a selfish inquiry

[xoxos]

a loquacious mood granted, i am sincere in this inquiry, which is probably only suitably placed with western musicians who think "moonlight serenade" is quality.

i've had this song.. it's not my song, except it is. because i have always known it, except no one else knows it. i've spent almost 4 decades thinking it was one of the big hits of the 40's.

given this (unusual?) precondition, i ask:

can you tell me, why, to you, this isn't a great song? in fact one of the greatest melodies in existence?

i understand subjectivity.. this song is so deep for me, though my perception of it's the harmonic depth inhibits my understanding of the lack of reaction. i said it

a crude rendering (i've posted it through the years)
http://www.breathcube.com/mysterytune-xoxos.mp3

it's a ~dowdy rendering (how do you do "moonlight serenade" in vst??) and there's confused bits where i chucked a couple of the different harmonies for parts on top of each other.

i guess i'm just inviting people to say "whatever, it's not significant to me" and leave me scratching my head.. that would be more comfortable than unanimous agreement..

so.. you know harmony and melody.. it's perfect.. transcends genre.. it seems so much more contained, unified, self-generating than your pedestrian melody.

why is this not just about the best tune in existence, why don't you see that? be creative if you want.. i wonder why other musicians don't instantly see it for what it is and play it??

[td71]

[jancivil]

it's a very trite melody. it's sub-cowboy jingle quality. with a suitable arrangement, you could convince me more, MAYBE.

the arrangement is quite dodgy in several places, this sort of tune rather demands a clear voice-leading in the harmony, and your subversion here, I just don't think works but about 10% of the time. The Turnaround at about 0:23 is successful, for instance. but right at ca. 27 secs, that voice-leading is atrocious, and you do a similar or same thing when it repeats. it detracts from my enjoyment of the cute if amazingly banal tune - and I'm not being real anal I don't think - pretty badly...

I don't like the thin tones at all, but that isn't about the tune.

you asked!

oh, PS, does NOT transcend genre. transgresses ALMOST but not quite. IE: it just messes with it.

[Cordelia]

As a melody it reminds me a bit of "Blue Moon". I like the tune, I like it's sweetness. It's not earth-shatteringly new, but with a delicate, sympathetic arrangement, I think it could be something I would like to hear.

The greatest melody ever? No, it doesn't grab my heart that way. But in the vein of "You Belong To Me" it could be memorably lovely.

If this is the tune that has been in your head for four decades, well then lucky you. My head is not always so kind.

[jancivil]

could work well in a cowboy cartoon if you used some better instruments.

it is a *cute* pedestrian melody. needs the cute pedestrian clothing. as a naked tune...

she's cute! learn to dress her. she's not ready for town, methinx

[xoxos]

i believe you've made that comparison before, cordelia i see it working in genres for swingy ballads eg. 50's, cowboy.

jan i like 29s :O

harmonies are conjectured (and a mess, eg. at the height of the bridge should be in different modes at different repeats, i squished them all into one so it wouldn't be a long mp3) it will take me years to do it justice.. massive chords haven't been a part of my erudition.

it's why i keep trying to give it away. it's not my song. maybe a past life or someone at my cradle, or a spirit that thinks it can use me (which is why i'd love to find someone who will record a sensitive version)

forget the thin tones.. if you can't hear it in ellingtonian crescendos you're not hearing the real song take the melody, slow it down from dowdy/cute to swoony, and dress it in melty heart busting passion 40's chords (my weird voice leading is just my accent, you might have to surgically extract the tune..)

[Cordelia]

if you can't hear it in ellingtonian crescendos you're not hearing the real song take the melody, slow it down from dowdy/cute to swoony, and dress it in melty heart busting passion 40's chords

I can hear that, xoxos. I want to hear it for real, though. Think you'll ever finish the arrangement?

[xoxos]

maybe when i'm old. i've got loads of stuff to do before i can compose music again (eg. moving somewhere quiet)

i sure would love it if blah blah blah

[jancivil]

i believe you've made that comparison before, cordelia i see it working in genres for swingy ballads eg. 50's, cowboy.

jan i like 29s :O

harmonies are conjectured (and a mess, eg. at the height of the bridge should be in different modes at different repeats, i squished them all into one so it wouldn't be a long mp3) it will take me years to do it justice.. massive chords haven't been a part of my erudition.

it's why i keep trying to give it away. it's not my song. maybe a past life or someone at my cradle, or a spirit that thinks it can use me (which is why i'd love to find someone who will record a sensitive version)

forget the thin tones.. if you can't hear it in ellingtonian crescendos you're not hearing the real song take the melody, slow it down from dowdy/cute to swoony, and dress it in melty heart busting passion 40's chords (my weird voice leading is just my accent, you might have to surgically extract the tune..)

Well, the tune does suggest something happening in the harmony, but what you have here is a tonic, a turnaround, another, botched turnaround, and some vague things which I couldn't even describe.

I can hear a couple things; at this tempo, the movie is moonlight at the OK Corral, gay cowboy romantic moment.

At the slower thing, swoony strings I'm sure, but those sappy Hollywood changes, would be a tricky-ass reharmonization task, because the tune sticks by I so closely; so that means a sort of rewrite.

I don't remember if I even got to the bridge. If you're GIVING it away, I might someday take it. Arranging it FOR you, would require moolah.

[sloworm]

its pretty.

no melody will ever be universally the greatest, eh? why broach the question out of curiousity?

[xoxos]

because it's disturbing.

imagine you go to your pa and say "hey pa when is my brother billy coming back from football?" and your pa says "what? you don't have a brother billy" except you'd spent yesterday making plasticene animals with him.

i don't have this experience with other pieces of music (although sometimes a melody will give me a distinct atlantis feeling.. eg. the chorus of the smith's "stop me")

i'm a clairaudient medium.. most places i go, i can hear spirits and animals, and the things i hear are often corroborated.. future events, unknowns. not anything i can convince you of.. so i'm saying "this is my experience."

which is why jan's cowboy statements are "hitting home.."

i have (or had) attracted a "troublemaker," (for starters...) an old spirit that tries to find receptive people to live out it's failed dreams, which i picked up in this country, so maybe it's an old cowboy ghost. beats me, i only know what i see and hear, and that isn't always completely informative.

so i experience this song, which by any rate is at least a charming melody.. as being a profound sweeping catharsis feeling that doesn't go anywhere. catharsii do not last for years, right, or they'd lose context as catharsii. (if it's "-es" not "-ii" forgive)

the verse is ~demure and a bit pathetic, the other part with the building progression (and yes jan there's notes all over the place.. i shouldn't have layered 10 ideas on top of each other - and it's sax and horns, not strings.. though i'm wondering if that's interpretation of something more geographic as you suggest) is the undertow.

i don't know. i don't really have a good answer for you. there's a spirit in this song for me, and i want it to be free. i'm not really into the idea of "amazing best important thing" this subscribes to. i do think the right kind of musician could give this song peace.

afa giving it away.. whatever is in this song wants to live. it's a little bit of a creepy experience, but i'm receptive to it out of concordance.. i do think it's a robust sequence potentially useful to those who are effected by music :p oc this could be a "suggestion."

i'd love to hear it done, not as much as i'd love to find a home for it. befriend away.. though i think jan you run a bit more sophisticated (though it is certainly beyond my reach). (note - i did get a pm from someone else in the thread expressing interest, so perhaps it's taken care of)

[jancivil]

it does have a sort of detached quality, which may be what you mean by 'not pedestrian'.
as far as what a music critic would call a thing, this is quite pedestrian, by that language.

it's a clarinet line, as far as orchestration; supported by some tinkly things, like glockenspiel, celesta, add acc'ding to taste. there's a trick I learned a long time ago that would apply here: clarinets pitched higher than alto sax, @ the octave where harmonizing don't apply.

it could be on top of a bed of (muted; harmonics) violas etc, or a limited sax choir (no baris, one tenor); trumpets/bones would overwhelm - would be hard to get this robust enough to cut. french horns. no kidding, you have to know from weight in these cases.


NB: as a melodic SHAPE, contour, it's not the best, tbh. that's by way of giving perspective, objectively, not to be mean or cutting. 'to be honest'

there's nothing wrong with a banal melody, most are. I have one of the most banal tunes you can make.
I dressed her REAL pretty though, which is de rigeur on this planet.


I would take a long time with it, and if it did ever come to fruition, it wouldn't be soon.
I'd be all commercial with the chart, and I'm probably too stupid to actually follow thru.

[xoxos]

i cannot relate to your perception of contour

glockenspiels..??! like i said.. "too sophisticated.."

jan your last track was all foreplay. technically articulate.. with ease and assurance.. bewildering and confusing to some

[xoxos]

I'm probably too stupid to actually follow thru.

if that's what you're interested in, i bet "coming round the mountain" would go like a bomb in these modern synthpop genres. (don't know if they do the "she'll be eating black bananas" verse in the states)

[jancivil]

i cannot relate to your perception of contour

glockenspiels..??! like i said.. "too sophisticated.."

jan your last track was all foreplay. technically articulate.. with ease and assurance.. bewildering and confusing to some

yeah, it keeps stopping don't it. I'm a real tease. everything's too brief, they say. leave 'em wanting more... and that's the Trix of the trade silly rabbitz.

listen to it on phones, there is a LOT of detail in that orchestration. no glock, but some good chinese blocks n stuff.

here's a truly banal melody (then some other bizness), gussied up in best finery (speaking of remembered tunes from the cosmik database, simplest of folk melodie):

Elevade/Bild