6mo ago

Greensleeves is almost 500 years old. I'm sure there were other very popular songs when it came out, but Greensleeves had to staying power to still be here. What do you think is today's Greensleeves?

en.wikipedia.org Greensleeves - Wikipedia

Not just a song that can be found in the archives, but one that almost everyone can hum, even today.

(Somebody asked what was meant by "today's...." Throw whatever you want out, somebody tossed out "Love me tender" as being a tune from in the 1860s.)

137 comments

One thing people might not realise, is that memorable old music can come and go. Until someone recorded a successful rendition in the 60's, Cannon in D had been forgotten for centuries. Now it's almost synonymous with wedding music, and seems completely timeless.
It's possible everyone will be crazy about 1919's El sombrero de tres picos in 2450, and (with this all being indistinct distant history) will picture us in 2024 playing it on boombox at a 2050's-style holo-orgy.
- Tell me more about these 2050's Holo-Orgies
  
  Busy. I'll get back to you about it in 30 years or so. /s
- I think having a dance associated with the song is integral to the staying power of a song. The Twist, Hokey Pokey, Electric Slide, all great contenders.
  But time will prove that the champion is The Macarena, by Los Del Rio.
  
  Nutbush City Limits might have a chance then, we'll see whether Australian public schools are still teaching the dance in a couple of hundred years...
  
  I guess, but I couldn't hum the Cakewalk for you.
- B.P.E. by Girls5Eva I had this song in my head all day yesterday. https://open.spotify.com/track/7jYbX7gU0Pe2b0nZR7OSH5?si=P9aE_s8ER3unRraCRrV0dA Surely it will be known by all in the future... hehe.

Today's Greensleeves
- XcQ, link stays blue
  
  Well, green.
  
  Damn the Voyager app, no way to view link contents
- I want to click, but I don't want to click
- He shoots, he scores!

7 nation army by the white stripes. It gets played after a goal is scored in football stadiums across the world.
- Yeah, choosing something that will end up in the background of a lot of archives and memories is probably as good a strategy as any.
- I have a feeling that this will be one that everyone knows, but doesn't know the title of, like Power House by Raymond Scott.
  
  Link.
- We will rock you by Queen another contender for similar reasons.
- Don't forget Freed from Desire
- Not even after goals. It's like the wave, you can start it up at most sporting events with the help of four other people.
- Sweet Caroline is getting that way for Football. Especially now that the English nicked it from us

Happy Birthday has the kind of universal recognition you'd be looking for. Maybe in 300 years there'll be a lyrical shift towards something more interesting. I know multiple versions of Greensleeves. The Cuckoo is the other song that I can think of with a long history. The wiki article doesn't fully capture it. I'll stick something in here later.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo_(song)
- Happy Birthday owes it's place to function. I don't think anybody actually enjoys it as music.
  
  My 2 year old begs to differ!
- You just dug up the rap song Happy Birthday by Flipsyde ft. Piper from the depths of my memory after it had been buried for 14 years.

Belgian techno anthem Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic is one for the ages. Some say it has always been with us.
- Get your booty on the floor tonight, make my day
- Good one, I kinda thought Salt-n-Pepa's Push It had a little more staying power though.

Here Comes the Sun. Simple melody, timeless lyrics, and it's the most-streamed Beatles song out of an already strong and memorable catalog.
- Fittingly similar to the theme of "Sumer Is Icumen In," a British round from the late 1200s.
- I hate that song, it makes me sad as fuck every time I hear it, and if I never heard that song again in my life it’d be a better one.
  
  Why does it make you sad?

It's...
PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME.
- PEANUT BUTTER JELLY
  
  PEANUT BUTTER JELLY

Chumbawumba Tubthumping.
- I hate to break this to you, but its Chumbawamba, with an A not a second U. And it always has been.
  
  My life has been a lie
- Nah it got knocked down.
  
  But it got up again!

How many 1700s drinking songs does anyone know the tune of today? Well, there's "To Anacreon in Heaven", better known as "The Star Spangled Banner".
"Aura Lee" is from the 1860s, but the tune is better known today as Elvis's "Love Me Tender".
- The guy who put that high note in a drinking song is one of my favorite humans.
- Coincidentally, Elvis’ is only the second best song titled “Love Me Tender”. Nothing could ever be better than this absolute, uh, masterpiece
  https://youtu.be/slGLYt3--GY
- Dirty Maggie Mae, they have taken her away!

Not sure about today's, but I think the one from the 18th century is Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, better known in English as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or the alphabet song.
- I never knew twinkle twinkle little star and the alphabet song were put to the same melody. Thank you!

You won't like the answer, but I'll tell you anyway.
It's The Macarena, by Los Del Rio.
- i don't think so considering your the first and the only one who has even mentioned the song in the last 65 years.
  
  Unfortunately, that's entirely untrue. I don't think you've put any effort into this exercise at all.

Creep by Radiohead, imagine how much that would annoy Thom Yorke.
- Probably helps to be featured or mentioned in other notable media, as greensleaves is mentioned in Shakespeare, and creep is part of the fight club soundtrack, so it has that going for it I guess 😅

Happy Birthday, Pop Goes the Weasel, Auld Lang Syne, Here Comes the Bride are obviously here to stay. Lots of Christmas music has potential as well: Jingle Bells, and POSSIBLY Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano, as well as All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey.
But I also think Barbie Girl by Aqua has a decent chance of being practically universal. In that vein, maybe the Hampster Dance too, but idk. Dragostea Din Tei?
I think the real answer though is that most of the popular songs are probably ones that are connected to specific uses outside of the song itself. Pop Goes the Weasel is used in like, every pop-goes-the-weasel type toy, and even in movies when something scary is about to pop out at you. Happy Birthday is literally sung at every birthday. (That reminds me of For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow as well.) Auld Lang Syne is a popular New Years song across the world at this point. Here Comes the Bride at every wedding, etc. Maybe National Anthems will also hold the test of time, depending on if the nation lasts long enough and doesn’t change its anthem.
The point is, if it’s a practical and traditional tune it’s more likely to last, I think.
Oh. I forgot Reveille which is the military wake-up call bugle song lmao
- Dragostea Din Tei
  I don't think that one outlasts the next couple decades. Yeah, it's fun and the lyrics are weird, but Romanian isn't all that widely spoken, so the vast majority of the world population cannot sing it.
  
  IDK, i was obsessed with that song as a teenager and learned to enunciate the whole song without knowing what it said. but, i have 99 Luftballons on my personal playlist so maybe i just like catchy foreign songs lol
- I think more people would be familiar with "Call to Post," than "Reveille." Dunno. I guess it depends on how many scouts and military members there are vs horse racing fans.

Green Onions

Based on what I hear playing, my money is on Mr. Brightside.
Gershwin's Summertime is my real answer. It has been covered by so many artists already, it might keep going.

Fly me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra
Simple, yet very recognizable melody. Easy to whistle, but could also be extended to a whole orchestra with vocals.

O Fortuna, Carmina Burana.
The poem was written in the medieval period, but finally set to music in 1935-1936. It still took till the 1970s to be used in TV/Film and became so widely used, it is now known as the most overused piece of music in film history.
- It's not overused, it's just used a lot (not that I have heard it in anyway)
  
  "O Fortuna" has been called "the most overused piece of music in film history", and Harper's Magazine columnist Scott Horton has commented that "Orff's setting may have been spoiled by its popularization" and its use "in movies and commercials often as a jingle, detached in any meaningful way from its powerful message."
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Fortuna
  I'm not the one that called it that.

What? "Baby Shark" hasn't been mentioned here yet?
- It's been a day camp classic for at least one generation.
  
  Wow. I'd managed to forget how much I despised singing at camp.

Define "today"? My first pick would be Yesterday, but that's about 60 years old already.
- On the scale of Greensleeves, I would suggest Yesterday is today.

the entertainer by scott joplin
- I say this with the deepest respect for the King of Ragtime, but Joplin has been dead for over a century now.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Oh this is easy, but you may not thank me for it. Hum, whistle or sing, anyone near you will do the same after a minute or so. It's timeless and it even has it's own website
I give you Lipps Inc. - Funky Town

"I like to f*ck" by Tila Tequila.
Essentially the same lyrics, even.
- It's it a hummer?

As much as I want TiK ToK by Kesha to be a recognizable tune in half a millenia I know that's not happening. Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode is one of the most covered songs of the past 50 years so that very well may become immortalized through diffusion alone. There's a couple dozen jazz standards that could have that kind of staying power as well, especially considering their ubiquity in performance repitoires and books of sheet music.
- Bored music teacher in 2200: "and here children, we find the most important contributions to late 20th centure music: a phonograph of Depeche Mode's Violator."
  
  I can only hope, deep into the future, some dork leans toward his friend and mutters "101 was better."
- As much as I want TiK ToK by Kesha to be a recognizable tune in half a millenia I know that's not happening.
  I heard it on the radio recently and they censored the beginning:
  Wake up in the morning feeling like [redacted]
  
  I heard a live performance where the line was changed to:
  Wake up in the morning saying Fuck P Diddy
  
  ??????? Why

The nes super Mario bros overworld theme comes to mind. People who have never played a Mario game in their lives know that tune.

Bella Ciao

Hey Ya
- I highly recommend The Blanks cover. It’s beautiful.

All Star by Smash Mouth, obviously.

House of the Rising Sun
- Please God, no.
- But to the tune of Amazing Grace
  /s

While not what one would think of when they think of songs that survive hundreds of years from now, the only song I can think of that's not a folk song that's both archived and hummable (and actually has a tune, so that excludes pop songs)...... is the Pokémon theme song. Go up to anyone and say in tune that you wanna be the very best and someone's gonna ask "like no one ever was".
- i have this thing where when i'm focused, but switching tasks, i'll click my tongue but it's always the tune of nick nick nick n'nick nick nick o lo dea onnn
  
  You need more Nick. One before n'nick and one after.
  Source: I kinda still want to go to space camp.
  
  Orange you glad ...

it's blur - song 2.
I heard it on an aired commercial the other day.

Imo Greensoeeves mostly endured because it can be perfectly whistled by everyone and still be played by professional musicians in a way that awes the audience.
This will probably not be th reason why current songs will stay arround. If society doesn't break down, I assume that every popular melody, be it from the US, China or Lebanon, will stay around and get reused every ~30 years to grab some quick money.
- This MF: Greensleeves can be perfectly whistled by everyone
  Me: can't even whistle Mary has a little lamb

Darude - Sandstorm

I don't know what it is but I hear it at sports stadiums. Duh duh duh duh- duh duh duh-duh It repeats
Edit: I've just found out it's called papas got a brand new pigbag.
- "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes.
- I know it's not the song that you're saying but I read that in Suzanne Vega - Tom's diner tone
  
  There's a surprisingly good cover of it by Britney Spears.
- Kernkraft 400

I always forget there was a real historical figure and assume Greensleeves is Gull's little sister from those old Magic books.
Not sure how well they hold up, but like 25 years ago Arena and the Greensleeves trilogy seemed like the best books ever.

In the U.S., “Neck” by Cameo has become a college marching band standard. I wonder if that will help. Not that it would come from U.S. college sports but maybe a song like “Sweet Caroline” or “Seven Nation Army” that’s played at professional sporting events in multiple countries.

hot to go
- lol! I jokingly thought of that song when I clicked in here. Definitely the most catchy thing around rn.
- You can take me ❤️

Yesterday

Amen Brother by The Winstons, more specifically the drum break on it. It's by far the most used sample of any song ever, and once you know of it you'll hear it everywhere kind of like the Wilhelm Scream in movies.
- Aka the Amen Break

It's not new, but this tune will keep being reused for a billion years. It's got religious adaptations, too, providing incredible staying power. It will probably be used for many more years, as it's one of those "golden" tunes that people will never quite forget.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Mountain_Thyme
If you went to Mass, you have probably heard it. Here's a modern, secular cover of it:
https://youtu.be/LFw81n_nD1s

‘You are my Sunshine’

Probably a Jazz song since the musicians often cover the same Songs over and over again and thats how they could stay very long? Dont know which one though. A Train? Misty?

Something from Michael Jackson maybe. I heard you can go somewhere where there is no civilization and they'll still know him.

had to staying power
I've got questions.

merzbow

This made me wonder what the oldest tune that would still be familiar to a lot of people today would be. Dies Irae is a good candidate. It's around 800 years old and is probably best known today from the 1980 version of The Shining, although I know it best from the Dr. Tongue stages in Zombies Ate My Neighbors.
- The leitmotif for Palpatine is (loosely) based on the Dies Irae. And, AMAZINGLY, that leitmotif shows up in the happy singing of children during the parade scene at the end of the Phantom Menace. Because John Williams is a fucking genius.

Stairway

One of my favorite little details of Blood and Wine, Witcher 3, is random people humming or singing small refrains of modern pop songs like the Beatles, implying these tunes are exactly what you're asking about.

gucci gucci

I have never heard of or heard Greensleeves until today

We Three Kings.
- Look, this is objectively funny because it's the same exact tune.

137 comments