Can anyone tell me the name of this tune?

[Lionel Mandrake]

I have heard a certain tune a few times in a certain restaurant. Apparently the restaurant has a tape which they play over and over again. Or maybe it's a Muzak channel.

The tune has no vocal part, so I have no verbal clue about the name of the tune.

I can describe the tune in such a way that a musician can play it, but the description is somewhat technical. Please bear with me if I use musical terms you aren't familiar with.

It's a funky jazz tune with straight (not swing) eighth notes. In other words, the eighth notes are not syncopated.

The tune is based on a pentatonic scale, like the first eight bars of "Oh Susannah" -- except that the tune is in a minor key, so it is more like the first eight bars of "Summertime". Any such tune can be played using only the black keys of a piano, and it can be played three different ways using only the white keys.

Using only the black keys, the tune can be played in the key of E-flat Minor.

Using only the white keys, the tune can be played in A Minor, D Minor, or E Minor.

I'll assume the tune is in D Minor. Each letter below stands for an eighth note (a-g, A) or eighth rest (r). ("A" is an octave above "a".)

The first four bars of the tune are:

AfgAfrra cdffdacd ffdacrdr rrrrrrrr

I'd be grateful if someone could tell me the name of this tune.

[Bunny]

1. The theme song to Hawaii 5-0!

Sorry, I was just reading that theme song thread...

[Lionel Mandrake]

4. Nope, that's a different tune.

But it is pentatonic.

[amyrose2712]

2. I asked a guitar teacher he said "I got nothing" that it was a

bit vague. Although, he mostly knows Rock Music, and may just know know a jazz song. Can you be any more specific?

[Lionel Mandrake]

5. There is a song titled "I got nothing",

but that's not the tune I am looking for.

How can I be more specific? AFAIK the original tune could be rock, or jazz, or jazz-rock fusion, or something else. The version I heard was played in a funky jazz style. The tune is not particularly lyrical. I doubt that it was ever a song.

If you would like to play the tune on a guitar, you might prefer to do so in the key of A Minor (so that the lowest note is an E).

[amyrose2712]

8. No, that wasn't a song title-He said he tried and "got nothin" sorry I tried.

He said it sounded vaguely familiar but couldn't place it. The he explain pentatonic to me and charged me 17 buck. :hi:

[Lionel Mandrake]

9. Thanks for trying.

Wikipedia has a good article on the pentatonic scale:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic_scale

[7wo7rees]

3. There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold...

Stop me if you've heard this.

[Lionel Mandrake]

6. Does she have a daughter?

Does she live on a farm, and does a traveling salesman stay overnight there? ;-)

[TuxedoKat]

7. Have

you asked the restaurant if they know what songs are on the tape?

[Lionel Mandrake]

10. I asked a waiter and a few other employees.

None of them had a clue. :-(

[TuxedoKat]

11. Hmmm

If you are a regular there, maybe they would consider making a copy for you if you supplied the cassette tape or CD?

[amyrose2712]

12. If you ever figure it out let me know, now I am just curious.nt

[Lionel Mandrake]

13. roger, wilco

as they say in the military (or so I'm told, never having served). :patriot:

[jobycom]

22. I've never heard Roger by Wilco, but they do other interesting stuff. :)

[BlueJazz]

14. I played it on Piano and then Sax but got nothing although the first

5 notes remind me (slightly) of a movement in "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in A minor"

sorry...

[Lionel Mandrake]

15. Thank you.

The rhythm is tricky. I sang along with the tune in the restaurant a few times, and I hope I got it right.

It's a very short tune. The possibilities for improvisation are not immediately obvious. I think the tune is like Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon" in that respect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejaumVVHAUQ

I haven't heard anything like this tune in Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in A minor". But I have only parts of "Rhapsody", not the complete work. What I have heard is very rich, including some quotations, e.g., of "Dies Irae":

[Enrique]

16. Never gonna give you up

by Rick Astley. you're welcome in advance.

[Lionel Mandrake]

18. No, that's not it.

Thanks anyway.

[rug]

17. March of the Toreadors

or maybe Funkytown.

[Lionel Mandrake]

19. Nope

I know the Toreador song from Carmen, and that's not it.

I listened to "Funkytown" on YouTube, and that's not it, either.

[trackfan]

20. Is this it?

http://www.martinigod.com/du.wma

[Lionel Mandrake]

21. I don't know.

I haven't been able to play that file.

What does the filename extension "wma" stand for, and what kind of software is needed for it?

[trackfan]

24. That's a Windows Media file.

Let me see if I can convert it to some other formats.

[Lionel Mandrake]

28. And here I am using a Mac.

No wonder I couldn't play the Windows Media file.

I'll try it on my Evil Empire machine. ;-)

[trackfan]

25. Here it is as a .wav and a .mid file

http://www.martinigod.com/du.mid

http://www.martinigod.com/du.wav

[Lionel Mandrake]

26. Yes, that's what I think I heard.

The .mid file sounds like a piano, and the last note is interrupted (as if a recorder were switched off too soon).

The .wav file sounds different, like a synthesizer in a very live room.

Thanks for playing the tune, however you did it. :)

[Lionel Mandrake]

29. Now that I have crossed over to the Dark Side

(since I'm using a Windows machine),
no .wma file can resist my powers.

This version also sounds like a piano.

[trackfan]

30. There is kind of a quirky rhythm to the phrase, like a displaced bar line.

In that respect, it sounds like something ala Dave Brubeck, who often plays tricks with rhythm and mensuration.

[Lionel Mandrake]

32. Exactly.

A phrase that lasts only 3/4 of a bar is repeated.

The high notes of that phrase (F's in your audio track) were accented in the performance I heard. The accents emphasized the quirkiness of the rhythm.

[Bake]

23. Buy an iPhone. Install the Shazam app.

It will "listen" to any recorded song and identify by title, artist, and even let you go straight to the iTunes store to buy it.

It's a fabulous app.

:hi:

Bake

[Lionel Mandrake]

27. I have a BlackBerry.

I know, it's like having BetaMax just before VHS took over. But the damn things are expensive, and I'm not about to buy another smart phone any time soon.

I hear that Shazam is a Marvelous App. :evilgrin: (Couldn't resist.)

[Bake]

31. Don't konw if Shazam is available for other platforms

But damn I love it! Use it all the time!!

Nice play on words, by the way! +1

:hi:

Bake

[Lionel Mandrake]

33. I don't know, either.

Last time I checked, Shazam was not available for BlackBerries

(or is it BlackBerrys?).       :hi:

[eppur_se_muova]

34. You need this ...

http://openlibrary.org/works/OL2624382W/Notating_music_with_ordinary_typewriter_characters_a_plaine_and_easie_code_system_for_musicke)

8a'fga'f__a/cdffdacd/ffdac_d_/1_/

(IIRC -- can't actually recall what was used for a rest, so I used _ .)

This would provide an easy way to exchange snippets of tunes between computer programs, including searches -- I'm sure commercial programs already have their standards for this, though. Maybe it could be revived as a non-propietary format.

If I had a copy, I'd upload it to Project Gutenburg ...