# Anyone Remember This Weird News Story (Song Played Over Several Years) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468 "2008-09-20T19:14:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/1 "2008-09-20T19:14:17Z")
I have vague memories of a news story I heard a few years ago about some cathedral in Europe that, for shits & giggles apparently, is playing some piece of music on its new organ _very_ slowly - like, over the course of a hundred years. The story mentioned that they haven’t installed all of the pipes yet, but no worry; one of them they won’t even need for 15 years. Anyone remember what the heck I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/2 "2008-09-20T19:24:31Z")
You might be remembering [this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2728595.stm)? (John Cage’s _As Slow As Possible_, being played on an organ for the next 639 years.) ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/3 "2008-09-20T19:54:29Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > You might be remembering [this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2728595.stm)? > > (John Cage’s _As Slow As Possible_, being played on an organ for the next 639 years.) That would be it. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/4 "2008-09-21T01:01:38Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > John Cage’s _As Slow As Possible_, being played on an organ for the next 639 years. I bet any DJ playing this piece leaves out the middle eight. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/5 "2008-09-21T03:01:18Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > I bet any DJ playing this piece leaves out the middle eight. Right. And, he’ll probably talk over the last 20 seconds of the song, like those guys always do, ruining the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/6 "2008-09-21T03:57:54Z")
Is the song very good (played in a more standard frame of 20 minutes or so)? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/7 "2008-09-21T19:52:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Is the song very good (played in a more standard frame of 20 minutes or so)? It’s by John Cage. That should answer the question right there. (For comparison, a couple of Cage’s more famous compositions consist of the orchestra not playing anything for four and a half minutes, and of a group of performers on stage randomly twiddling the dials of a couple of radios.) ---
**Author:** ![st1d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@st1d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/st1d)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/8 "2008-09-21T21:30:22Z")
I can’t believe he won that “plagiarizing” case for the silent score. BTW, what’s powering the organ? Politicians? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/9 "2008-09-23T12:33:54Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Right. And, he’ll probably talk over the last 20 seconds of the song, like those guys always do, ruining the whole thing. Agreed. For that reason, I’ve decided to wait until the CD comes out. In the meantime, I have to work out how I’m going to accommodate a 2.8 million compact disc set alongside my existing collection. A home extension of dimensions 60’ x 60’ x 12’ should just about do it. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/10 "2008-09-23T12:40:50Z")
> [@st1d](#): > > I can’t believe he won that “plagiarizing” case for the silent score. BTW, what’s powering the organ? Politicians? 🙂 I thought that case was brilliant. “Did they copy your silence? Ok, show us what part they copied and you win” ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/11 "2008-09-23T13:01:02Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > I’ve decided to wait until the CD comes out. In the meantime, I have to work out how I’m going to accommodate a 2.8 million compact disc set alongside my existing collection. > > A home extension of dimensions 60’ x 60’ x 12’ should just about do it. There’s no need. An 8 Petabyte MP3 player should do the trick.\* \*Pulling a number out of my ass. I have no idea how much memory would be required to hold 2.8 million CDs. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/12 "2008-09-23T14:02:27Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > There’s no need. An 8 Petabyte MP3 player should do the trick.\* > > \*Pulling a number out of my ass. I have no idea how much memory would be required to hold 2.8 million CDs. Had to figure it out- to store 128kps mp3’s (approx 1mb/min) would take only about 335 terabytes- not bad, now that you can get 1tb for 200 bucks, thats only $67k to store every second of 639 years. Of course, if you’re an audiophile you’ll want to hear those beautiful unchanging tones without the hiss of mp3- cd quality wav files @ 10mb/min would require 10 times that! ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/13 "2008-09-23T14:06:05Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > Had to figure it out- to store 128kps mp3’s (approx 1mb/min) would take only about 335 terabytes- not bad, now that you can get 1tb for 200 bucks, thats only $67k to store every second of 639 years. Of course, if you’re an audiophile you’ll want better quality, 320kps, which is 2.3 mb/min. then you’re looking at 100k plus Since you bring the issue of quality, I am sure you could go with Variable Bit Rate and fit the whole thing in… 64K? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/14 "2008-09-23T14:06:46Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > Had to figure it out- to store 128kps mp3’s (approx 1mb/min) would take only about 335 terabytes- not bad, now that you can get 1tb for 200 bucks, thats only $67k to store every second of 639 years. Of course, if you’re an audiophile you’ll want better quality, 320kps, which is 2.3 mb/min. then you’re looking at 100k plus I think we could get some pretty bad ass compression on a track like that. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/15 "2008-09-23T14:09:23Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > I think we could get some pretty bad ass compression on a track like that. yeah, or just get a decent church organ organ synth program and the midi file would only be like 2kb ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/16 "2008-09-23T14:54:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s by John Cage. That should answer the question right there. > > (For comparison, a couple of Cage’s more famous compositions consist of the orchestra not playing anything for four and a half minutes, and of a group of performers on stage randomly twiddling the dials of a couple of radios.) Well, the same could be said of Pink Floyd who have compositions featuring someone making themselves breakfast, the assorted noises of several small furry creatures having a party with a rambling Scot, someone fiddling the dial of a car radio, and an orchestra of clock alarms sounding simultaneously (not to mention their aborted attempt to create an entire album without using any musical instruments.) Despite all that they still came up with nice pieces of music. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/17 "2008-09-23T15:05:16Z")
I look forward to the thread: “The RIAA is suing me for being quiet in my room!”. Just now, as I was typing this, I didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Should I be looking for a lawyer? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Peste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Doctor\_Peste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Peste)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/18 "2008-09-24T15:08:30Z")
I’ve always preferred vinyl, myself. Plus then you can get that old-school scratching action in the remix! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/19 "2008-09-24T16:44:39Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > I bet any DJ playing this piece leaves out the middle eight. But wait until the techno version hits YouTube and becomes the next ‘Loituma Girl’ Internet meme! That should be sometime around the year 2475. ---
**Author:** ![Apophenia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Apophenia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apophenia)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468/20 "2008-09-24T17:06:08Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > But wait until the techno version hits YouTube. Doomf. Doomf. Doomf. “Hey, kid. This video’s got about 480 years left on it. Watch the rest for me, would ya?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-this-weird-news-story-song-played-over-several-years/464468.md?page=2)