# name that song - Adaptation commercial / new VW commercial **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060 "2003-01-07T00:52:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Candlemas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Candlemas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candlemas)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/1 "2003-01-07T00:52:35Z")
Please help. I need to know the name and artist of two songs. 1. The song that accompanies the commercial for the movie “Adaptation”. 2. The song that scores the new VW commercial where a sullen twenty-something office worker walks around his office. As he walks, the commercial edits from one day to the next but barely interrupts his stride. At one point he sees a young lady in a neighboring building. Please help. ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/2 "2003-01-07T01:03:02Z")
The VW song is [Mr Blue Sky](http://www.geocities.com/holidaysfun/bluesky.html) by ELO. I can’t help with the Adaptation song. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/3 "2003-01-07T01:10:59Z")
It’s me, I mean, it’s the same song. I checked the IMDB and did not find a soundtrack listing, but it’s definitely me, I mean, the same song. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/4 "2003-01-07T06:43:10Z")
As others have already said, the Volkswagen commercial uses ELO’s _Mr. Blue Sky_. For anyone who wants to see a soundtrack listing, though, just go to VW’s own [web page](http://www.vw.com/commercials/index.html) for their commercials, hover your mouse over “Bubble” (the title of this piece), and you’ll see the band named as Jeff Lynne, who is ELO’s lead guy. I don’t know about the commercial for _Adaptation_, but the music behind its theatrical trailer is [_Under Pressure_](http://tinyurl.com/45vl), a collaborative effort from Queen and David Bowie. This song also happens to be in the soundtrack for _Grosse Pointe Blank_, and you can hear a snippet of it on [Amazon](http://tinyurl.com/45vk) if you have the RealAudio player. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/5 "2003-01-07T08:32:13Z")
As the man himself has pointed out, it’s the same song for both ads… “Mr. Blue Sky” by ELO. I wonder if ELO sales have picked up in the last few months? They have some ad companies to thank, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Candlemas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Candlemas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candlemas)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/6 "2003-01-08T00:04:25Z")
Thanks all. I feel much better. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/7 "2003-01-08T21:16:10Z")
ELO? Really? It sounded like something The Beatles might have recorded. (Which I thought would have been terribly appropriate, considering that this is the VW **Beetle** Convertible they’re advertising.) ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/8 "2003-01-08T22:46:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*ELO? Really? It sounded like something The Beatles might have recorded. > > \*\* Hee. I’d say a good 50% of the ELO catalogue sounds like something the Beatles might have recorded. (I personally think the “On the Third Day” album has a definite “Abbey Road” feel to it.) Jeff Lynne was a huge Beatles fan and later worked with George Harrison in the Travelling Willburys and his solo work. (And recently helped to complete Harrison’s posthumous album: “Brainwashed.”) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/9 "2003-01-08T22:57:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by voguevixen \* > \*\*Hee. I’d say a good 50% of the ELO catalogue sounds like something the Beatles might have recorded. (I personally think the “On the Third Day” album has a definite “Abbey Road” feel to it.) Jeff Lynne was a huge Beatles fan and later worked with George Harrison in the Travelling Willburys and his solo work. (And recently helped to complete Harrison’s posthumous album: “Brainwashed.”) \*\* Jeff Lynne readily admits he is heavily influenced by the Beatles. John Lennon once referred to ELO as the “Son of the Beatles” and said that had the Beatles continued recording, they would have ended up sounding like ELO. Go back a few more years and listen to The Move, the group headed by Roy Wood and later added Lynne, and you’ll think you’re listening to the Beatles big time. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-that-song-adaptation-commercial-new-vw-commercial/147060/10 "2003-01-08T23:03:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by voguevixen \* > \*\*Hee. I’d say a good 50% of the ELO catalogue sounds like something the Beatles might have recorded. (I personally think the “On the Third Day” album has a definite “Abbey Road” feel to it.) Jeff Lynne was a huge Beatles fan and later worked with George Harrison in the Travelling Willburys and his solo work. (And recently helped to complete Harrison’s posthumous album: “Brainwashed.”) \*\* I read somewhere (don’t remember where) that Jeff Lynne’s vision for ELO was to pick up where the Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus” left off. Happy