Not just a song that can be found in the archives, but one that almost everyone can hum, even today.
(Somebody asked what was meant by “today’s…” Throw whatever you want out, somebody tossed out “Love me tender” as being a tune from in the 1860s.)
Bella Ciao
One of my favorite little details of Blood and Wine, Witcher 3, is random people humming or singing small refrains of modern pop songs like the Beatles, implying these tunes are exactly what you’re asking about.
We Three Kings.
“I like to f*ck” by Tila Tequila.
Essentially the same lyrics, even.
It’s it a hummer?
XcQ, link stays blue
Well, green.
I want to click, but I don’t want to click
So, 500 years from now people will still be doing this?
I can see it
Happy Birthday has the kind of universal recognition you’d be looking for. Maybe in 300 years there’ll be a lyrical shift towards something more interesting. I know multiple versions of Greensleeves. The Cuckoo is the other song that I can think of with a long history. The wiki article doesn’t fully capture it. I’ll stick something in here later.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo_(song)
Happy Birthday owes it’s place to function. I don’t think anybody actually enjoys it as music.
My 2 year old begs to differ!
Green Onions
What? “Baby Shark” hasn’t been mentioned here yet?
It’s been a day camp classic for at least one generation.
Wow. I’d managed to forget how much I despised singing at camp.
the entertainer by scott joplin
I say this with the deepest respect for the King of Ragtime, but Joplin has been dead for over a century now.
How many 1700s drinking songs does anyone know the tune of today? Well, there’s “To Anacreon in Heaven”, better known as “The Star Spangled Banner”.
“Aura Lee” is from the 1860s, but the tune is better known today as Elvis’s “Love Me Tender”.
The guy who put that high note in a drinking song is one of my favorite humans.
Coincidentally, Elvis’ is only the second best song titled “Love Me Tender”. Nothing could ever be better than this absolute, uh, masterpiece
While not what one would think of when they think of songs that survive hundreds of years from now, the only song I can think of that’s not a folk song that’s both archived and hummable (and actually has a tune, so that excludes pop songs)… is the Pokémon theme song. Go up to anyone and say in tune that you wanna be the very best and someone’s gonna ask “like no one ever was”.
i have this thing where when i’m focused, but switching tasks, i’ll click my tongue but it’s always the tune of nick nick nick n’nick nick nick o lo dea onnn
Orange you glad …
You need more Nick. One before n’nick and one after.
Source: I kinda still want to go to space camp.
Define “today”? My first pick would be Yesterday, but that’s about 60 years old already.
On the scale of Greensleeves, I would suggest Yesterday is today.
I always forget there was a real historical figure and assume Greensleeves is Gull’s little sister from those old Magic books.
Not sure how well they hold up, but like 25 years ago Arena and the Greensleeves trilogy seemed like the best books ever.
Here Comes the Sun. Simple melody, timeless lyrics, and it’s the most-streamed Beatles song out of an already strong and memorable catalog.
Fittingly similar to the theme of “Sumer Is Icumen In,” a British round from the late 1200s.
I hate that song, it makes me sad as fuck every time I hear it, and if I never heard that song again in my life it’d be a better one.
Why does it make you sad?
Something about it just ruins my mood. I think it’s linked to how my parents put that song over old home videos and as a kid I would watch them and just ball uncontrollably at the loss of such simpler times (when you’re a baby and don’t have to worry about shit, you’re just cared for and loved).
It’s…
PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME.
PEANUT BUTTER JELLY
PEANUT BUTTER JELLY
PEANUT BUTTER JELLY WITH A BASEBALL BAT
