In our last blog post, we told you that in order to play the piano in a way that makes you look cool, you need to learn popular piano songs that everyone knows. Well, following extensive market research and controlled laboratory testing*, our team has discovered that the true formula for musical coolness is not running with the grain, but running against it. There’s only one thing cooler than playing songs that everyone knows: Playing songs that no one knows!
I mean, sure, everyone and their mother is familiar with Disney classics… But how many people can play Slavko Avsenik’s world famous polka hits? Or Matumba Setwhale’s “Tunga Na Ba”? Now that’s cultured and unique!
Want to wow the crowds with your eclectic repertoire? Want to master some wildly obscure songs that give testament to your worldly tastes? Want to stand out among the sea lemmings doling out the same over-played pieces time and time again?
Well then sit back, open a Google search bar (you’re gonna need it…) and get ready to experience: our Top 10 Songs Almost No One Knows.
(*Not really.)
__________________________________
10. Lionel Bart - "Who Will Buy"
… this song on iTunes?
'Who's Lionel Bart', you might ask? Good question—I don't know! Apparently he's a British composer, known most famously for his works in the musical Oliver!. And that is where this practically unknown song from this practically unknown artist comes from!
In the early part of the 20th century, the founder of analytical psychology, Carl Jung, propounded the concept of a "collective unconscious," which is a structure of the psyche which autonomously organizes experiences with an inherent universal synchronicity.
Now, I have no idea what that means… But I'm pretty sure it has to do with songs getting stuck in your head.
You know those songs and tunes that, regardless of age, nationality, location, language, or musical persuasion, everyone knows? From the skyscrapers of New York to the rice paddies of Mayoyao, it's those ditties and melodies that you start to hum and every bum (or peasant) around will know exactly what it is. So when you're trying to learn piano chords, why waste time on obscure, little-known pieces when you can bust out some tunes that get everyone in the room nodding their head in recognition?
Because after all, piano music is an act of creation—creation of coolness. For you. In the eyes of others.
And for that, let us tap into the vast reservoir of the collective unconscious and (re)discover: the Top Ten Songs that Everybody Knows.
______________________________________________
10. Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On
Never let go!
James Cameron's 1997 box office hit left us not only with a timeless movie classic, but also with a song to hauntingly carry through the years. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who isn't familiar with this cultural colossus of a soundtrack. Near, far, wherever you are… chances are you know this song.
