# Identify this swing song (for a change of pace)! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786 "2005-04-17T20:03:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/1 "2005-04-17T20:03:19Z")
There’s just one lick I keep coming back to: It starts out climbing the scale (with some noodly variation), hits a note at the top, and then comes back down. It may have a female vocalist, or just horns. DA-da-da-DA-da-da-DA-da-da-DA-da-da-DAAAAAAAAAA! (top of scale) Da-DA-da-da, DA-da-da-daaaaaaaaaa! (back down) I’ve seen enough successful song identifications here to trust you guys. What the heck is this one? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/2 "2005-04-17T20:20:48Z")
I don’t suppose it’s the climbing trumpet riff at the end of Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood”? I know that just gets louder and higher, but I don’t remember it coming back down. Can you describe the song any more? The instrument? Where you might hav heard it? ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/3 "2005-04-17T21:13:22Z")
No, this was definitely the main melody, it was repeated several times as I listened to the song. It was played in the lobby of a theater before a performance _Room Service_ (which, for the record, was produced in 1937. Not sure if the song was written/released in the same year, but knowing the theater’s attention to detail, it may very well have been). Okay, I just plunked it out on an online piano keyboard, and here’s what I’ve got (starting on the F above middle C, with emphasized notes in bold and middle C in italics: **F** -_C_-F- **G** -_C_-G- **A** -_C_-A- **Bb** -_C_-Bb- **C** Bb- **A** -G-F- **G** -D-E- **F** So, obviously it’s in F, if that helps anyone. You can go [here](http://www.kbears.com/newframeset.htm?http://www.kbears.com/playmusic/keyboard.html) to plunk it out. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/4 "2005-04-17T21:48:38Z")
[Here is a midi version of TL’s mystery melody.](http://web.acsalaska.net/~fmurtley/tracylord.mid) Did I get it right? I still don’t recognize it. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/5 "2005-04-17T22:12:24Z")
Nnnnot quite right. The middle C is kind of a base that the scale-climbing keeps coming back to: if you take out the Cs, it’s F, F-G, G-A, A-Bb, Bb-C (that last C is at the top of the scale, an octave above middle C). So it climbs up very simply, and just sort of “touches” on the Cs at the bottom. And the first note of each climbing pair is twice as long as the other notes: Daaa-da-da-daaa-da-da-daaa-da-da-daaa-da-da-daaaaaaa! (The C at the top is held for a while.) Coming back down, every third note is emphasized/held: da-daaa-da-da-daaa-da-da-daaa. The Bb at the beginning of the descent has sort of a pickup feel. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/6 "2005-04-17T23:20:47Z")
Could it have been Rio, by Duran and the Duran Swing Band? ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/7 "2005-04-18T00:17:10Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Could it have been Rio, by Duran and the Duran Swing Band? Is that a whoosh? ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/8 "2005-04-18T00:51:15Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > Is that a whoosh? [Nah, a reference.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=296939) ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/9 "2005-04-18T01:11:08Z")
A new one! I haven’t kept up. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/10 "2005-04-18T02:50:31Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > A new one! I haven’t kept up. :smack: How else do we make you feel loved? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/11 "2005-04-18T15:37:52Z")
Bumping this back onto the front page, because seriously, I _have_ to know what this song is. (For the record, the MIDI that **Fear Itself** made – although I’m grateful 🙂 – isn’t very close.) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-swing-song-for-a-change-of-pace/299786/12 "2005-04-18T16:17:45Z")
can you describe the tune more? Is it fast or slow? Is it a solo or a band?