Come oh come ye tea-thirsty restless ones -- the kettle boils, bubbles and sings, musically. ~ Rabindranath Tagore
Good evening, Kibitzers! On Sunday, I went out to dinner with my dad. We were driving home with the local classical station on the radio, and I started to absently hum along with what I was hearing. Then I realized that what I was humming had words, and what they were playing most certainly did not. I was experiencing the "public domain" phenomenon. Since I don't like to put videos above the fold, join me below the unspooled orange cassette tape (only $15.98!) for more.
When I was a kid, I saw the ad above on TV a zillion times. (I located the video by googling "I'm sure you recognize this lovely melody as Stranger in Paradise," because those words were still seared into my brain, lo these many years later.) Maybe you saw it too -- apparently it ran long after the gentleman presenting the offer had passed on. In case you by chance do not recognize the Borodin as Stranger in Paradise, here you go:
That ad was how I found out that modern composers sometimes recycle whole tunes that are too old to be protected by copyright.
We liked opera at our house, so as a somewhat older kid, I was surprised to hear a beer commercial with a familiar tune.
But here's the one that got me in the car on Sunday. My musical education is extremely spotty, so I'd had no idea -- sorry, Brahms!
So, do you have any examples? And, don't you think they used to hawk a better class of crap on local TV stations back in the old days? I mean, who would you get to buy a set of 150 classical "hits" now (even if they were not on 8-track)? Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!!!
Update: Gooserock contributes a splendid brace of examples in the comments, here and here. slksfca adds another here.
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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