The Villain's Theme

Well, the mystery has been solved, as least, it seems so. Once again, my friend Buffy has saved the day. You may remember her sleuthing skills from the mystery of the Infernal Gallup. Now, she's helped us figure out what the hell that spooky, sneaky cartoon music is. A ringtone of the song is listed as "Cartoon Creeping Music" at AudioSparx. The real title turns out to be an appropriately-named composition called The Villain's Theme, and Amazon.Com credits it to Al Weber (and his Repetitious 88 Keys). However, the packaging on the "Memories" collection "Silent Film Music" available at Amazon credits him as Al Webber (with two b's).

Thing is, I don't think that Mr. Web(b)er is the originator of the piece, since this album, released in 1995, features music from other composers, all credited to Al (I don't think he can take credit for the William Tell Overture, for example). I think Webber and his Repetitious Keys performed all the tunes in this collection, but the piece was penned by somebody else. We also don't know how old it is yet. It could have been published anywhere from the late 19th Century to the early 1930s if it did feature in silent films.

The internets don't seem to have anything on this Al Webber guy, nor his 88 Repetitious Keys. Searches yield results for "A.L. Webber," but I don't imagine that the high-profile Andrew Lloyd Webber had to do compilation CDs for extra cash in the '90s. If anyone has any feedback or more information on this composition, please leave a comment!

Artist: Al Webber (and his 88 Repetitious Keys); composer unknown
Year: c. 19th Century to 1930s
Rating: Warm

Thanks, Buffy, for your ever present diligence, curiosity, and mad research skills!

Got To Get You Into My Life

Awesomeness.

Artist: The Beatles
Year: 1966
Rating: Hot!

Spooky instrumental

Mystery song time again, kids!

This song was in my head about a month ago, but I just could not find a sample of it online. Naturally, that's hard to do when one doesn't know the name of the composition or the composer. It's certainly one of those songs that I know from cartoons; I'm guessing from a very old black and white one. If I told you it's the "spooky" music playing to the visual of a character tiptoeing, would you know the song I was talking about?

I found this nifty virtual keyboard site online and tapped out the notes there.



The sequence I'm playing is:

C D# G C1 G# G F D# D, then back to C.

Can anybody name that tune?

It's Her Factory

Click here for the iLike link.

Gotta love a punk band with a good feminist-Marxist analysis. Although, I will problematize this by mentioning that I read an interview with their sometimes-bassist Sara Lee (swoon!) who said that she caught them overdubbing some of her bass lines while she'd stepped out of the recording studio for a break. Walk the talk, guys!

Artist: Gang of Four
Year: 1979
Rating: Hot!

Half Dead

One of the simplest, most relatable break up songs ever. Though I'm not breaking up with anybody (kenahora!*) I happen to be cleaning out a bunch of junk in my room today. As the lyrics indicate, the most effective way to manage such a task is to "act like a machine" while you're sorting through stuff. I'm not interested in being machine-like, but coming across my ex-girlfriend's house key was more of a mildly-amusing curiosity than a trigger for grief, which felt good. Artist: The Mountain Goats Year: 2006 Rating: Luke Hot *"kenahora" is the Yiddish equivalent of "knock on wood" - basically, an incantation to banish the evil eye. Pronounced "cun-a-HU-ra."

Can't Get It Out of My Head

This is probably the patron saint composition of the entire enterprise of recording the songs that get stuck in one's head! Heard it on the jukebox at the Saturn Café in Santa Cruz about a month ago and supposed that it would worm its way back. Sho nuff, it did.

Artist: ELO
Year: 1974
Rating: Luke Hot

Country Feedback

This song was actually in my head a couple weeks ago, before "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" which I logged a few minutes ago. I'm still catching up on my mental queue. Sorry for the out-of-orderness.

Artist: R.E.M.
Year: 1991
Rating: Luke Hot

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

I really enjoy the fuzzy guitars and loud rock vibe of Monster. This isn't my favorite song on the album, but it's got a lingering hook, for sure.

Explanations of the title of the song are here.

Artist: R.E.M.
Year: 1994
Rating: Warm

Fame

You know it's a good day when you wake up feeling this confident!

Artist: Irene Cara
Year: 1980
Rating: Luke Hot

Burn For It

Something just doesn't ring true about Patrick, or any member of Sloan singing the lines:

I've got a barbed wire heart
And you can't handle it.

I love 'em to death, but emotionally hardened they ain't. The very structured power-pop formula of this song belies the sentiment.
Artist: Sloan
Year: 2008
Rating: Warm at best