Ba ba ba ba ba dum

January 3, 2009 1:47 PM

Q: What do Butch Cassidy and Bonsai Kitty have in common? A: A terrific, zany soundtrack. What kind of music is this?

In the comments area for the FPP that originally directed me to the cat-in-the-bottle with the great soundtrack, The Whelk linked to this little gem, which I love (via). I can't seem to find more songs like this, mostly because I have no idea who makes/made it, or what the genre is called.

Sounds like it could be from the late 50s or early 60s. The instrumentation is less important to me than the vocal ba ba ba da da dums, though xylophone seems characteristic of this style. It sounds kind of like scat singing, but clearly it isn't improvised since it's done in harmony with a chorus.

The only other example of this kind of song I can think of is from Butch and Sundance (music starts at 0:36). The soundtrack is for sale at amazon, of course, but there are no track previews, I don't know the name of the song, and, I think it's the only one of its kind on the album.

What is this weirdness? Who are some famous performers or composers that recorded this stuff? Any websites or albums in particular that you can recommend?

Thanks very much.

posted by andromache to media & arts (5 comments total)

Not sure of the genre, but the style reminds me a bit of Combustible Edison.
posted by nonliteral at 2:44 PM on January 3

The Swingle Singers were famous for that sort of thing... only really know it as vocal harmony acapella , though.

As always there's some stuff of there's on youtube

The Butch and Sundance song is South American Getaway written by Burt Bacharach. There's a version of by the Swingtones on youtube (don't know if they did the original)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:20 PM on January 3

There was also the Flying Pickets back in the 80s... who did a similar sort of thing but with sung lyrics over the top (they mostly covered other peoples songs). They had a Christmas number one with Only You
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:29 PM on January 3

Relatedly, Mario Sunshine had a similar theme for its challenge platform levels. I recall hearing a specific term in my history of jazz class, but I can't recall what it was (perhaps I deserved that C grade...).
posted by pwnguin at 3:42 PM on January 3

Seconding The Swingle Singers.
posted by exphysicist345 at 8:09 PM on January 3