The brain works in mysterious ways
So the other day my boss sent me and my colleague R this weird PowerPoint thing she'd found somewhere (no idea where -- maybe one of her kids sent it to her), which was about how arabic numerals came to be (turns out, it's all about the angles). I didn't realize it at first, but it had a soundtrack. R sent me an e-mail the next day going, what on earth is that tune? I know it, and I feel like there are words, but ... So I played the thing over again, with the speakers on this time, and I heard a midi of the same four bars over and over, and it was SO FAMILIAR, I knew the tune like the back of my hand and the words were on the tip of my brain, but what was it?
R and I discussed at some length what it might be. She thought it sounded like a hymn tune, maybe German? Maybe Vaughan Williams? I thought it sounded Russian-ish, and that the words would turn out to have to do with marching off somewhere (soldiers? a chain gang?). After most of a day of dealing with this infuriating earworm, I called in the big guns: we figured out how to notate it in solfège, and I typed it out and sent it to my mom.
Who immediately wrote back with "Are you sure it's not minor? Because if it's minor, it sounds like 'Once to Every Man and Nation'."
It was, of course, minor -- I had meant to mention this, but forgot -- and it is indeed "Once to Every Man and Nation" (the tune itself is called "Ebenezer"). Sylvia's mom FTW!
But it occurred to me, not for the first time, that what the world needs is Google for earworms. It's the future, you guys! Where's my giant online interactive Barlow & Morgenstern?
Actually, there is an online interactive Barlow & Morgenstern. Which is really cool. But I want one where I can sing "tum tumpety-tum-tum tum tumpety-tumpty-tum, tum tumpety-tumpty-tum tumpty-tum tum" and the computer will say "But of course! 'Ebenezer'!"
This is what the world needs, you guys.
I mean, that and green energy and tikkun olam.
(I know, I know: Shazam for the iPhone. First I need an iPhone, and then we'll talk.)
R and I discussed at some length what it might be. She thought it sounded like a hymn tune, maybe German? Maybe Vaughan Williams? I thought it sounded Russian-ish, and that the words would turn out to have to do with marching off somewhere (soldiers? a chain gang?). After most of a day of dealing with this infuriating earworm, I called in the big guns: we figured out how to notate it in solfège, and I typed it out and sent it to my mom.
Who immediately wrote back with "Are you sure it's not minor? Because if it's minor, it sounds like 'Once to Every Man and Nation'."
It was, of course, minor -- I had meant to mention this, but forgot -- and it is indeed "Once to Every Man and Nation" (the tune itself is called "Ebenezer"). Sylvia's mom FTW!
But it occurred to me, not for the first time, that what the world needs is Google for earworms. It's the future, you guys! Where's my giant online interactive Barlow & Morgenstern?
Actually, there is an online interactive Barlow & Morgenstern. Which is really cool. But I want one where I can sing "tum tumpety-tum-tum tum tumpety-tumpty-tum, tum tumpety-tumpty-tum tumpty-tum tum" and the computer will say "But of course! 'Ebenezer'!"
This is what the world needs, you guys.
I mean, that and green energy and tikkun olam.
(I know, I know: Shazam for the iPhone. First I need an iPhone, and then we'll talk.)