QUIZ - What IS the # 1 Most Listened to Tune in the World ?

[protectionist]

God Save The King (or Queen).

Not that one.

 

[Yarddog]

Music Quiz - Just 1 question. What do you guess the the # 1 most played and most listened to tune in the whole world ? Anybody want to venture a guess ? No fee for this. Just pop in whatever one you think it is.

Happy birthday

 

[protectionist]

Happy birthday

A common guess. Good try. Wrong though. And is really just common in the USA. Also, it is a song. I asked for a TUNE (tunes don't have words)

 

[Yarddog]

Im thinking something in one of those wind up music boxes, but just cant place it

 

[Yarddog]

it wouldnt be a national anthem would it?

 

[protectionist]

it wouldnt be a national anthem would it?

No, it's not.

 

[protectionist]

I said I was going to tell you something about this # 1 tune that would blow your mind. OK. Here it is. The # 1 tune is not only the # 1 most played, most listened to, and most danced to tune in the whole world now in 2016, but it has been the # 1 tune every year, for the last 407 years (since 1609), and no tune even comes close to it.

Although not nearly as well known in the US, it is very well-known all around the world in 87 countries where the British have gone to with their clipper ships, and colonized.

The tune is >>> SAILOR'S HORNPIPE.

And why it is so prolific is because since the 1600s, it has been a fundamental part of the British navy, which in the past, normally had fiddlers on board their ships for the sailors to dance to, the idea being to give them leg exercise and relieve boredom. This has been standard not just just for the British navy, but on British commercial ships too, as well as on the ships of most of the British dominion countries all around the world (the sun never sets on the British empire)

The "hornpipe" tune is one in which the melodic rhythm, is symptomatic of the rhythmic movements of old, wooden clipper ships, which in turn were influenced by the movements of the groundswells of the ocean. This ocean motion was physically absorbed by the sailors, on ships for months at a time, including the fiddlers who composed the tunes. Of the many hornpipe tunes that came forth over the centuries, Sailor's Hornpipe was the first, and it was incorporated into naval protocol, and remains so to this day, all over the world, as well as in schools, were kids learn the tune and dance to it. In the US, I think Sailors Hornpipe and deck dancing ceased in the 1850s, but I'm not sure of the date.

In America, most people recognize Sailor's Hornpipe as a tune played as a lead in to the old Popeye cartoon shows, but it has far greater significance in Britain and the dozens of British dominion countries. I googled Sailor's Hornpipe, and here's some of the images I came up with.

British sea cadets dancing Sailors Hornpipe (1928)

India sea cadet schoolgirls (training for the India Navy) dancing Sailor's Hornpipe, 6 months ago (on Navy Day - December 2015)

Sailor's Hornpipe Harper's Weekly, 1875

Contestants dancing Sailor's Hornpipe in a dance contest.

Marx Brothers movie- dancing Sailor's Hornpipe

 

[protectionist]

Here's a few more >>>

Sylvester the cat dancing the Sailor's Hornpipe

 

[Bonzi]

 

[Bonzi]

interesting thread. Thanks.

 

[protectionist]

interesting thread. Thanks.

You're welcome. Here's a little more to make it even MORE interesting. On board ships, hornpipe tunes were played in successively faster tempos, speeding up after each 32 bar sequence. Here's an example of just how they do it, and just what it sounds like on the ships 300 years ago, and now.

 

[protectionist]

The amazing, unique, longevity and prolific character of this tune, tells me that if the world still exists 1000 years from now, and there are still navys around the world, that this tune sill still be the #1 most played, most listened to, and most danced to tune, even then.

Not hard to imagine.