Posts Tagged ‘Pachelbel’s Canon’

Mika: Lollipop Girl

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

[UPDATE: Scroll Down]

Danger! Extreme Earworm Warning!

[link if the embed doesn't work.]
The animation and beat here are great, but the lyrics are mildly toxic. If a rash develops, discontinue use and consult a physician.

The tune in the chorus reminds me of something which I can’t quite pull up — I think a hymn. Slower, of course, and very different lyrics, but either a hymn or at least something classical.

I’ll update if I can identify it.

[update, but not for the chorus]
There’s a line at about 0:50 that sounds to me like “I went walking in my momma one day”, but the lyric sites report this as “I want walking in with my momma”. I can’t hear the “with”, and it doesn’t make any sense to me. The animation shows a huge goddess-momma, a Mother Earth, and no matter what the official lyrics say, I’m going to interpret that line as “I was walking in the World….”

Via Ambient Irony’s trip along the path to ostinato.


The song Mika’s “Lollipop” chorus reminded me of turned out to be “Mary’s Boy Child”, a Caribbean Christmas carol. Not a hymn, exactly, and certainly not classical. Here’s a version performed by M. Boney:

The tune is not exact, I think, but close enough to nag.

No, I suspect no plagiarism here; something more along the lines of Spider Robinson’s Melancholy Elephants.

I grew up listening to the version by the De Paur Chorus on their album Calypso Christmas, but regrettably I can’t find it on Youtube. I ripped my own digital copy from the horribly worn family vinyl, then hamfistedly scoured it of snaps, crackles, and pops. It’s a great album, great good fun, and I’m thrilled to find it on Amazon. I plan to post this, and another track or two, as soon as the nice clean new copy arrives.


One last observation: “What’s the big idea?” she asks, hands on her hips. Watch the first second or two carefully: she stumbles into the frame backwards, as if pushed.


No, this is the last observation:
At about 2:08, a wolf spirit swallows Lolli-girl. She recites the “Went walking with my momma one day…” lines, and we are then taken on a tour of wolf internal anatomy, starting in the abdomen and moving up into the chest, with an all-singing, all-dancing microbe chorus.

[updated] How Music Works; The Canon

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

[Welcome, Anchoress readers! And, uh, yes, I wish I understood how WordPress decides which text to push out with the trackback links; of course this one would emphasize the "porn" reference.]

Via The Anchoress, a TED presentation on, among other things, how music works. We all know the Internet is for porn, but after that, it’s for TED.

As The Anchoress, says, “I know, I know, some of you say music is nothing to you…but – go watch it – this isn’t really about music….Really, go. You’ll like. Trust me.”

She’s right. You will.


And via Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony, something that’s been rattling around in my head for a few weeks, but I haven’t been able to find: Norwegian Recycling’s “How Six Songs Collide”.

[Direct You-Tube link]

After glancing over the Youtube comments, it turns out that Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”, the first song in this mash-up, has been speeded up a bit from the original, I think to match the tempo of the other songs used. Apparently, a lot of folks like the speedier version.

My comments over at Pixy’s:

I have read that this collision works because the source songs are all essentially riffs on Pachelbel’s “Canon in D-Major”.

For whatever reason, it does work, beautifully, and I’m bookmarking it so I can’t lose it again.

And yes, I know about the cellist’s rant against the “Canon”. Don’t care, I still love it. Would that all cliches were this beautiful.

I first heard the Canon while visiting a friend in her co-ed dorm. We were talking (no, talking, really, honest), and I slowly became aware of this gorgeous music seeping in from the hall. I had to stop the conversation and find the guy who was playing it and ask him what it was….

And I’ll note that the “Collision” has canon-like aspects to it, where the different songs overlap each other.