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Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 22, 2015 at 12:02 pm
So, my husband was listening to the intro to Pulp Fiction, and he turns to me and says "That is the same song as Marco Polo, the instrumental solo, on that one Loreena McKennitt Album". I know which song he means, we have that album on the disc changer in our car, and it is one of his favorites.
So I play both the songs, the Original Misirlou by Dick and Dale, and Marco Polo by Loreena McKennit....and indeed they are nearly the same (the upbeat part).
McKennit admits to borrowing bits of her song from Sufi's. Think Dick and Dale did the same back in the 60's?
This is so weird.
Is he crazy, or is these basically the same songs?
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 22, 2015 at 12:41 pm
(This post was last modified: October 22, 2015 at 12:41 pm by Homeless Nutter.)
The melody in "Misirlou" comes from an old Greek folk song.
I don't think the L. McKennit song is the same melody, although it is similar in places - it just uses the same very characteristic scale - the Double Harmonic scale, which is fairly prominent in a lot of middle-eastern and Mediterranean folk music.
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 22, 2015 at 1:03 pm
(This post was last modified: October 22, 2015 at 1:07 pm by Thumpalumpacus.)
They both use the dominant phrygian mode, with the distinguishing characteristics of a b2 and a #4 relative to the root note. It's a scale common to much Arabic, Middle Eastern and Balkan music. Nutter is right, the melodies are similar but not identical.
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 22, 2015 at 2:28 pm
(This post was last modified: October 22, 2015 at 2:29 pm by Alex K.)
(October 22, 2015 at 1:03 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: They both use the dominant phrygian mode, with the distinguishing characteristics of a b2 and a #4 relative to the root note. It's a scale common to much Arabic, Middle Eastern and Balkan music. Nutter is right, the melodies are similar but not identical.
I'm reading a bit of music theory and this to me is the equivalent of others getting explained physics by a pro. Fantastic!
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 22, 2015 at 11:34 pm
Also, Loreena McKennitt's album The Book of Secrets was released in 1997, long before Dick Dale's heyday. Indeed, it was 3 years before Pulp Fiction was released.
Also, for the music theory-inclined, here's a piece Verdi wrote when he encountered a mysterious scale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VfYzBE9D-E
And here's Joe Satriani's take on it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeYGcw6XCXg
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 23, 2015 at 1:23 pm
Dick Dale's heyday was back in the early 60s, Rev. Perhaps you meant to write "long after Dick Dale's heyday"?
Also, in this original I wrote and recorded about 20 years ago, I use Phrygian dominant for part of the guitar solo, starting at 2:35.
https://soundcloud.com/thumpalumpacus/going-tharn
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 23, 2015 at 1:46 pm
That piece has some funky bass riffs, thump.
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 23, 2015 at 2:51 pm
(This post was last modified: October 23, 2015 at 2:52 pm by Thumpalumpacus.)
Yeah, my brotha Tim D tore it up on bass. We were roommates. I got home from work one day, about three pm, to find him fuckin' drunk in the living room trying to track his basslines. Took a listen back at his insistence, and jeez, was it sloppy, I thought -- just all over the place.
So a couple days later I'm practicing to it, anticipating that he'll recut his tracks but wanting to get the song under my fingers better. I pull the song up into my cans, crank my half-stack, and somewhere in the middle of the first solo I realize that with the guitar in there, the fucking bassline is perfect. And then the song carried me away. The lead guitar track is one take, one pass, and improvised. I'm just glad I had the policy of recording practices, because when I finished the take, I knew the song was done. I went back and added the second electric that you hear at points, and an acoustic that's buried for sweetening.
But Tim's bass track is what gives that song its drive and thump.
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 23, 2015 at 6:37 pm
(October 22, 2015 at 2:28 pm)Alex K Wrote: (October 22, 2015 at 1:03 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: They both use the dominant phrygian mode, with the distinguishing characteristics of a b2 and a #4 relative to the root note. It's a scale common to much Arabic, Middle Eastern and Balkan music. Nutter is right, the melodies are similar but not identical.
I'm reading a bit of music theory and this to me is the equivalent of others getting explained physics by a pro. Fantastic!
If you ever have a question, do ask, I'll be happy to help.
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RE: Pulp fiction intro song (Misirlou) = Loreena McKennitt???
October 23, 2015 at 7:47 pm
(October 23, 2015 at 1:23 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: Dick Dale's heyday was back in the early 60s, Rev. Perhaps you meant to write "long after Dick Dale's heyday"?
Also, in this original I wrote and recorded about 20 years ago, I use Phrygian dominant for part of the guitar solo, starting at 2:35.
https://soundcloud.com/thumpalumpacus/going-tharn
Yes, i meant after in both cases. I wish I could edit it and rectify that mistake.
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I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.
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