There are certain things which simply shouldn’t be done, musically.
For instance, I’ve been listening to a smooth jazz station on an Internet streaming audio site over the last couple of months. I like the jazz for the most part. It’s usually saxophone-driven, maybe guitar-led, but it’s tempo is nice and it’s not as grating as a lot of lyrical music. I’m very finicky, if you haven’t noticed.
So anyway, one day I was working at my computer and heard a violin playing a familiar melody. I couldn’t place it at first, but it was familiar enough to make me stop and pay attention to the background music, and bring it to the fore. I turned the volume up and listened.
It was a violin playing the melody of Sweet Child of Mine. You know, the late ’80s runaway hit from Guns ‘n Roses.
I giggled the whole way through the song. I couldn’t believe someone so talented with an instrument would want to play that song, never mind record that song AND pay for the rights to do so. Axl Rose is still laughing.
Since then, I’ve heard more things like this. I heard a violin — and, in these instances I feel fully justified in calling it a “fiddle”, frankly — playing something familiar but just outside memory’s scope. I looked at the artist and title, and found theentire album was a string quartet playing AC/DC.
I nearly fell out of my chair. The song I heard was TNT. On a fiddle.
Apparently playing classical arrangements of old rock tunes is hip.
I’m very out of it.
