# WTF moments in Muzak **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673 "2010-03-08T00:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/41 "2010-03-15T10:18:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The [version I heard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blMJ-fWM-ds) when I looked this up on YouTube has him just singing the tenor part most of the time while a choir behind him sings the real thing. WTF is right. I mean, at least sing the melody line. It was in a department store (during Christmas, of course) and there was no choir that I could tell, just instrumentals filling in the parts. It did sound very odd. Maybe the environs filtered out the choir. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/42 "2010-03-15T11:27:02Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Yep…usually, if I figure it out right away, I realize that it’s tied in to whatever they’re talking about around that time, or a commentary on it. Neat. 😛 (NPR interstitial music) I was surprised once hearing an orchestral version of Siouxsie and the Banshee’s “Hong Kong Garden” on NPR. It actually was a bit out of place, IIRC following a story about Taiwan rather than Hong Kong or China, and the song itself is actually about racism in the UK. Most of the interstitial music I hear on there is an instrumental portion of a normal song rather than a new rendition, so I looked it up, and it turned out to be taken from a remix of the song as opposed to an easy-listening recording. Weirdest Muzak I ever heard is one I think I’ve posted on here before, an easy-listening version of a song that was already pretty easy-listening: [Candy Dulfer’s “Lily Was Here”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhSx8uKdD5o) (link to original version’s video). Even-easier-listening, I suppose. It sounded as though Dave Stewart’s acoustic guitar was replaced with a synth, Candy Dulfer’s alto sax had been replaced with a flute, and the already slow Casio beat scaled back and quieted. Heard it at a Turkish restaurant that was otherwise playing vaguely Asian music. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/43 "2010-03-16T18:38:18Z")
I was in a store with a friend when we realized that the Muzak was playing Warren Zevon’s _Excitable Boy_. Very, very disturbing. For those who don’t know the song, the lyrics include such light and carefree passages as: _He took little Susie to the Junior Prom Excitable boy, they all said and he raped her and killed her, then he took her home Excitable boy, they all said Well, he’s just an excitable boy_ ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/44 "2010-03-16T20:17:59Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > There’s a Hobby Lobby near me. Hobby Lobby is a craft store, but they are also the type of place which tells you on the door to the store that they are closed on Sunday so the employees may attend church. > > Yesterday, I heard a song whose title I’m not sure of on what I think was a banjo–Nice traditional Christian Hymn, played slowly on a banjo. > > It’s not the first time I’ve been there and suddenly recognized a tune and had that moment of “What? Muzak isn’t (usually) overtly Christian. Oh, yeah, Hobby Lobby’s Muzak often is.” I thought of Hobby Lobby when I read the OP. As far as I know all of their Muzak is versions of Christian hymns/praise songs. I remember last time being in there realizing that I was humming “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673.md?page=2)