What is this Magnetic Fields song reminding me of?
February 12, 2010 12:41 PM Subscribe
What song does "Long Forgotten Fairytale" by the Magnetic Fields remind me of?
The first couple times I listened to the song, I felt that verse parts of the song reminded me strongly of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Not the chorus, but the meter of the verse bits, e.g., "After all the sleepless nights, when I turned on all the lights... I would have hit them."
The whole album is supposed to be about other songs and artists, so it's possible it's a deliberate homage. I listened to it repeatedly, trying to figure it out, but at this point it reminds me of "Long Forgotten Fairytale."
Any guesses?
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkOUVAsIfsM
The first couple times I listened to the song, I felt that verse parts of the song reminded me strongly of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Not the chorus, but the meter of the verse bits, e.g., "After all the sleepless nights, when I turned on all the lights... I would have hit them."
The whole album is supposed to be about other songs and artists, so it's possible it's a deliberate homage. I listened to it repeatedly, trying to figure it out, but at this point it reminds me of "Long Forgotten Fairytale."
Any guesses?
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkOUVAsIfsM
I'm just piping in to say that two of my favorite songs have been mentioned in this thread and that's awesome ("Fairytale" and BBR's version of "Seasons").
Also, I had a coworker with a similar knack for recognizing recycled melodies. She'd sing the other song while one was playing and weird the hell me out of me. Especially when she'd start singing Freezepop to the Pixies.
posted by griphus at 1:06 PM on February 12, 2010
Also, I had a coworker with a similar knack for recognizing recycled melodies. She'd sing the other song while one was playing and weird the hell me out of me. Especially when she'd start singing Freezepop to the Pixies.
posted by griphus at 1:06 PM on February 12, 2010
This has been bugging me forever too! Also, I've always thought the beginning of Long Forgotten Fairytale sounded like an Erasure song or something else from the 80s. And another one...The Magnetic Fields' 'Sweet Lovin' Man' has an annoying allusion to something else that I've never been able to to figure out either. The lyrics "Some have travelled far and wide/Some have given up and died..." Got anything for that one, The World Famous?
posted by iamkimiam at 1:06 PM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by iamkimiam at 1:06 PM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
And before Terry Jacks did "Seasons in the Sun" Jacques Brel write it as "Le Moribund" (the Dying Man). If you really want to impress people by singing over Long Forgotten Fairytale learn the French.
posted by rongorongo at 1:12 PM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by rongorongo at 1:12 PM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
Rongorongo- Does that mean there's a Scott Walker cover? Because that'd be just as cool. Especially if you can do the Scott Walker voice.
posted by griphus at 1:16 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by griphus at 1:16 PM on February 12, 2010
I had actually never heard that song. I listened and thought, "wow. well, that sounds like every UK (or faux UK) synthpop song released between 1986 and 1989." Not very helpful, so I wasn't going to comment. But I hated 80s synthpop and I really enjoyed the Magnetic Fields song, so thanks!
posted by peep at 1:21 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by peep at 1:21 PM on February 12, 2010
Wow, I haven't listened to the Mag Fields in far too long. Thanks, justkevin, for reminding me of them.
A propos of nothing, there's another tune that that song - "Seasons In The Sun" - has always seemed a faint shadow of, though in structure rather than in melody, so the Magnetic Fields' "Long Forgotten Fairy Tale" isn't similar at all. It's Pulp's great one-off single "Mile End," a song I've loved since I heard it, and it really does have the same pause-and-groove sort of structure as "Seasons In The Sun."
posted by koeselitz at 1:42 PM on February 12, 2010
A propos of nothing, there's another tune that that song - "Seasons In The Sun" - has always seemed a faint shadow of, though in structure rather than in melody, so the Magnetic Fields' "Long Forgotten Fairy Tale" isn't similar at all. It's Pulp's great one-off single "Mile End," a song I've loved since I heard it, and it really does have the same pause-and-groove sort of structure as "Seasons In The Sun."
posted by koeselitz at 1:42 PM on February 12, 2010
OK, now I'm kind of obsessed, and there's a particular 80s song it's reminding me of. Maybe the verse of The Promise.
posted by peep at 2:28 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by peep at 2:28 PM on February 12, 2010
You know what I think of when I hear that chorus? Feeeeeed thuhhhhhh wooooooo-ooooorld!
posted by Sys Rq at 2:54 PM on February 12, 2010
posted by Sys Rq at 2:54 PM on February 12, 2010
The verse is Seasons In The Sun. Ugh.
It's not more similar to that song than it is to countless other pop songs. Long-forgotten Fairytale uses a chord progression that's very common in pop music, but it's not the same chord progression as Seasons in the Sun. The melody isn't the same either. The phrasing is similar.
posted by ludwig_van at 2:57 PM on February 12, 2010
It's not more similar to that song than it is to countless other pop songs. Long-forgotten Fairytale uses a chord progression that's very common in pop music, but it's not the same chord progression as Seasons in the Sun. The melody isn't the same either. The phrasing is similar.
posted by ludwig_van at 2:57 PM on February 12, 2010
Scott Walker did not cover Le moribond, which is good because the translation of it into Seasons in the Sun totally changed the meaning of the song.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasons_in_the_Sun
posted by elsietheeel at 5:59 PM on February 12, 2010
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasons_in_the_Sun
posted by elsietheeel at 5:59 PM on February 12, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
My first inclination was that the song had female vocals so was probably thinking of the Black Box Recorder version of Season in The Sun.
posted by justkevin at 12:59 PM on February 12, 2010