Familiar melody?
April 8, 2018 6:21 PM   Subscribe

What the heck is this melody from about 1:49-2:00? It sounds familiar but I can't place it. (SLYT - 1712 Overture by PDQ Bach)
posted by mefireader to Media & Arts (15 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I put the notes of the melody into Musipedia. See if any of the search results ring a bell.
posted by falsedmitri at 7:17 PM on April 8, 2018


If it makes you feel better, now I'm stuck trying to ID it. It's a hook from a pop tune from the '80s or something like that. The 1712 Overture was "discovered" in 1989... Trying to think... argh.
posted by randomkeystrike at 7:28 PM on April 8, 2018


I had always assumed it was an old Buick jingle or similar; it shares a lot of qualities with e.g. "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" but isn't an exact match. Now I find myself watching YouTube vintage commercial jingle compilations instead of sleeping like a responsible person might but no luck so far.
posted by range at 7:46 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


I am also thinking an 80s song, male vocals (high, almost falsetto), and after the hook, there's a beat, then hook again, then a kind of "oo oo oo", beat, "oo oo oo".
posted by methroach at 7:53 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


You're in luck; I got a break.

(actually, read the comments in the video you linked... :-)
posted by randomkeystrike at 7:53 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]


It's the chorus from Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "Ain't Got No Home", perhaps?
posted by jackbishop at 7:55 PM on April 8, 2018 [5 favorites]


^ jackbishop; thanks for IDing ANOTHER similar hook that I could remember but couldn't place, which I could remember being from the 50s and 60s or thereabouts. Dang, that's similar.
posted by randomkeystrike at 7:58 PM on April 8, 2018


It sounds like a theme song from a 60s TV western. It isn't but it could be.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 10:26 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


It reminds me of an old cigarette commercial (Marlboro?) and at the same time it's sort of reminds me of the music of Aaron Copland (Rodeo?)

I wonder if cigarette people used Copland's music?
posted by james33 at 4:43 AM on April 9, 2018


Response by poster: Yes, my first thought was some kind of western as I pictured hearing this theme on TV somewhere. But I listened to every movie and TV theme I could find, with no luck. As close as the Rod Stewart song is, I don't think that's it (and I think the third note is different, going down to the fifth of the scale instead of the sixth).
posted by mefireader at 7:13 AM on April 9, 2018


You could try contacting Schickele's people and asking them.
posted by JanetLand at 7:27 AM on April 9, 2018


The Wikipedia page about about "I Ain't Got no Home" gives a little more information about places where this riff has appeared or been used. Everything I can see indicates that Clarence made it up on the spot ( He was tired and the owner wasn't too interested in letting the musicians off - so he slammed the keys down and howled "Oooh oh oh oh oh oh oh!" - from link below). But he is still around - so you could also ask him too. (and please let us know if you get a response!)
posted by rongorongo at 9:47 AM on April 9, 2018


It took half an hour to come to me but I think this is what you're after?
posted by Smearcase at 10:30 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


Wow that's basically perfect, so much so that I think it has to overcome the bias that Schickele is much more likely to dip into Burma Shave ads and Ivy League fight songs for comedic quoting.

Also if one of you is responsible for playing Smearcase's Rod Stewart tune at the Trader Joe's in Cambridge, Mass this afternoon please fess up as I thought I was living in a PK Dick novel and the internet came to get me while grocery shopping)
posted by range at 1:49 PM on April 9, 2018


Something about the harmonic structure and rhythm reminds me of the Big Country theme. But the melody is 100% Rod.
posted by Jellybean_Slybun at 7:21 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


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