# The 2000 year old ear worm **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746 "2015-04-15T16:23:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/1 "2015-04-15T16:23:18Z")
Lately I’ve been listening to Nathaniel Johnstone’s Antikythera Mechanism and today I got a bit curious about the last track, [Epitaph](https://nathanieljohnstone.bandcamp.com/track/epitaph). It turns out that song is, in essence, the oldest complete music composition (notation and lyrics) known to exist; it’s based on the text and notation on the [Seikilos stele](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph) and that just about blows my mind. On the Wikipedia entry there’s a Greek and lire version of the original, it’s beautiful, short, soothing, evocative and all that makes it a very effective ear worm… I’ve been humming and whistling it throughout the day. I’ve always been a late adopter for new music, but I have to say, this one takes the cake. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/2 "2015-04-15T17:25:55Z")
I’ve heard it said that something like 99% of the music ever composed by man is lost - because it predates modern or even middle-ages notation. I suspect the figure approaches unity for dance. ETA - envisions Mycenean band banging out “Satisfaction”… ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/3 "2015-04-15T19:20:40Z")
Once you know the tune, it is rather catchy. 🙂 I first encountered it while studying music history at school. ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/4 "2015-04-16T00:16:40Z")
Thank you… ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/5 "2015-04-16T00:54:34Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Lately I’ve been listening to Nathaniel Johnstone’s Antikythera Mechanism and today I got a bit curious about the last track, [Epitaph](https://nathanieljohnstone.bandcamp.com/track/epitaph). That song reminds me a bit (verse part only) of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” The piece at the wikipedia article does not, though. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/6 "2015-04-16T01:23:23Z")
> [@bup](#): > > That song reminds me a bit (verse part only) of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” > > The piece at the wikipedia article does not, though. Is that opening chord progression from 0:10-0:30 (in countless pop songs) part of the original? Or something added by modern musicians? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/7 "2015-04-16T01:32:45Z")
And I can’t be the only one expecting this when I clicked on this thread: [Mel Brooks’ 2000 Year Old Man - National Anthem for Cave 76](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIhVR2OolWk) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/8 "2015-04-16T01:36:09Z")
Hank Green did a good version of this song [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxlste3JucU). ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/9 "2015-04-16T02:08:47Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > And I can’t be the only one expecting this when I clicked on this thread: > > [Mel Brooks’ 2000 Year Old Man - National Anthem for Cave 76](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIhVR2OolWk) LOL. You were not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/10 "2015-04-16T03:39:49Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Is that opening chord progression from 0:10-0:30 (in countless pop songs) part of the original? Or something added by modern musicians? The intro is modern, the original starts at around 0:35 and it’s repeated in one way or another four times. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/11 "2015-04-16T03:45:28Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’ve heard it said that something like 99% of the music ever composed by man is lost - because it predates modern or even middle-ages notation. > > I suspect the figure approaches unity for dance. > > ETA - envisions Mycenean band banging out “Satisfaction”… I would say that a lot of music is lost today too, improvisations that don’t get recorded or repeated; The Who had to get a bootleg recording of Amercian Woman so they could play it again, because it came out of some time filling jam they improvised during a concert. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/12 "2015-04-16T04:45:11Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > I would say that a lot of music is lost today too, improvisations that don’t get recorded or repeated; The Who had to get a bootleg recording of Amercian Woman so they could play it again, because it came out of some time filling jam they improvised during a concert. Guess Who and the Who aren’t the same band.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2000-year-old-ear-worm/717746/13 "2015-04-16T05:13:27Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Guess Who and the Who aren’t the same band.😛 Whooops… that should teach me not to post on the way out to work. :smack: Anyway, you guessed who it was.