A few months ago I posted a thread asking for help identifying a mystery song that keeps cropping up in the rotation for the Seeburg 1000–the very definition of elevator music–and it’s a neat tune, but I just can’t place it. It was performed by a studio orchestra so it won’t be searchable via Shazam-like services, and my attempts at searching in Musipedia failed.
The song sounds like a catchy show tune or something like that. Unfortunately, nobody quite figured out what it is in that thread.
I have finally captured it: Mystery Song (Soundcloud)
I’ve got this song… somewhere. Now I need to eliminate my other 28,968 tracks to identify it. It definitely has words, and the phrase “mi-re-do-la” is “___ and ___”.
I’m pretty certain that this is a recognizable named tune from some show–the Seeburg library consisted of mainly orchestral versions of contemporary music, ranging from show tunes to the occasional Beatles song, so it is almost certainly a song with a name.
I’m not sure that would be of much use–it’s all un-Shazamable analog media, so they would have to do the same guessing game we are doing here.
There is one difference: if I were to hear it playing on their streaming station, I could say “What was the song playing at time X on date Y” and they might possibly be able to say something like “Song 14 on BA115B” (BAsic collection, record 115; side B). The records themselves don’t list the songs, so it would then be up to whether Seeburg has a record of what songs were on what disc.
But isn’t it more fun to see if the 'Dope can figure it out?
I’d be very surprised if they didn’t. They’re the ones who produced the records, after all. Could be they have some archivists or other people working there that know their collection inside out.
Sure, but Dopers often consult outside sources. And what better source to consult then the, uh, source?
As has been mentioned, it sounds like something from Li’l Abner. The only other show by that composer (Gene de Paul) was “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” And I don’t think it’s from that show.
I don’t know that it is, but don’t forget the possibility that it could be a medley of several popular songs. That may be why people hear parts of various songs in it.
To me, it sounds like an overture from a musical: One of those songs they play before the curtain opens that contains a few bars from a lot of the songs that will be performed during the play.