I blame the way science is taught. My experience of the scientific method at school was "Hypothesize theory taken from textbook. Conduct experiment with dodgy equipment under severe time constraints. Discard evidence not fitting theory". This…

But most of the orchestral stuff you hear in the song was written by Richard Ashcroft, and indeed that's what you hear in the music that was used in the old BNZ ad.

You learn something new every day – the Stones are a bit before my time. Perhaps the…

Yeah, there was no punchline. They meant every word, every over-dramatic sweep of the violins...

It was a big hit when I was six. Won the Eurovision song contest, got a ton of airplay in NZ (in those days it was a ton, too, not a tonne)......the reason it…

True. It really comes from the piano line in the second verse.

Ah, now it's making more sense. I had a really close listen to "Bittersweet Symphony" and I think I can hear the actual sample – it's the bit at the beginning of the first clip with the smooth…

the main violin bit that gets repeated over and over in "Bittersweet Symphony" doesn't come from that sample

True. It really comes from the piano line in the second verse.

here's a short, lo-res sample.

Ooh, thanks for that. It's clear where the basic chords and melody structure comes from, but the main violin bit that gets repeated over and over in "Bittersweet Symphony" doesn't come from that sample – the Verve made it.

I really hold the anti-Verve lawsuit against…

(Yeah, I've never heard it either)

here's a short, lo-res sample.

Stones sample

Andrew Oldham Orchestra sample. Ironically, given the Verve's loss of Bittersweet Symphony rights to Jagger/Richards, AOO's version of "The Last Time" bears virtually no relation to the Jagger/Richards song it purports to be.

Actually, I think they used the same Stones sample the Verve used, no?

The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" was based on a small sample of the Andrew Oldham Orchestra's recording of the Rolling Stone's song "The Last Time" (Yeah, I've never heard it either). But most of the orchestral stuff you…

"Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite".

More seriously though; how is it people don't know what a scientific theory is? How can people not believe in a thing which fits all the perceptible facts? Rhetorical questions, of course, it's the same way…

*sigh* And when was the last time you tried dancing to The Intenationale, cherub? If you'll excuse me, I've got to go lay down the groundsheets for tonight's National Party branch meeting-slash-Black Mass. Otherwise it's impossible to get…

“The attacks on campaign finance reform around the world are always done under the guise of protecting free speech. But free speech is still alive and well in Canada and the UK, which both have adopted more stringent rules than those proposed in…

This gem from The Greens: Business Roundtable member behind attack on reform

A member of the Business Roundtable is behind the marches against campaign finance reform says the Green Party. The man paying…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1CeYaPrtbI&feature=related

Doesn't mean I'm into it. I personally couldn't give a shit…

its probably hard to find a catchy yet inspirational song about being meanspirited and looking out mostly for yourself.

try this one ....

or am I being a bit too cynical

Also most politicians, in my experience, are tone deaf.

Yeah, that would actually explain it, I suppose (even though the two pieces are, in essence, exactly the same).

If you believe the Dom-Post (or Key) he didn't actually listen to the DVD before urging the rest of the country to.

…

BTW, I thought Bill Clinton used some awful Fleetwood Mac song?

Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow) – gag. Though if the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire don't turn back Hillary's way PDQ she might be singing Tusk on street corners a lot in future:

Why don't you ask him…

"Oh Lord its hard to be humble...."

Presuming he's heard both versions

If you believe the Dom-Post (or Key) he didn't actually listen to the DVD before urging the rest of the country to.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/4311912a6000.html

Also most politicians, in my experience, are tone deaf. Don't ask me why.

Key is quoted in the Herald as saying:

That was the music that was presented to us and the advice was that we owned the rights to that, and that it was acceptable. That may still legally be the case because it's a grey area but that doesn't meet…

"Will you be voting for a change in government"...click

These are the folks…

Things are going to be quite good

Things used to be bad.
It wasn't very pleasant.
It was…

And I seem to recall some people querying whether a song about kicking a drug addiction was really quite appropriate

Seems pretty appropriate to me.

BTW, I thought Bill Clinton used some awful Fleetwood Mac song?

At the first (and possibly only?) party conference with Jim McLay as leader they played “I can see clearly now the rain has gone”

National Party conference 1985.

And I seem to recall some people querying whether a song about kicking a drug addiction was really quite appropriate.

See? You…

At the first (and possibly only?) party conference with Jim McLay as leader they played “I can see clearly now the rain has gone”

Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign briefly used Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA until the musician put a stop to it. Springsteen is an active Democrat whose song was…

its probably hard to find a catchy yet inspirational song about being meanspirited and looking out mostly for yourself.

*sigh* And when was the last time you tried dancing to The Intenationale, cherub? If you'll excuse me, I've got to go lay down the groundsheets for tonight's National Party branch…

Yes, Key should use "My old man's a dustman".

Clinton's "Right Now" (Van Halen) was a good choice – perhaps a rare example of a campaign song hitting the right note (so to speak).

My nomination for the worst: a version of 'Walking on Sunshine' with re-written lyrics and re-named 'Voting for Bolger' and sung by the Yandall Sisters.

Then it emerged the Yandall Sisters were all Labour voters anyway, which added insult to, well, musical…

Perhaps you could say the DVD was a Clocks 'n' spiel.

Or maybe Clock 'n' spiel.

Not sure which one works better.

BTW, I’d like to wish severe misfortune (like having to watch a National Party DVD) on whoever mentioned “Love lift us up where we belong” on here.

Oh, that was me! Terribly sorry. If it's any consolation, I too have the song stuck in my head now and I watched…

No play Coldplay.
Today Key pays

Key clocks off

music on the DVD and in Clocks were both in F minor

WIkipedia has 'E flat Mixolydian' which following the links would apparently be based on A flat major.

This Key-Coldplay brouhaha sure is a gift to pun-lovers everywhere.

I'll suggest:

"Complete Clock-up sees DVDs recalled"

BTW, I’d like to wish severe misfortune (like having to watch a National Party DVD) on whoever mentioned “Love lift us up where we belong”…

He said music on the DVD and in Clocks were both in F minor

WTF?? No they're not!

Gordon Brown’s election chief, Douglas Alexander, ordered his sister not to resign as Scottish Labour Party leader for fear of causing…

This Key-Coldplay brouhaha sure is a gift to pun-lovers everywhere.

The Herald has given us Key out of tune with Coldplay

and

Coldplay-lite strikes wrong Key wherein Audrey Young writes

My colleague Claire Trevett wrote about the DVD last week and it was the subject of the Weekend Herald…

The Herald has given us http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10479448|Key out of tune with Coldplay

and

Coldplay-lite strikes wrong Key wherein Audrey Young writes

My colleague Claire Trevett wrote about the DVD last week and it was the subject of the Weekend Herald billboard. Claire talked…

National Party campaign manager Jo de Joux said the music was composed by "an Auckland artist" and paid for by the production company which produced the DVD.

WTF? There are a bajillion musicians in Aucks who could provide a catchy ripoff that's nowhere near…

Whats with the NZ Herald and this? They have been banging away at the Electoral Finance Bill for a few weeks now and now their crusade is front page news (in red!). Its not front page news! its a newspaper using it's pages…

I was going to go with "Come out and play (keep em separated)" by the offspring. But now I realise the line from that song is actually "one goes to the morgue and the other to jail".

But…

And with that, I think of next year with this lyric stuck on repeat: "Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December..."

I was in a more Green Day state of mind – "Wake me up, when September ends."

Thanks, it's a great song but I didn't know it was used in the West Wing. Will…

It's hard to defend a legislative process as shambolic as that around the EFB. It's also hard to defend some of the people who are making all the noise about it.

Politics 101: when defending the undefendable, launch an ad hominen attack. Shoot The Messenger.

Like all spam, it is…

That would be Steely Dan's "New York Minute", and The West Wing respectively. Two fine creative works.

One and a half out of two, but I can't tease any more. Don Henley not Donald Fagan.

it also doesn't work with my browser – type my whole address in, click submit and it complains I haven't filled it in.

When you type in the address, does it bring up the mini-map to confirm the location? And what browser are you using? We've had a devil…

Hints please, maybe genre and/or era? '70s, '80s or more recent?

The song was originally released in 1989, covered by the band the singer-songwriter also belong to in 1994 and shares a title with a more than usual vacuous Olsen Twins movie that was released to general indifference in 2004.…

It's actually working out what's what on the map. I know it's nearly all Telecom networks, but it's hard to see what else there is. Maybe I'm just challenged.

No, it does get messy in places. I'm tweaking the Telecom network areas for central and southeast Auckland, because there were…

so they have commissioned a 'sound-alike' to get round it.
It's not a cover version...

It's like how the "Don't steal movies!" trailer on DVDs has a total ripoff version of that Prodigy track (umm, I think it's 'Diesel Power' but it's been a long time since 1997) on it.…

That would be Steely Dan's "New York Minute", and The West Wing respectively. Two fine creative works.

Speaking of political dramas, my first introduction to the concept of "soundalike" music…

Dukes of Hazzard?

Poo, you jest – I said 'wonderful television drama'. And if I had a shiny dollar coin for every time I'd been told to make it stop, I'd have a carton of cigs and a Happy Meal easy. :)

Curses on your Ranapia for that earwig. I can hear that line but none other!

Make. It. Stop!

But, holy shit, the small-arms war currently being fought between The Standard and Kiwiblogblog on one hand and Kiwiblog on the other is something to stay away from. I dread to think how that will unfold in 08.

While we're quoting song lyrics (compliant with fair use, of course), "Somebody's…

to see the usual suspects on both the loony left and the rabid right conflate this into a veritably apocalyptic issue that will resonate all the way to the ballot box next year? Waiter, bring the reality check.

Funny, I feel much the same way about the EFB.

Here's another…

Hand to hand with entrenching tools and bayonets by then I should…

I'll take the blame for that one! Any specific suggestions? Is it the key for the demand points, the networks, or both?

It's actually working out what's what on the map. I know it's nearly all Telecom networks, but it's hard to see what else there is. Maybe I'm just…

Back in July, Key used his videoblog to invite suggestions for a theme song.

And yup, someone suggested 'Clocks'. The same commenter also confirms Robyn's memory about Labour's use of 'Up Where We Belong' (puke!) in 1984.

Someone else suggests, with a straight…

Embarrassing (and deservedly so) and potentially expensive – you bet. Chances that someone at National Party HQ is being torn a new arsehole as we speak — near certain. The End of Days? Naaah....

Quite. Although I guess we have to allow The Standard some gloating given that earlier this…

Who knows, but if my memory serves Lalio Schiffin and his publishers couldn't be arsed taking action against Jim Anderton's personality cult's unlicensed use of the Mission Impossible theme on a campaign website for several weeks.

Here's another fuzzy memory – didn't Labour use "Up where we belong" (yuck) for…

the Broadband Map ... Only complaint: the key is hard to read.

I'll take the blame for that one! Any specific suggestions? Is it the key for the demand points, the networks, or both?

He's a real nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.

Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's…

The Standard is, as you might expect, cock-a-hoop over spotting the problem and layering the real 'Clocks' and the fake one over each other to emphasise their similarity.

Sure, but am I the only person who also expected – and was not disappointed – to see the usual suspects on…

If Henare fails to contact the McCready's lawyer by Friday, a refusal will have consequences"

It's somewhat ironic that McCready's taking Mallard to court for throwing his weight around, but is now making "stand-over" threats himself.

And then, while googling, I found this July post from John Key's blog…