To celebrate my (late) discovery earlier in the week of the Dr Who theme remix site I offer you a chance to participate in PooterGeek’s toughest end-of-the-week challenge yet: The Instrumental Transliteration Tournament. Inspired by the Whovian musicians’ model I give you three examples:
Dr Who
EEEEEeeeeeeaouuuuw
WHOO-eee-OOO [bumbly-bum, bumbly-bum, bumbly-bum]
WHOO-eee-OOO [bumbly-bum, bumbly-bum, bumbly-bum]
Nee-naw nee-naw
Nee-na Naw
Bumbly-bum, bumbly-bum, bumbly-bum, bumbly-bum
The Twilight Zone
[as transliterated by DJ John Peel]
Mingle-mangle
Mingle-mangle [bwwarrr]
Mingle-mangle
Mingle-mangle [bwwarrr]
The Archers
[as transliterated by comedian Billy Connolly]
Tumpty tumpty tumpty tum
Tumpty tumpty tum, tum
Tumpty tumpty tumpty tum
Tumpty tiddley tum
Beethoven’s Fifth
[as transliterated by everyone]
da da da DUM
[see also this discussion]
Sadly, I suspect that wraps it up for easily recognisable conversions. But, if you know better, now is your chance to bask in global admiration.
By the way, this sampled orchestral version [MP3 3.3MB] of the Dr Who theme is rather swish.
Pearl & Dean theme, or “Asteroid” by the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra as the more cultured among us know it:
Ba-BA ba-BA ba-BA ba-BA ba-ba-ba
Ba-BA ba-BA ba-BA ba-BAAAAAA ba!
Has someone been drinking too much coffee?!
Buffy The Vampire Slayer:
Buuuuuuum bum bum bum buuuuum
buuuuuuuuum bum bum buuuum buuuum
(drum roll)
bum bum bum da bum bum da dum dum
dum dum dum da dum dum da dum dum
wooooeeeeooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
DUM
Transmission, Joy Division:
dum, dumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdum, dum-dumm
Matt_c, I (and, I suspect, Leasey) would argue that Nerf Herder’s Buffy goes more along the lines of:
Derrr derr-der-derrr
neeeeeeEEOW-dgErDgErDr!
DERRR DERR-DER-DERRR
DERRR DERR-DER-DERRR
neeeeeeEEOW-dgErDgErDr!
DERRR DERR-DER-DERRR
DERRR DERR-DER-DERRR…
Oh, this morning I heard another one:
Bad actor, bad actor,
bad actor, bad actor,
bada dada dada dada da
(The Proclaimers – 500 miles)
Ba ba BAA ba ba ba ba BAA
Ba ba BAA, ba ba ba ba BA-baa
Bababa BAA ba, bababa BAA ba
Bababa babababa, ba ba ba ba
Surely an easy one to guess.
I was doing the schmaltzy version on Once More with Feeling…. no, you’re right. My onomatopoeiac creativity wasn’t feeling that strong.