Discovered from obscurity

Was recently reading an article on songs that have had great commercial success the second time around. One of the numbers mentioned was by Scott Joplin. This is the link to the same (just copy and paste the link folks..works easier for all of us..namely lazy me. applies to all links in my posts).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDGibUnfGK8

Does it sound familiar? Scott Joplin, one of the great musical sensations of the start of the last century, enjoyed a revival post his musical numbers being used exclusively on the Paul Newman – Robert Redford caper film, The Sting. To the extent that he was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer. Now that’s a revival.

Nowhere do I claim to be an authority on Scott Joplin, this is more or less just taken from a couple of articles I read up on the great man. But my delight was something else altogether. The first time I heard this particular piece, The Entertainer was as a background track for one of the old 8 bit Nintendo video games. And humming along with the track was a matter of habit. (Have discovered a love for Tchaikovsky too through Tetris)

I have stumbled upon the number many times over the last few years (I did see The Sting but was half asleep when I did see it, shame on me. I could have discovered The Entertainer earlier, and yeah appreciated the film also) and never quite figured it out. Even though I was aware of the concept of ragtime, never struck me to do an intensive search on that. The fact that I learnt to use the internet rather than born with it clearly comes through in these instances.

Anyways glad that I discovered Scott Joplin and well onto figuring out his other works. This got me thinking however on how I have stumbled on some tune that turned out to be something else altogether.

When I was a kid, 5-6 years old. We used to have one TV channel, Doordarshan. Would watch the most random stuff on TV, there used to be a half hour slot on whats coming up through the week. Another where a old bald guy would read the letters from viewers. One more that was “We are sorry for he interruption we shall be back soon”. And the classic 10 min public service commercials and cartoons of course. Anyways that’s another conversation altogether.

So in one of the random fillers on the channel there was a fairly haunting theme being played on a synthesizer. This tune used to fascinate and disgust. Fascinate because it was quite cool and disgust because of the tinny electronic sound. Every few years I would start replaying the theme in my head and would wonder. Till I heard it in an episode of The Simpsons (yes we had more TV channels by then), Bart Simpson holding court at the church where has replaced the church organ music with “In the Garden of Eden” (refer to earler note on links).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ9J1RfoYjQ&feature=PlayList&p=93FED8DF2643ADF2&index=89

An all time great Simpsons episode. I did a double take and of course tried to figure out what the song was all about. Turned out the song was In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, one of the all time great genre busting songs. 17 minutes long, lyrics heard only at the start and the end, psychedelic from end to end, one of the earliest heavy metal classics in fact many say was one of the fathers of heavy metal, the plaudits go on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfMLlIPvpak&feature=related

How did it end up on DD I wonder? Doesnt really matter I guess. Great music stands out even when used as background noise to rubbish content and even more rubbish execution.