And there is quite a bit more to it (“TSZ”) than just the opening chords and the tympani.
I remember hearing this in one sketch about the “Church police”
Here is a slightly better sounding version:And did those feet
This hymn/poem provided the title for the movie “Chariots of Fire”, one of my all time favorites. It’s the hymn the congregation sings at the end of the memorial service, in the closing moments of the film.
How about the theme to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Turns out it’s an Eagles tune, Journey of the Sorcerer, which I was happy to be able to get from the iTunes music store.
In the book of Hitchhiker’s radio scripts, Douglas Adams mentions that many people wrote to the BBC, wondering what that theme music was, and were surprised to learn that they already had it in their record collections.
Anyone who grew up watching old Warner Brothers cartoons is familiar with a whole repertoire of classical music, even if they don’t realize it. (How many people know the “early morning music” in those cartoons is from Grieg’s Peer Gynt, for example?)
It’s been in a million commercials over the last five years, so just about everyone recognizes Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing,” even if they only know it as “that swing song with the drum solo.”
Sticking to the same era, everyone recognizes Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood.” And most folks have heard “Mood Indigo” and “Take the A Train” by Duke Ellington in some commercial/TV show/movie or another.
Allmusic.com confirms it – BST never recorded “Vehicle”. The David Clayton Thomas sound-alike on “Vehicle” is a young Jim Peterik, who later fronted the '80s rock group Survivor.
Jerusalem is practically a second National Anthem for many in England. It’s sung at the Last Night of the Proms, at political party annual conferences as well as at church.
Names of a bunch of instrumentals people have heard, but may not know the names of:
“Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu” - Domenico Modugno, better known as “Volare”. “Volare” later became the de facto title of the song.
“Theme from ‘A Summer Place’” - Percy Faith
“Theme from 'Summer of '54” - Peter Nero
“Fire on High” - ELO
“I Robot” - [Dr. Evil air-quotes]The Alan Parsons Project[/Dr. Evil air-quotes]
“Frankenstein” - Edgar Winter Group
“La Grange” - ZZ Top (has some lyrics)
“Bouree” - Jethro Tull
“Rise” - Herb Alpert
…
Speaking of Ellington … you know that song “You Can Feel It All Over” by Stevie Wonder? It’s actually titled “Sir Duke”.
How about Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up, Pt. 1”? I heard that song forever before I knew the title. The title appears in the song, but not until the end of the song, and it is sung fairly indistinctly on a backing vocal track.
Here’s another good one I’m surprised hasn’t been mentioned yet – “Valotte” by Julian (not John) Lennon, heard frequently on light-rock stations:
Sitting on a pebble by the river playing guitar
Wond’ring if we’re really ever gonna get that far
Do you know there’s something wrong?
'Cause I’ve felt it all along
I’ve gotta take exception to this one. Anyone who’s ever been in a high scool or college marching band recognizes the tune of “Vehicle”, even if we don’t know the words.
I knew that it was written for the movie – most people who know it’s a song are people who heard it in the movie first (gah! I’ve met a lot of people who thought the words came later!).
That it was written by a 14-yr-old is news to me… Sounds like the kid had a real fun time in highschool.
Todd Rundgren - I Saw The Light (people often think it’s called In Your Eyes)
Kiki Dee - Amoureuse (not keen on the song but it fits this thread)
Allman Bros - Jessica (known in the UK as ‘the music from that car programme’)
:smack:
“Volare” is not an instrumental … I know, I know.
That’s the point of the OP – people hear the song, either on an oldies station, classic rock radio, or in a marching band … so the song has high familiarity. But few know the name of the song. Marching band members presumably know from looking at their sheet music, but other people … I don’t know.
I know I heard that song for years and didn’t know the name of it.
Damn! I’m on a roll!
:smack:
That would be “Summer of '42”, Bob.
What program(me)?
Thanks! I was meaning to start a thread to ask what this music was!
That “circus music” is actually called Entry of the Gladiators, by Julius Fucik, which is also the most carefully-spelled name in history.
The “Keystone Cops music” is probably the Sabre Dance, by Aram Khatchaturian, which is nearly impossible to spell
Cheap Trick, “The Flame” (Wherever you go . . .)
The Temptations (I think), “Can’t Help Myself” (Sugar pie honey bunch . . .)
I always liked that song “Light of the Love That I Found”…
Turns out it’s actually called Fool in the Rain, by Led Zeppelin.
I ain’t gonna take the time to do the research right now, but I gots a feeling there’s more than a few Zeppelin tunes that this OP applies to…
Actually, of the top of my head, I know D’yer Mak’er would qualify — “Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, you don’t have to go-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh”. Hell, most DJs don’t even pronounce the song title right. (Should sound like “Jamaica” - it’s a play on words!)
And that one called Immigrant Song [sup] —Hmph. Bloody Vikings…[/sup]
Thanks loads for this info. If I’m thinking of the right music, f’r instance, it plays in that cartoon where all Porky’s chickens get caught up listening to “FRANKIE!” It plays at the beginning, when all the hens are being conveyor-belted through the egg factory, right? Heh, I’ve got a set of “Looney Tunes” sound effects for my OS, & this music plays whenever I manually run the vertical scroll bars up & down. Hilarious enough that I never get tired of it.
Oh, and the Looney Tunes theme music is actually called The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down.
I came to this thread to post just that song, but Tygr beat me to it.
When I read the post that Tygr wrote/it made me mad mad mad
I was quite surprised to learn that John Lennon’s “So this is Christmas” is actually named “Happy Christmas (war is over)”.