# Music That Outlived What It Was Originally Associated With **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 6, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186 "2026-08-06T16:54:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/1 "2026-08-06T16:54:12Z")
The theme to _Peter Gunn_ by Henry Mancini appeared on my YouTube rotation this morning. I’ve never seen an episode of _Peter Gunn_, it ended fifteen years before I was born and I don’t recall anyone running reruns like they did with _The Addams Family, I Love Lucy,_ or even _F Troop_, but I certainly know the song. It was used in the 1983 arcade game Spy Hunter, Art of Noise had their own version in 1986, and I’m sure I’ve heard it many times from other sources. It occurs to me that the song remains very well known even if most people alive today never saw _Peter Gunn_ or even know it was a television show. Every time I hear “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship I can’t help but think the song has remarkable longevity seeing as it’s from a stupid movie from 1987 about a mannequin in a department store that comes to life at night. If only I could remember what that movie was called… The song certainly has popularity beyond its association to the movie (whatever it was called). Any other musical numbers you can think of that have outlived what they were associated with originally? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/2 "2026-08-06T16:57:01Z")
Prince’s 1999. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/3 "2026-08-06T16:59:26Z")
Peter Gunn had a brief comeback in an episode of The Sopranos. It was a [brilliant mash-up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRFrZqTveaI&list=RDcRFrZqTveaI&start_radio=1) of Peter Gunn and Every Breath You Take. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/4 "2026-08-06T17:07:10Z")
Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” has enjoyed lasting popularity long after _Batman Returns_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/5 "2026-08-06T17:07:31Z")
Your piece is timely, because I was thinking of posting the following item. As a big fan of Beethoven’s orchestral music, I love the nine symphonies. If you look for more, you might try the (probably spurious and over-hyped) 10th symphony, but a better bet is to listen to the Overtures written for theatrical works: Egmont Fidelio The Ruins of Athens The Creatures of Prometheus Leonore King Stephen Coriolan and a couple of others. What I couldn’t help wonder was – My God – you got Beethoven himself to write the musical introduction to your work. Aren’t you afraid that, after they hear it, they won’t all get up and go home? After all, the music by Beethoven has to be the best part, right? Actually, The Creatures of Prometheus is a full ballet by Beethoven, and Fidelio was his only opera (later renamed Leonore), so I could see those patrons staying. Egmont was a play by Goethe, so maybe they would, too. For King Stephen Beethoven wrote some incidental music, too. But Coriolan is based on a play by someone named van Collin, not on the Shakespeare play. Does anyone put on Coriolan anymore? Or even Egmont? I get the impression that the overtures are the pieces mostly performed. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/6 "2026-08-06T17:07:42Z")
Baby Elephant Walk. The only reason I can remember the movie (_Hatari!_) is because I like it, and watch it every so often. The song barely has anything to do with the film. Pink Panther theme. Made for one movie, (about a rock), turned into a theme for a character, became a song for a cartoon about an actual cat (_panthera pinkus_), and now used for insulation. Both also by Mancini. The guy could write a catchy tune. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/7 "2026-08-06T17:13:13Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Does anyone put on Coriolan anymore? Or even Egmont? I get the impression that the overtures are the pieces mostly performed. See also the “Poet and Peasant” and “Light Cavalry” overtures of Franz von Suppe. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/8 "2026-08-06T17:15:33Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > a stupid movie from 1987 about a mannequin I believe you are referring to _Mannequin_ with Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall from 1987. I don’t associate the song with it, but I remember the movie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/9 "2026-08-06T17:15:44Z")
**In the Good Old Summertime** Written in 1902 anf thought to be an ephemeral song that would be forgotten by the fall, it was selected by soon-to-be-superstar Blanche Ring, who urged that it be added to her new musical **The Defender**. Th audience loved it, and sang along with the chorus (as Blanche thought it would be). It sold lots of sheet music, and it was recorded multiple times, and helped make Blanche a huge star (sadly forgotten today, but her husband’s story was pretty sad, too, when she walked away to become a big name on her own. Kinda like a real life _A Star is Born_. I wrote their story in my book _Lost Wonderland_). The song long outlasted The Defender and Blanche Star. It was used in numerous films, including the 1949 Judy Garland film of the same name. I suspect most people probably haven’t heard the various stanzas, but have heard only the chorus. > **[In the Good Old Summer Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Good_Old_Summer_Time)** > > "In the Good Old Summer Time" is an American Tin Pan Alley song first published in 1902 with music by George Evans and lyrics by Ren Shields. The song is in the public domain. Shields and Evans were at first unsuccessful in trying to sell the song to one of New York's big sheet music publishers. The publishers thought the topic of the song doomed it to be forgotten at the end of the summer season. Blanche Ring, who had helped Evans arrange the number's piano score, was enthusiastic about it and a... ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/10 "2026-08-06T17:16:04Z")
The 1812 Overture. People with some knowledge of it know that Tchaikovsky wrote it to celebrate Russia’s defeat of Napoleon. Everyone else hears the Marseillaise and canons and thinks “French.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/11 "2026-08-06T17:19:45Z")
Grieg’s “Morning Mood” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King” were written as incidental music for Ibsen’s play _Peer Gynt_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/12 "2026-08-06T17:20:57Z")
**My Pony Boy** Another oldie, from 1909. It was soon incorporated into the Broadway musical _Miss Innocence_. It was also incorporated into the Wonderland Park production of _Cinderella_ in the same year, and the sort became a standard. It was frequently played in the soundtrack for westerns and cartoons set in the west. But it continued to have a life – Bing Crosby recorded a version in 1962, and Bruce Springsteen put it on his 1992 album _The Human Touch_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/13 "2026-08-06T17:23:05Z")
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (for the not-a-Christmas-film _Meet Me In St Louis_) We Need A Little Christmas (from the not-a-Christmas-play _Mame_) I can’t say whether they were written specifically to become oft-covered Christmas standards, or just part of the film/play to be forgotten next year, but they are now. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/14 "2026-08-06T17:24:36Z")
Mussorgsky’s “Night On Bald Mountain” was written in the 1800s and was meant to be about a witches’ sabbath on a very real mountain near Kiev. Many decades later it was used as part of Disney’s “Fantasia”, with the orchestra conducted by the brilliant Leopold Stokowski. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/15 "2026-08-06T17:26:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Leopold Leopold! [![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzhkYzlmZTMtNTlkZS00ZDRlLThiYjktOWU4NmEyYWZmZWViXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg) ](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzhkYzlmZTMtNTlkZS00ZDRlLThiYjktOWU4NmEyYWZmZWViXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/16 "2026-08-06T17:26:57Z")
Does anybody hear the can-can dance and think _Orpheus in the Underworld_? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/17 "2026-08-06T17:28:28Z")
I do now, only because our classical station specifically calls it that. So it gets set in my mind. However, when they play Barber of Seville, they do often mention a certain long-haired hare. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/18 "2026-08-06T17:29:41Z")
I assumed this was going to be about songs that reference once-common things. Like Kodachrome, and the payphone in Jim Croce’s _Operator_. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/19 "2026-08-06T17:30:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Mussorgsky’s “Night On Bald Mountain” was written in the 1800s and was meant to be about a witches’ sabbath on a very real mountain near Kiev. Many decades later it was used as part of Disney’s “Fantasia”, with the orchestra conducted by the brilliant Leopold Stokowski. But Fantasia uses it to accompany a cartoon about a witches sabbath on a mountain, so I’m not sure it works for this thread - it’s still got its original association. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186/20 "2026-08-06T17:30:29Z")
We’ve all heard the song ‘Mack the Knife’, covered by various musicians over the years, the most popular of which was Bobby Darin’s 1959 version. Growing up I just thought Darin was the original writer / singer of the swinging murder ballad, but I’d wonder what was up with the names that get called out: _Now Jenny Diver, ho, ho, yeah, Sukey Tawdry_ _Ooh, Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown_ _Oh, the line forms on the right, babe_ _Now that Macky’s back in town_ It seemed like there was something more there. So I eventually looked it up, and the song has an interesting history: It was adapted from a 1928 German musical called _The Three-Penny Opera_, which in turn had adapted the story from a 1727 play called _The Beggar’s Opera_. Those names are a combo of the character names in the plays, and in the case of ‘Lotte Lenya’, the actual name of one of the actresses from the 1928 play. > **[Mack the Knife: The “True” Story Behind the Song | Stephen Basdeo](https://reynolds-news.com/2017/10/28/mack-the-knife-the-true-story-behind-the-song-stephen-basdeo/)** > > By Stephen Basdeo. The popular song “Mack the Knife” was based upon the story of an eighteenth-century highwayman named Captain Macheath. This post traces the literary life of this fict… > **["Mack the Knife:" Who's Who and How They Got There](https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2026/02/mack-knife-whos-who-and-how-they-got.html)** > > A criminally compelling web site featuring professional crime writers and crime fighters. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-that-outlived-what-it-was-originally-associated-with/1032186.md?page=2)