# Can anybody name this tune? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 19, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-name-this-tune/33770 "2000-09-19T19:40:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mellonhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@mellonhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mellonhead)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-name-this-tune/33770/1 "2000-09-19T19:40:11Z")
It’s the new Guinness commercial: This guy is looking at a freshly poured Guinness – his thoughts float off to a train speeding down some tracks, through a green field of flowers, spring-time, yuck, etc… A man on the train starts singing in a deep baritone voice…then a couple more people join in, etc. What piece are they singing? Who wrote it? I’ve heard the tune so many times that now it’s synonymous with “epic warfare”, “Conan like battles”, etc… It’s been driving me nuts. Far as I can tell it may be of Russian origin, perhaps 19th or early 20th century…otherwise it was just written for a Conan movie;) ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-name-this-tune/33770/2 "2000-09-19T19:53:52Z")
I know what you’re talking about. It sounds a lot like “O Fortuna (Carmina Burana)” by Carl Orff. But not exactly, I don’t recognize the opening (but then I haven’t listened to the song for a long time), but the ending sounds very much like Orff’s tune. In short, it’s either that or a rip-off written to avoid paying royalties. (Yes, I believe Orff’s family is still collecting royalties–I think they got into a flap over a Techno/House version of the song a few years back.) The song surfaces pretty much anytime someone releases a period movie a la Braveheart, Hamlet, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-name-this-tune/33770/3 "2000-09-19T19:56:10Z")
And, it was in Excalibur, if I recall correctly. Perhaps a good thing to do would to peruse the soundtracks for these movies, and look for a commonality. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2000, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-name-this-tune/33770/4 "2000-09-19T20:06:49Z")
I thought it was the Carmina Burana too. It has been used in quite a few movies. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-name-this-tune/33770/5 "2000-09-21T18:04:18Z")
That is the opening theme, “Fortuna, Imperatrix Mundi” from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anybody-name-this-tune/33770/6 "2000-09-21T21:15:03Z")
toadspittle’s right, it is combined with another song, though – sounds like something sung by an Irish tenor, if I’m thinking of the right commercial. It’s only when the Guiness-swilling character looks drunkenly at the rest of the train that they break into the middle of the “O Fortuna”.