“Olly Olly Oxen Free” is the penultimate song off e’rebody, and the final act of the Playground Trilogy that began with “Farted On” and “Westminster Quarters”. Built around the common melody of a Minor Third interval from the kid’s game Hide-and-Seek, “Olly” features a fun fanfare chorus, puzzle-box structure, and at eight and half minutes, […]
Archive of posts tagged playground
Farted On
“Farted On” is a song about being figuratively farted on. I can still hear the kids chanting. You, got, On the playground, there is a kind of song that plays out from handball wall to suicide court, along the broken glass blacktops to the grass fields of discarded condoms, in the lonely outfields of dirty […]
Olly Olly Oxen Free!!!!!!!!
Click the score. This melody from Hide ‘n’ Go Seek is a Minor Third interval. There are three musical steps between the notes C (Olly Olly Ox) and the A (-en Free). It is the third smallest interval, behind the semitone and the wholetone. Nobody knows what the phrase originates from, but the melody is […]
Melodic Development at the Playground (y’know?!)
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 […]
Suicide Songs
Here’s a few more Playground melodies from the handball game “Suicide”, or “Butts Up”. When a ball lands out of bounds, the player who fetches it can sing a “Relay” to beseech her fellow players to cut off her throw to the wall. A “Challenge” is sung by the other players to deny her “Relay” […]
Playground Melodies
English is atonal. Adults are monotonal. But the kids are all singsong This here mocking melody has many variations—neeners, nahs, and ners. It is sung to the tune of Ring around the Rosie. The dominant interval is a Minor Third, between the G (poo) and the E (poo). The following 2 note melody is delivered […]
