# Why does Reminiscing sound like a Glenn Miller tune? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814 "2005-10-18T21:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/1 "2005-10-18T21:58:20Z")
I keep trying to figure out what sounds so evocative of Glenn Miller when I hear the Little River Band playing and singing _Reminiscing._ There is something in it that sounds like something from the Glenn Miller band, but I can’t quite spot it. Is it the orchestration? There are a couple stretches that I think are harmonically lifted from a Miller tune, but I can’t place it. There’s a pretty strong trope in there, but my ear isn’t good enough to ID it. Any help? ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/2 "2005-10-18T23:49:53Z")
I don’t know why it sounds like Glenn Miller to you but he is mentioned in the lyrics (2nd verse): > [@](#): > > That’s the way it began, we were hand in hand > Glenn Miller’s Band was better than before > We yelled and screamed for more ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/3 "2005-10-18T23:50:38Z")
BTW: This song was a favorite of John Lennon! ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/4 "2005-10-19T00:31:06Z")
This composition is head and shoulders better than anything on the radio at the time. It was so different, it couldn’t help but stick out like a sore thumb. It’s instantly memorable. You’d have to be a pretty hard-ass person to dislike it. Its chords are not just majors and minors and sevenths. There are augmented and diminished and suspended chords, and ingenious key shifts, chord inversions and resolutions all over the place. I believe that they were trying to write something beyond the pop norm, that had a strong feeling of yesteryear. They succeeded! I have to go listen to it now! ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/5 "2005-10-19T00:39:12Z")
Yep. Goosebumps! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/6 "2005-10-19T00:46:10Z")
Is there a clarinet melody backed with a sax section anywhere? That was Miller’s identifier. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/7 "2005-10-19T00:55:45Z")
Right after the second line of the verse quoted above, there is a measure of sax section that comes in playing a tight-harmony riff. I can’t make out a clarinet in it, but there might be one. It’s the only sax part in the whole song. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/8 "2005-10-19T01:32:12Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Right after the second line of the verse quoted above, there is a measure of sax section that comes in playing a tight-harmony riff. I can’t make out a clarinet in it, but there might be one. It’s the only sax part in the whole song. The clarinet would have the lead, or melody part. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/9 "2005-10-19T01:44:41Z")
Yes, I know (being a Miller fan and collector). But here, the instrument in front sounds pretty much indistinguishable from a saxophone. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/10 "2005-10-19T01:49:55Z")
The opening notes of that song sound the same to me as the opening notes of the _I Love Lucy_ theme song. It makes me crazy. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/11 "2005-10-19T02:14:14Z")
We try to move questions about the arts into Cafe Society. So, that’s where you are. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/12 "2005-10-19T05:02:31Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > BTW: This song was a favorite of John Lennon! I believe it. I wonder if “Grow Old With Me” was his attempt to write something in a similar vein. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/13 "2005-10-19T14:02:21Z")
I appreciate the comments here, and am glad to see that there are so many others who appreciate this remarkable little piece. I think the Glenn Miller lyric is an inside reference to its own quoting of Miller. The specific spot I’m referring to is in the second half of the first line of the bridge, where there’s a triplet figure. It sounds like it’s lifted directly from a Miller piece, but I just can’t place it. “‘Hurry, don’t be late, I can hardly wait,’ \*\*I said to myself, ‘When we’re old…’” \*\* Is it from Moonlight Serenade? Argh. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/14 "2005-10-19T14:23:43Z")
Yes, that specific sequence of notes is from “Moonlight Serenade.” Intentional? Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-reminiscing-sound-like-a-glenn-miller-tune/326814/15 "2005-10-19T14:27:49Z")
Great, thanks. Yeah, as I was listening to it while writing this post, I thought I finally narrowed it down myself. It must be intentional. How could it not be? Remarkable piece. xo, C.