474 Hair Apparent.

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Well, I’m not really any closer to my goal concerning music associated with various countries.  I thought of another one of Australia though:  Men At Work’s Down Under.  I’m surprised I didn’t think of it before since I have at least 3 versions of the song.  I thought of a tune that I associate with Scotland, but I can’t figure out what its name is.  It’s a bagpipe song, unsurprisingly, and it’s not Amazing Grace.  iTunes either doesn’t have it, or I’m going about looking for it in the wrong way. 

Finding music when all you have is part of the tune is a bitch.  I’ve been on both sides of that divide; having sold music for several years.  Nearly without fail I cannot identify a song based on someone trying to sing, or hum, it at me.  My Mom really liked a song recently and was trying to explain how it sounded.  She sang a little part of it, but when I finally heard it her rendition sounded nothing like it to me. 

I have a theory about that tune that they always play for Asian stuff.  I’m pretty sure it predates Turning Japanese.  I think it probably comes from a musical.  It may have come from further back even than that.  I’m going to keep searching till I figure it out, or someone can give me a decent history. 

I’ve been trying to get ahold of the soundtracks from all of Hayao Miyazaki’s films.  This has been going on for a few years actually as I scrounge for munnies.  It’s one of those things that always gets pushed back by other demands.  So far I’ve gotten Mononoke Hime, and Howl’s Moving Castle.  Mononoke is the American release.  Howl’s Castle is an Asian release (found it super cheap).  I think it’s the standard Japanese soundtrack version.  And that’s it.  I haven’t managed to gather any of the others to me.  I’ve got a few tracks from the times before, when the net was still wild and free.  When a man could walk from horizon to horizon on the backs of illegally downloaded MP3s.  It was in that time I saw with my heart, weather it would be for good or bad, that there would be change.   What?  No, seriously though, they want stupid money for import CDs on Amazon.  I could see paying $50 for an import CD, with about 10 tracks, were it being shipped from the moon, but not if it’s only coming from as far as Korea.  Anyway, I think I could find Spirited Away pretty easily.  It had a U.S. release that I never gathered up.  It’s on itunes, but…

Downloading is fine for a single song, but I prefer to have a real CD when it comes to music I want forever.  That way I can always get it from the master if the file gets lost somehow.  Plus there’s that DRM bullshit to deal with.  All the stuff I downloaded from Wal-Mart.com is locked away because the thing that manages their digital rights changed.  It was only a few songs, but it’s still annoying. 

19 Comments

I know in the case of Japan a lot of times they use Sakura, Sakura — especially in video games from Japan that have a single Japanese stage or character like OutRunners or Punch Out.

Also, for the US I thinkof Yankee Doodle as more common than Star Spangled Banner, actually.
God Save the Queen is sometimes used for Britain/UK as well.

J.T. – Sakura is a good choice for Japan. I’ll have to fire up Punch Out and see if I can spot it.
Yankee Doodle would be a good alternate for the U.S. too, even though I hate the tune myself. XD

Nah.

Japan is represented by E.Honda’s theme from Street Fighter 2… Could have been Ryu, since his is cooler… but Honda’s is totally more Japanese.

America is Guile’s theme.
Brazil is Blanka’s theme.
Russia is Zangief’s theme.
India is Dhalsim’s theme.
Spain is Vega’s theme (going by the western names).
Thailand is Sagat’s theme.
And China is mostly Chun Li’s theme… but since I’ve seen so many kung fu films, I’m inclined to remember On The General’s Orders too (i.e. Wong Fei Hung’s theme).

Any country not represented in Street Fighter 2 doesn’t get music.

The sting tune for Asia could be from The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan or from Madama Butterfly by Puccini.

J.T. – A lead! I’m on it.

Could the mysterious Asian song you’re looking for be from Madame Butterfly? I don’t know the title off the top of my head.

J.T.- Perhaps. I’ll begin looking into it!

The sting tune for Scotland could be Flowers of the Forest.

J.T. – The tune I was thinking of is calle Scotland The Brave, but your suggestion led me to it. Many thanks.

While not strictly associated with Scotland (but xmas instead) Auld Lang Syne, especially when played with bagpipes, is IMO, the quintessential Scottish song.

Also The Campbells Are Coming.
I thought Johnny Has Made a Wedding Of It was essentially scottish but I find less than 2 dozen recordings listed online.

There’s the song a country makes you think of, and then there are songs that make you think of the country. La Cucaracha calls up mexico but I wouldn’t think of it thinking of mexico.

I can’ really think of any songs for countries that haven’t been mentioned but I have a few for states.

Take the A Train- New York
Dueling Banjos- Louisiana
Surfing U.S.A- California

I was thinking the Scottish song my be “O Danny Boy,” but I don’t know. I’ve got lots of bagpipe music (love that droning sound), but I never remember the titles.

Vueiy_Visarelli, how dare you! As someone who traces genealogically back to both Ireland and Scotland, “O Danny Boy” is Irish, not Scottish.

Speaking more of the soundtracks, I used to have the one from Kaze no Tani no Naushika on my older computer. It didn’t make it through my transition to Mac user, however, so I’m now on the same quest you are.
If you weren’t aware, the composer of most of Miyazaki’s films is named Joe Hisaishi.

Vidal Sassoon died today. :( I know a guy who uses a lot of product in his hair. Looks ok for 15 minutes. Rest of the day? Looks like he is wearing the ugliest s*** brown tupperware bowl on his head.

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