Walt Disney’s “Spoonful of Sugar” sounds like John William’s “Imperial March”
Spoonful of Sugar (1964): Melody composed by Richard Sherman. Remember the melody of that chorus from childhood?
The Imperial March (1980): Written by John Williams. Although in a minor key, listen at 22 seconds for the tell-tale three notes that used to mean “…medicine go down”
What do you think? Did Williams consciously mimick the cadence and intervals from Sherman’s “Spoonful of Sugar”, or is this one just a coincidence?
Richard Sherman: “Spoonful of Sugar” (’64)
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John Williams: “Imperial March” (’80)
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Thanks to comments below, there’s an update to this sound a like that takes us way back to 1896.
Popularity: 18% [?]
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Haha, first post ever. This is a mean idea for a blog.
Well, George Lucas borrowed a hell of a lot from history for the Star Wars series.
The whole saga is based loosely on the plot of the ancient roman Emperor Augustus (originally called Octavius).
You could draw comparisons between the image of Darth Vader and most Totalitarian Dictators in history.
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if the score doesn’t borrow a few themes to help add some meat.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all.
The original Star Wars music still sounds like Holst’s “The Planets”.
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I gotta admit, I was skeptical about this one, buy you’re right!! It’s undeniably similar.
@Jonathan can’t wait to look this one up! Thanks man!
They both sound very similar to the 3rd strain in the trio section of John Phillip Sousa’s “El Capitan March” written in 1896.
Imperial March being in a minor key most definetly sounds liks Sousa’s El Capitan
[...] So, if you haven’t already, listen to just how similar the “Imperial March” is to “A Spoonful of Sugar”. [...]
I first noticed the similarity between The Imperial March and a Spoonful of Sugar about 4 years ago at a gig. A local band used the Imperial March as their intro before they walked on stage, haven’y been able to take them serious since!
Since I found this by Googling “Star Wars” and “Spoonful of Sugar” to see if I was the only one who thought they were similar, I have to say I think they’re similar.
As for Holst’s “Mars,” just spend some time listening to the “Cinemagic” channel on Sirius/XM (movie soundtracks) and you’ll discover that it is the primary energy source of maybe half the soundtracks of the last 50 years. (The other thing you’ll discover is how lazy soundtrack composers can be. I can’t tell the difference between Horner’s work for “Aliens” and “Star Trek II,” both of which are great stuff, but sound, at most, like two movements of the same opera, as it were.)