In my previous post, I conceived of “Relay” and “Challenge” as Minor Thirds, but now that I think about it, and really try to recall the pitches of twenty years past, I believe they were actually Whole Tones. Like this:
The Minor Third sounds like this:
Out there on the playground, melodies have a little legroom. Some kids might sing Minor Thirds, and others will sing Whole Tones. And certain little bastards will only sing semitones.
The Minor Third is more of a child’s interval. Children are naturally melodic, and speak and sing freely in giant steps. But by the time they start playing “Butt’s Up”, they can barely muster a Whole Tone. Their intervals continue to flatten until they are a typical monotone adult.
Or maybe the Minor Third is just too wide an interval to sing when you’re butt’s about to go up.
It’s likely that “Relay”, “Challenge”, “Farted On”, and “Not It”, were inspired by “Nanny Nanny Poo Poo”, the most popular playground melody, which is actually a parody of “Ring around the Rosie”, a song going back to the 18th century.
COMING SOON: Olly Olly Oxen Free!
