Does anyone know the name of this symphony?

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ironpony
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22 Dec 2019, 4:13 am

It's hard to describe but basically it's a blues type symphony, without any lyrics, that I keep hearing but no one knows what it's called. As far as a tune structure goes, it's kind of similar to La Grange by ZZ Top, and that is the closest I can compared it to, but without lyrics. Does anyone know the name of such a symphony?



naturalplastic
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24 Dec 2019, 2:14 pm

Where have you heard this thing? Can you name like a TV commercial or something that uses it?

The only "blues type" classical symphony I can think of is "Rhapsody in Blue".

Might be what you're talking about, or it might not be. It doesn't outward resemble anything by ZZ Top (though the underlying structure of the chord changes may well be more similar than they sound to a nonmusician like me).



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24 Dec 2019, 10:17 pm

Or anything else by George Gershwin. An American in Paris also comes to mind.


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ironpony
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25 Dec 2019, 12:26 am

Okay thanks. No, it's neither of those ones. I've heard it on the radio from time time, but after the song is played, they never say what it is. But it's a symphony that is about the length of a radio song, played on the radio from time to time. The closet thing I can think to compare it to is La Grange, by ZZ Top, if I were to compare it to anything else, to describe it.



blazingstar
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25 Dec 2019, 1:26 am

Radio songs are just 3-4 minutes, right? That would be very short for a symphony. If you hear it on the radio, what kind of radio station are you listening to? Sorry, I don't know the music of ZZ Top.


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25 Dec 2019, 10:58 am

ZZ Top is sort of a pop version of Heavy Metal, to me.

They were popular around the 80s.

They sought to look like old-time country bumpkins.



ironpony
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25 Dec 2019, 5:18 pm

Actually I found it. It's Green Onions by Booker T. & The MG's, it turns out. Perhaps symphony is the wrong term, but I meant a piece of music without onion. Thanks everyone!



kraftiekortie
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25 Dec 2019, 7:48 pm

“Green Onions” was a giant hit in 1962.

An instrumental rock/jazz tune.



naturalplastic
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26 Dec 2019, 12:05 pm

ironpony wrote:
Actually I found it. It's Green Onions by Booker T. & The MG's, it turns out. Perhaps symphony is the wrong term, but I meant a piece of music without onion. Thanks everyone!


Yeah.

That is a classic piece of soul music by one of the session bands (Booker T. and the "Memphis Group"- or "MGs") that worked for the Stax Volt label in the Sixties (southern soul that competed with Detroit based Motown). And was a hit in Sixties. And it has no vocals, and no lyrics. But its a normal 3.5 minute pop song.

And it IS blues based.

A pop (or soul or rock or country) song without words should be called "an instrumental". Not a "symphony" (symphonies are played by whole orchestras, and usually have several movements and can be as long as a whole album).



naturalplastic
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26 Dec 2019, 12:10 pm

blazingstar wrote:
Radio songs are just 3-4 minutes, right? That would be very short for a symphony. If you hear it on the radio, what kind of radio station are you listening to? Sorry, I don't know the music of ZZ Top.


ZZ Top are a blues based southern rock band in the tradition of the Allman Brothers, and Skynyrd, but with a bit of metal flavor, that were big in the Eighties.



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26 Dec 2019, 1:19 pm

This "video" is audio-only.