That Reminds Me of a Song: Difference between revisions

This trope most often occurs when a composer wrote a really keen song. Or if there is a big star in the movie who must have a solo. Or the director has a favorite song that he wants to put in the movie. Unfortunately, there is really no way to inject the song into the story in the traditional "burst into song" way. So, the writer often gives us the immortal line "That reminds me of a song," or something similar and the character sits down at a piano or hops up on the stage to sing a little ditty that has....'''no''' plot significance whatsoever. ("Let's rehearse the ___ number" or "Let's film our music video" or "Let's dance to ___" and then doing exactly that are also popular.)

 

 

 

Frequent [[Justified Trope|justifications]] include having some or all of the characters be actors or actresses, or setting one of the scenes at a nightclub or similar. A small-scale variation on the [[Show Within a Show]].

 

 

See also [[Silly Song]], where the characters don't even try to justify the singing.

== Anime ==

* In the [[Hilarious Outtakes]] of the ''[[Berserk]]'' dub, Griffith's voice actor has a tendency to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXYiFFM7WH4 burst into song]. Strangely enough they somehow fit the situation.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* There is a scene in ''[[The Breakfast Club]]'' where, ''in the middle of their big emotional group therapy session,'' everyone up and starts dancing to the song "We Are Not Alone". It's a good song, lyrically, it's at least thematically appropriate to the scene in question, but [[Mood Whiplash|what the hell]]?

** In the broadcast version, that is completely random. In the uncut version, Bender shares his marijuana with the others. Cue dancing.

* In an infamous scene in ''[[Beetlejuice]]'', several dinner guests are possessed, and forced to perform Harry Belafonte's "Banana Boat Song" - which they rather enjoy.

* There's a particularly tedious song in ''[[Newsies]]'' that seems to be included (Roger Ebert said it best) "just so that they could say there's an Ann-Margret number in the movie."

** Actually, there are ''two'' such songs ("My Lovey-Dovey Baby" and "High Times, Hard Times"). For some reason it was the catchy "High Times, Hard Times" and not the utterly pointless "My Lovey-Dovey Baby" that got the Razzie for "Worst Song".

** In ''[[Spamalot]]'', the musical based on the movie, King Brian is substantially less successful. In fact, several songs in ''Spamalot'' fit in this trope: the Finland song and "Diva's Lament (What Ever Happened to My Part?)" most notably.

* Used to great effect in the film ''Cabaret,'' where the only off-stage song is a young boy who just begins to sing a capella in a cafe's garden, "Tomorrow Belongs To Me."

* Even [[Alfred Hitchcock]] succumbed to this: the 1956 remake of ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'', which showcases Doris Day singing "Que Sera, Sera" ''multiple times'', ultimately using it {{spoiler|in a game of Marco Polo so our protagonists can locate their kidnapped offspring}}.

* In several ''[[Marx Brothers]]'' movies, Harpo and/or Chico would get one of these as an excuse to play their characteristic instrument—the harp for Harpo, or the piano for Chico.

 

== Musical Theater ==

* In ''[[Me And My Girl]]'':

{{quote|"Hey Everybody! Lets do the Lambeth Walk!"

* ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'' had a short bit where everyone stops to sing a little song extolling the virtues of poetry. This is right in the middle of a rather dramatic bit where the Major-General is attempting to deceive the pirates about being an orphan, so that they won't marry all his daughters and take them away.

** G&S get away with this one, though, on the account of said little song being [[Crowning Music of Awesome|fucking awesome]].

* ''[[Spamalot]]'' parodies this with "The Diva's Lament", which has the female lead singing about how she's been offstage for most of the second act. Of course this is also playing it straight since without it she would be off-stage for most of the second act.

* [[Bertolt Brecht]] made this into an art form, having That Reminds Me of a Song moment at least once in every play to alienate the audience. "[[Pirate Jenny]]" from ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'' is probably the most famous example.

* The protagonist of the musical ''Seesaw'', studying obscure passages of New York State law, is advised to read it in rhythm to make it easier to remember. In short order, "Chapter 54, Number 1909" has turned into a big production number.

* The intensely weird [[Raggedy Ann and Andy A Musical Adventure]] is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|very appropriately named]]. Everything gets a song in this movie. ''The question "Who are you?" gets a song in this movie''.

* Parodied in the [[Phineas and Ferb]] episode [[The Wizard of Oz|"The Wizard of Odd"]]. Coming upon Buford the Lion-Tiger-Bear (oh my!), this exchange occurs:

'''Candace''': Well, at least it was short. }}

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* Mocked by [[The Nostalgia Critic]] in his review of ''[[Rock-a-Doodle]]'' (which in itself is guilty of this) with a brief sendup of this phenomenon: "I'm tal-king! / I'm tal-king! / I'm drin-king / my cof-fee!"

** He shows disdain for the endless singing in ''[[Quest for Camelot]]''. As he said, does everyone in the movie ''have'' to sing? And why sing when you're in pain?

** Hell, in his later review for ''The Pebble and the Penguin'' , he attempted suicide after one too many pointless musical numbers.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Discredited Trope]]

[[Category:That Reminds Me of a Song]]