Instrumentals that mimic their own titles

July 18, 2020 10:17 AM

John Adams's Lollapalooza is built around a 5-note motif (first heard at 1:09 in the linked video) that mimics the rhythm of the word "Lollapalooza". Dizzy Gillespie's Salt Peanuts does the same thing (the motif first appears at 0:15), but isn't completely instrumental -- Diz gives the game away at 0:39 by singing the words. Help me make a list of instrumentals (of any genre) that mimic the intonations of their titles!
posted by aws17576 to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

Maybe not exactly what you mean, but Scott Johnson’s John Somebody does this, turned up to 11.
posted by moonmilk at 10:30 AM on July 18, 2020

I just realized that I totally think of the vocals in that piece as instrumentals because they’re samples used as an instrument rather than for the content - but it pretty much totally doesn’t meet your requirements. Sorry!
posted by moonmilk at 10:35 AM on July 18, 2020

Best answer: There’s an interview with Herbie Hancock where he talks about how Watermelon Man was inspired by his (childhood?) black neighborhood in Chicago. A guy would come around on the hot summer days selling watermelons, and and the key riff of the song was the sound of the ladies calling out from their porches “heeeey! Water Melon maaan”. (Sorry, can’t find the clip now will post later if I find it :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:36 AM on July 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Leroy and Lanisha - Kamasi Washington
posted by chrisulonic at 11:05 AM on July 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Ah-leu-cha might count.

I'm looking forward to other answers. This is challenging!
posted by eotvos at 11:26 AM on July 18, 2020

Shave and a Haircut! :-)
posted by doctord at 12:05 PM on July 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Grazin' in the grass, it's a gas, baby, can you dig it?
posted by bink at 12:07 PM on July 18, 2020

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme Part 1: Acknowledgement

And then there's Part 4: Psalm where Coltrane's solo is set to the words of the poem contained in the liner notes.
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:12 PM on July 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Manamana isn't exactly this, but seems related.
posted by umbú at 3:20 PM on July 18, 2020

Oh man you are going to hate me for this but....

The Price is Right Theme Song main riff is:

"The price is right"
"yeah yeah,"
"The price is right,"
"yeah yeah,"

According to the composer. I'm not making this up.
posted by sol at 5:00 PM on July 18, 2020 [5 favorites]

Continuing the bebop theme, Scrapple from the Apple. (At least, the first line of the melody sounds like it ends with those words -- no idea if it's intentional, but that's how I remember this tune given that bebop titles are basically interchangeable.)
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 5:20 PM on July 18, 2020

Steve Reich’s “Different Trains” is built on snippets of spoken interviews, included in the piece, from which the string quartet parts draw melodies and rhythms. The actual title is not in it, though. You might also be interested in “Come Out” and “It’s Gonna Rain,” which are made by phasing spoken-word tape loops.
posted by musicinmybrain at 7:25 PM on July 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Star Trek has lyrics too, but that's so Gene could get a 50% cut of the royalties.

Does Jamie's Cryin' (sans Dave) count?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:34 PM on July 18, 2020

Best answer: So What by Miles Davis immediately jumps to mind.
posted by firechicago at 9:03 PM on July 18, 2020 [4 favorites]

This happens a fair bit in TV/movie themes:

Superman - John Williams, i.e. da da na na - sup-er-man! There is no way that wasn't intentional or at the very least lightly subconscious at best.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:01 PM on July 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Gary Glitter - Rock 'n' Roll (Part 2) is a (mostly) instrumental version of Rock 'n' Roll (Part 1).

Rock 'n' Roll-ool (Hey!)
Rock 'n' Roll
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 5:35 PM on July 20, 2020