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[JuntaJoe]

I have absolutely no clue why this happens.

I simply cannot be around anyone if the tv show Amazing Race comes on.

Why? The 50 second theme song created by John. M. Keane.


It's not a part of a longer song or for anything else. It was created completely as the into theme for the show and the 50 seconds are all there is.

For some insane reason it rips deep into my psyche and brings forth intense emotion. I tingle and swoon. It can literally bring me to tears. Nor can I decide of those are tears of joy or pain. The physical and psychological response from me is massively intense and I cannot identify any basis for this whatsoever. I've been described as very insensitive by all kinds of people in the past. Life has done a pretty good job of desensitizing me to most joy and pain.

It's definitely not the show doing this. I find it mildly entertaining when nothing else is on better to watch. It's just the music.

I looked online about it and was surprised at the interest in this short piece. It generates a lot of curiosity and everyone is trying to find out if it is part of something larger. But it simply appears as something a studio musician created under contract to open the show.


I found a link that plays the entire short clip.

So tell me. What does it do for you?

http://www.imeem.com/king7matthew/music/NVYP222U/john_m_keane_amazing_race_theme_song/

[ExarKun]

yeah your back on the sauce aren't you? j/k. While it doesn't bring that kind of response out of me, it is a very well put together piece. It would be interesting to hear the full thing if he ever indeed made one, if not it almost seems a shame to leave it so short.

[JuntaJoe]

If there is a longer version I cannot find it.

Hunted everywhere too. Even Limewire has only this 50 second version.

[ExarKun]

I just can't imagine he left it short, but at the same time, it just may have never been released. I would imagine they told him to make a rough 2-5 mins piece, then they pick what they thought was best from the piece.

Though I may be reading into it.

[JuntaJoe]

It's more common than you might imagine.

Many of the most successful and rich musicians have never released even one album/disc/whatever to the public. Nor have they ever created a piece that lasted the traditional 3 minutes most songs you hear are.

Plenty of studio musicians are completely corporate oriented. Jingles and theme songs pay all their bills.

It may not be glamorous, but every time that piece plays they get a royalty check. Get several going for a few companies and you can bag a check daily.

I have no idea what going rates are, but I remember a guy I knew in the late 80's who did a few commercials for EyeMasters optician company. All he was doing in each version was turn around for a few seconds wearing the latest fashion frames. Every time one of those commercials aired he got a check for a few hundred dollars.

That was a long time ago and those clips of his were super short.


So let me take an arbitrary number that seems believable and show why people do this.

Say he gets a grand every time a new episode airs. Even at only about 10 episodes per season you have to multiply it by the last 15 seasons. 150 grand so far there. Note that they run 2 seasons a year since 2001.

Then there are reruns and non-American versions (5 to be exact) where he has the potential to make more.


No telling how much the payday total has been, but that bit of work has made him at least 200 grand in the past 7 years. Likely a lot more.

Then you toss in his other Hollywood work: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0443867/

And finally any direct corporate work for advertising.

He never puts out a song for direct customer consumption and he still makes good money.


Lot's of these guys out there. Madison Avenue employs them in droves.

[ExarKun]

and here I got my degree in computer science, I should have just done jingles, would have made as much as some of the most well off in my field that aren't CEO's and Executives and wouldn't have to do nearly as much work

[Batchman]

JuntaJoe wrote: If there is a longer version I cannot find it.

Hunted everywhere too. Even Limewire has only this 50 second version.

:shock:

Joe is on Limewire?!?

[NibbyCat]

Eh, it's ok. For really stirring the soul, though, the opening fanfares for ST:V and ST:DS9 flip my switches.

[ExarKun]

NibbyCat wrote: Eh, it's ok. For really stirring the soul, though, the opening fanfares for ST:V and ST:DS9 flip my switches.

What about ST: Enterprise :-P?

[NibbyCat]

~the kitty sings, sounding like a cross between Yoko Ono, a bag pipe and a kazoo~ I've got faith of the heart...

[JuntaJoe]

Batchman wrote:

Joe is on Limewire?!?


I'm careful about it. Only material I save is material I already have paid for in another medium. Using it for research is fine too.

If the feds come crashing in my door and grab my computer I will arrive at court with the albums, cassettes, and discs that match my Limewire library.

On the legal side I'm covered by the 70's law that says you can have multiple copies for personal use.

On the ethical side I've paid the artists fairly for their work product.



Limewire is a tool. Like a screwdriver, I could tightening a screw on my my lawnmower or try to pry open a safety deposit box. The screwdriver itself is innocuous. It is the actions of the user that define the ethics of its use.

[JuntaJoe]

I think I've figured out my quirk here.

The show just came on while I was typing and it did its usual stab at my psyche. But I got a glimpse of something in my mind and I reached deep for it. As I explored the thought my emotional response just skyrocketed.


Skyrocketed is the operative word here.


Like many born around the birth of space fight (especially those born in proximity to NASA) we all grew up dreaming of being an astronaut. So I pictured my ass strapped to the top of a Saturn 5 rocket going for orbit. The music matched that dream precisely!


While as an adult I realize that my chances back then of growing up to be an astronaut were microscopic to the point of being nil. But to a small child odds like that don't register. You just want it with all your heart and soul.

As you age you learn to stomp on your unrealistic dreams and try to live in the realm of the possible. But perhaps even if you stomp that stuff down you don't actually kill it.


I've always joked that I want to go to space so bad that I'd tie a million bottle rockets to a lawn chair and give it a try. :lol:


So this song seems to be triggering that insanely stubborn youthful wish to come rushing back to my aged self. Worse is as you get older you realize all the opportunities lost.

So when I said I can't figure out if it was tears of joy or pain that perhaps it is actually both at once. The remorse meeting the joyful childhood dream.


Whoa, Freud might take pride in my revelation.



So does anyone happen to have a couple tanks of LOX and Hydrazine handy? :P

[ExarKun]

I have something, somewhat similar, in an odd way. When I was little, oh say ages 7-9, I lived in this small town, where I played, did all the normal kid things.

I remember during this time, 1991-93ish when I lived in that town, will lived in and could remember the times there mind you, there was always a blasted song playing. Never knew what it was, till I was about 17.

I had just bought the CD that the song belonged to at that time, so as I typically do I play my CD's a lot when they are new. Will one song always made me think of my childhood, and I never could quite figure out why, I mean I had heard the song on the radio, but it never hit me till I went to sleep one night with the head phones on.

That was the song I heard all the time when I was that age, a neighbor kid, older than me, played it non stop, visit his house it was playing, I'm sure the entire record was, but I remember that song the most.

I can remember the times to play with his little brother and it was playing friends come over and I can hear it blaring from his house, playing baseball with my dad with that song in the background.

That song was Nirvana's Smells Like Teens Spirit by the way. To this day, while not my favorite song, or Nirvana song for that matter, it always holds a special place, cause it was there for some of the most fond times I can remember.

Hell I even wrote a short story on this revelation, I had to right about a memory of my childhood my junior year, it was around the time this revelation came to me, so I wrote about it even, only got a B+ on it, damn hippy teacher, always had to worry about the little things like grammar, and spelling pffft. :lol:

Anyway, that's my story of a song that meant a lot in my childhood... not sure it's exactly the same, yours represented an ideal, mine not so much, just good memories.