WEBVTT - What Is Music's 'Word' for Death?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel, Bam here, you've heard it during Star Wars,

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<v Speaker 1>The Shining even Home alone. For decades, clever composers have

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<v Speaker 1>woven elements of a particular medieval dirge into film soundtracks

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<v Speaker 1>to convey a sense of dread and general doom where

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<v Speaker 1>the script calls for it no widely as the Day

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<v Speaker 1>of Wrath. The original Latin title for this piece is

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<v Speaker 1>ds Era, which can also translate to such sunny concepts

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<v Speaker 1>as Judgment Day, the end of the world, and death

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<v Speaker 1>in general. The piece features a mere handful of notes.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's the basic tune. It was originally composed back in

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<v Speaker 1>the thirteenth century by a Franciscan monk named Thomas of Solano.

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<v Speaker 1>Little did he know that one day his piece would

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<v Speaker 1>be revered, repurposed, and otherwise showcased in many of the

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<v Speaker 1>biggest films to hit Hollywood. Hardly what we would call

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<v Speaker 1>a complex musical work by today's standards, the piece doubles

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<v Speaker 1>as a requiem chant and features some pretty sobering Latin

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<v Speaker 1>lyrics translated into English. The first two lines read day

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<v Speaker 1>of Wrath, the Day that will dissolve the world into

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<v Speaker 1>burning coals. Here's a sample. Yes Yes, Mozart and Verity

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<v Speaker 1>are just two of the composers who wrote original requiems

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<v Speaker 1>based on ds era. The hymn's first big movie exposure

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<v Speaker 1>was in Citizen Kane, but the musical motif once you

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<v Speaker 1>Know what to look For is ubiquitous. It's prominently featured

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<v Speaker 1>in the opening strains of The Shining and a variation

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<v Speaker 1>on it is included in the ultra famous Jaws theme.

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<v Speaker 1>Very appropriately, we might add the shark is death and

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<v Speaker 1>doom manifested. It's in Star Wars when Luke Skywalker faces

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<v Speaker 1>the loss of his aunt and uncle, and it's used

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<v Speaker 1>throughout the Lord of the Ring series to build a

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<v Speaker 1>sense of foreboding. Occasionally, composers go with a winking approach

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<v Speaker 1>when incorporating the dirge into a soundtrack. In the stop

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<v Speaker 1>motion animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas, an entire song

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<v Speaker 1>Making Christmas is based around the sequence. In Making, and

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<v Speaker 1>in the nineties blockbuster hit Home Alone, our young hero

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<v Speaker 1>Kevin is regaled with the urban legend of old Man Marley,

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<v Speaker 1>the rumored South Bend shovel slayer. When Kevin lays his

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<v Speaker 1>Eyes on the Guy, composer John Williams cues up a

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<v Speaker 1>well placed strain of ds eerie to get the point

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<v Speaker 1>across Kevin is terrified and his imagination is running away

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<v Speaker 1>with him. But ds erae isn't only effective in films.

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<v Speaker 1>The University of Georgia, for example, uses it to intimidate

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<v Speaker 1>their opponents into accepting the impending doom that the song implies.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a staple at u g A football games and

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<v Speaker 1>is frequently played for the crowd by the Georgia Redcoat

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<v Speaker 1>Marching Band m. Today's episode was written by Elia Hoyt

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler Clang, with musical cues provided by

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<v Speaker 1>David W. Collins. For more from David, including a full

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<v Speaker 1>and may I say fabulous episode about ds era as

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<v Speaker 1>popular music's word for death, check out his podcast The

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<v Speaker 1>Soundtrack Show, available wherever you get your podcasts, and of course,

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<v Speaker 1>for lots more on this and other topics that spell doom,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet how Stuff Works dot com