What is this song?

June 10, 2009 11:49 PM

Songfilter: I heard a prog-rock song with chanting in it, please help me find it.

Sometime ago (I can't remember the date/time, so I can't track it down that way) I was listening to a college radio station, and I happened to listen to this song that's been haunting me ever since.

I remember it as a prog-rock song, which after a very good crescendo exploded into a long section of chanting that seemed to intertwine its chanters, that seemed like Buddhist chanting or something like that. The song didn't seem new, because it seemed like a 70s song, but I can be definitely wrong.

Does anyone have any ideas, I've been meaning to ask this question for a long time.

posted by GrooveStix to media & arts (15 comments total)

If the decade is wrong, it could be a VAST song -- his first album (Visual Audio Sensory Theater) has tons of chant, and Touched got decent radio play about ten years ago.
posted by sleepingcbw at 12:04 AM on June 11

The chanting was done by males though, with very low voices, and during the chanting I don't remember any music going along with it, maybe only sound effects.

VAST sounds interesting though, and I am familiar with that type of singing, so I'll check that album out.
posted by GrooveStix at 12:11 AM on June 11

It's not Enigma's Return to Innocence, is it? It sampled Aboriginal Taiwanese (not Buddhist) chanting. It certainly had plenty of College Radio airplay, along with mainstream commercial radio.
posted by empyrean at 12:41 AM on June 11

Haha, that's a classic song! I think I've seen an anti-drug commercial with it, but that's not it. :)
I am talking about chanting very similar to this.
posted by GrooveStix at 12:50 AM on June 11

Coheed and Cambria's Welcome Home? It meets all the criteria except for being from the 70s, though he does kind of have a 70's voice to me, whatever that means.
posted by potatopeople at 4:42 AM on June 11

I can't imagine this being on the radio, but was it the Halo theme?
posted by Midnight Rambler at 4:57 AM on June 11

My shot in the dark: Pink Floyd's Fearless. The chanting subtly pops up throughout the song but can't be heard well until around 4:50 onwards. The Wikipedia says it's Liverpool FC, which is neat.
posted by Monster_Zero at 5:37 AM on June 11

Could it have been something from Aphrodite's Child's 666? Several of the songs off that album feature chanting of one variety or another.
posted by saladin at 5:45 AM on June 11

Seconding 666. Or perhaps something by Comus? Gentle Giant?

Also, Mellotrons were ubiquitous in 70s Prog, so there's a chance you might just be thinking of the Male Choir tapeset. If that's the case, it could be damn near anything. (Jethro Tull's My God comes to mind.)

All that said, the first band I think of when I think "Buddhist chant," is the Beastie Boys: 1, 2.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:47 AM on June 11

Another Pink Floyd guess... "Absolutely Curtains", last song on the album "Obscured By Clouds". Definitely Prog rock from the '70s.
posted by Fortnight Bender at 8:40 AM on June 11

Have you listened to Acid Mothers Temple? Your description perfectly fits them, but they are very prolific and have a number of songs that have a psych/prog/noise freakout interspersed with chanting and toning, so it might take some time to find the exact song you are looking for.
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 8:48 AM on June 11

For example, this song by Acid Mothers Temple, is a live version that begins with chanting and goes into the full band playing.
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 9:02 AM on June 11

Yeah, I instantly thought of Gentle Giant's Knots, too.
posted by GeekAnimator at 9:30 AM on June 11

How about this: Ricardo Villalobos, Enfants (Chants)?
posted by jjwiseman at 9:35 AM on June 11

Are you from Canada? Some Max Webster tunes have chanting, from the 70's, somewhat prog.
posted by canoehead at 5:43 PM on June 11