Do you recognize this music?

April 10, 2008 8:08 PM

Do you recognize this melody? I remember an elementary school friend playing this during his lessons about 15 years ago. This is a 20 second recording of how I remember it now.
posted by reishus to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

I don't remember what it is, but I think I recall playing this during my piano lessons as well.

Damn earworm.
posted by InsanePenguin at 8:17 PM on April 10, 2008

To me, it sounds a bit like "Why don't you do right" (made popular most recently by Jessica Rabbit's rendition in Who Framed Roger Rabbit).
posted by numinous at 8:18 PM on April 10, 2008

The Cat Came Back is the name of the song. Like many melodies of that vintage, there are many takes on it.
posted by phrontist at 8:21 PM on April 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

42nd Street (at 2:48) was the first thing that came to my mind.
posted by nonmyopicdave at 8:28 PM on April 10, 2008

It sounds like Sold My Soul to the Company Store.

It sounds like this part of the lyrics:

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store

You can check it out here:

http://archshrk.com/2006/08/sold-my-soul-to-the-company-store
posted by SpacemanStix at 8:29 PM on April 10, 2008

I think it's closest to "Steppin' Out (with my baby).
posted by sourwookie at 8:30 PM on April 10, 2008

Yeah, I think SpacemanStix has it, although my guess of Brian Setzer's "Stray Cat Strut" was going to be a pretty good guess, too.

Oh well.
posted by Aquaman at 8:32 PM on April 10, 2008

Sixteen Tons would be the correct name, wouldn't it? Most famously by Tennessee Ernie Ford?
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 8:40 PM on April 10, 2008

The song is called "Sixteen Tons" and was written by Merle Travis. Tennessee Ernie Ford had a big hit with his cover of it in the early 1950s.
posted by richg at 8:43 PM on April 10, 2008

I think it sounds a bit like the Stray Cat Strut. But that probably wouldn't have been in elementary school piano lessons.
posted by hwyengr at 8:46 PM on April 10, 2008

Response by poster: I think Sixteen Tons is probably it, thanks guys. It seems there are a lot of songs that use that basic bass pattern though.
posted by reishus at 8:47 PM on April 10, 2008

Uh, the Merle travis version is predated by more than 50 years. It's definately the cat came back.
posted by phrontist at 9:00 PM on April 10, 2008

It definitely made me think of the NES game Who Framed Roger Rabbit, although I have no idea if that song is in it or not, but it's just some weird feeling. Maybe I'm just high.
posted by cloeburner at 10:32 PM on April 10, 2008

It could also be "Minnie the Moocher".
posted by exceptinsects at 11:41 PM on April 10, 2008

It's also similar to Hit the Road Jack.
posted by wsg at 6:52 AM on April 11, 2008