Name that tune (samples inside)

August 25, 2005 1:45 PM

There are three songs I've been trying to figure out the name of for a while now. The first one is light music I heard about 10 years ago on a radio station called Magic 100 in Ottawa, but have not heard it since. The second one is another light song I heard about 1 year ago on a radio. The last one is one I found on my computer but want to find the name of. I made some midis of what I remember them sort of sounding like. Can you name these tunes? I would much appreciate it!
posted by lpctstr; to media & arts (20 answers total)

Well, the third one is from Carmina Burana by Orff, though I'm not sure which part. The other two are stumpers.
posted by frykitty at 1:54 PM on August 25, 2005

The last one is some strange rocked arrangement of the Carmina Burana.
posted by horsewithnoname at 1:54 PM on August 25, 2005

The last one is a remix of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.
posted by driveler at 1:55 PM on August 25, 2005

I just found this kickass program in another MeFi thread that identifies songs for ya.
posted by Mach5 at 1:56 PM on August 25, 2005

This has identified everything piece of music I have tried - doubt it will work if you're in the US though. Site looks like some sort of sham but it is the awsomest service ever.
posted by fire&wings at 2:02 PM on August 25, 2005

Mach5 & fire&wings: the problem is I don't have the actually sound recording, but just replayed some notes on a shareware midi player and saved it as mid, so I don't know if it'd work too well on those.
posted by lpctstr; at 2:06 PM on August 25, 2005

Ray Manzarek from the Doors did a arrangement of Carmina Burana in 1983. Never heard that album though, and cant find any online samples to compare.
posted by bendybendy at 2:23 PM on August 25, 2005

I'm pretty sure the second one is Fields of Gold by Sting. Beautiful song. Can't help on the first.
posted by bricoleur at 2:30 PM on August 25, 2005

As bricoleur says, the second one is Fields of Gold.

The first one sounds like some sort of movie song and seems to have some irish or scottish sound in my head. It also sounds like something that could have been done by Sting. Not sure what it is though. Any chance you remember any lyrics or instruments used?
posted by freshgroundpepper at 2:57 PM on August 25, 2005

I agree with bricoleur, the second one is definitely "Fields of Gold." The section of Carmina Burana you posted is a part of "O Fortuna." You might want to check the Wikipedia page on Carmina Burana, which notes:

Excerpts, especially the opening and finale number O Fortuna, have been widely used in numerous movie trailers and in various other commercials, such as The Big Ad for Carlton Draught beer in Australia. Portions also appear as background music in the films "Excalibur" and "The Doors", and sampled in the CD The Screen Behind the Mirror by Enigma, by Ministry in their song No W and by Apoptygma Berzerk in their song "Love Never Dies" and in the movie Natural Born Killers in the dramatic Capture of Mickey and Mallory Knox scene

Other musical settings of these texts include:

* The "version originale et integrale" recorded by the Clemencic Consort in the 1970s and released on the Harmonia Mundi label (190336.38); arguably the most full and faithful interpretation as of 2005
* Pieces by the German electro-medieval musical groups Helium Vola and Qntal
* Pieces by the musical group Corvus Corax
* The verses to the song "The Mass" by Era (the first and third verses of "O Fortuna")
* The final battle music ("One-Winged Angel" by Nobuo Uematsu) for the video game Final Fantasy VII, using snippets of the texts of "O Fortuna", "Estuans interius", "Sors immanis et inanis", and "Veni, veni, venias"

I hope one of these is a match.
posted by kyleg at 2:58 PM on August 25, 2005

Argh, damn closing tags. That last sentence is me, not Wikepedia.
posted by kyleg at 2:59 PM on August 25, 2005

I've had good luck with MusicBrainz in identifying unknown music. It won't help with your homemade midi's, however.
posted by stovenator at 3:13 PM on August 25, 2005

awesome! we nailed the 2nd and 3rd one. Anyone care to take a stab at the 1st? soft rock about 11 years ago. I don't remember any lyrics since I was 8 or 9 years old.
posted by lpctstr; at 3:31 PM on August 25, 2005

Assuming it had lyrics, do you remember if the first one had a male or female voice? Also, was the speed of the real song pretty close to the same as the speed of the midi you posted?
posted by freshgroundpepper at 7:00 PM on August 25, 2005

This may not help - but the first song sounds like something i sang in a choral group - i think it was called Shenandoah and had lyrics along the lines of "Oh the water is wide, I cannot get o'er..." But then again, it also has the same tone/key as Billy Joel's "and so it goes"...

goodluck - I hope my guesses don't throw you off track in the wrong direction
posted by jur777 at 8:03 PM on August 25, 2005

the billy joel one is close, but is a bit slower than the song I'm thinking of. I checked out Shenandoah which didn't sound like the song. I searched for the lyrics you pasted and it was a song - Eve Cassidy - Wade In The Water which isn't it either. thanks for the suggestions though!
posted by lpctstr; at 8:22 PM on August 25, 2005

Maybe you could try emailing the midi file for the first song to Majic 100; it might ring a bell for someone there.

From the station's web site, the program director's address is [e-mail] and the music director is [e-mail].

Good luck!
posted by melimelo at 5:36 AM on August 26, 2005

I did that 4 years ago with no luck. but thanks for the suggestion
posted by lpctstr; at 8:44 AM on August 26, 2005

lpctstr;, try this site. It has a pretty good success rate for "name that tune."
posted by bricoleur at 9:04 AM on August 26, 2005

I'm also convinced that Carmina Burana is the inspiration for a great deal of incidental television music used in the 1950s-1970s, for instance, Star Trek. Lots of little flourishes in it remind me of scene and character cues from that period.
posted by dhartung at 10:39 PM on September 2, 2005