well snake. :)
Note: That icon is a new one I selected for music-related posts. Some of you will "get" it, some of you won't. :)
1 If you have the DVD of the first movie, go about 30 minutes, 20 seconds in and watch the beginning of the scene where the first-years are just starting the boat ride. The music I'm talking about is the major theme at this point. It occurs before this, but not as a major theme.
Sometimes, the overactive pattern-matcher in my brain kicks in when I'm having a stuck song incident (most of the time) and I combine songs in what seems to be an odd way. Most of the time, I don't notice or remember, but a few nights ago, two sequences were so strange, they actually impinged on my consciousness. The connections can be and often are: a base line, chord progression, rhythm, similar lyrics, phrasing (the musical kind and the lyrical kind)...sometimes it can be as simple as the interval between notes. (For example, the first two notes of "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean" is a sixth interval (A-F); my brain switches from "My Bonny" to Leia's Theme from Star Wars seamlessly because it also starts with a sixth interval. The music is in different keys with different tempos and vastly different moods...but I never said my medley-maker was sane or logical.)
See if you can identify why my brain combined the following two sets of three songs in a constant medley of stuck-songeriffic goodness:
"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" by The Supremes
"Close To You" by The Carpenters
"An Innocent Man" by Billy Joel.
Then, at some point, the first two songs quietly departed only to be replaced by:
"An Innocent Man" by Billy Joel
"Blue Bayou" by Linda Ronstadt
"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" by Steely Dan
Or, how about this one that lasted more than a week last month::
The Harry Potter Theme (one of the sub-theme variations1, not the opening theme)
The Oompa Loompa Song (from the original Willy Wonka; I haven't seen the new)
I actually do know, this time, why my pattern-matcher put the songs together. See if you can spot the connection. (I feel all James Burke all of a sudden.)
You must also keep in mind that these connections may have more to do with my perception of the song, rather than the music itself.
"Why Do Fools" → "Close To You" ==> They both contain the lyric "Why do birds." I told you, it can be anything.
"Close to You" → "Innocent Man" ==> This one makes no sense, even to me, but here it is. When Karen Carpenter sings "Just like me, they long to be close to you.....Aaaaaaah, ah-ah-ah aaaaaaah! Close to you!" there's something about that pause between the first "you" and the "Aaaaaaah" that makes my brain switch to "Innocent Man." You know, when Billy Joel sings "I am...an innocent man" he goes up an entire octave on the "am" and holds it for what sounds like at least a measure, maybe more. I thought at first it was the interval...it's not. I picked them both out on the piano. Karen goes up a perfect fourth. Billy goes up an octave. The time that the "am" is held before the "an innocent man" and the pause between the "you" and the "Aaaaaaah" is approximately the same number of beats--or that's my perception of the two songs. Combine the held notes being in both songs and the length of that held note in one with the length of the pause between notes in the other....I told you: I never claimed this was sane or logical.
"Innocent Man" → "Blue Bayou" ==> The opening of the songs are almost identical. Listen to them both and see if you don't agree. I played them back to back, and if it weren't for the tempo and key being slightly slower and lower, respectively, in "Bayou" than "Innocent Man," I would be hard-pressed to tell them apart...for the first four measures or so, anyway.
"Innocent Man" + "Blue Bayou" → "Rikki" ==> Again, after the initial "weird" part of "Rikki", the base line does that same thing as the other two songs. At a faster tempo and with an added note or two...but it's extremely close. At first, I just knew that whatever other song I was sticking with was by Steely Dan, so I cranked up WinAmp and listened to the first minute or so of all of the ones I have. It was "Rikki." :)
Harry Potter → Willy Wonka ==> Now...The Harry Potter Theme that I'm talking about is the one that goes "DUM-dah DUM-dah DUM-de-da-DUM dah DUM-dee-dee DUM-dee DUM"1 The Oompa Loompa song goes "OOM pa LOOM pa DOOpity DOO..." Similar intervals and similar rhythm, as well as similar tempo. Even though the Harry Potter theme seems syncopated and in 3/4 (or perhaps 6/8) time, and the Oompa Loompa song is rigidly on a 4/4 beat....Once more, I never said it was sane or logical.
You were warned. I'm not a well snake. :)
Note: That icon is a new one I selected for music-related posts. Some of you will "get" it, some of you won't. :)
1 If you have the DVD of the first movie, go about 30 minutes, 20 seconds in and watch the beginning of the scene where the first-years are just starting the boat ride. The music I'm talking about is the major theme at this point. It occurs before this, but not as a major theme.
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