Talk:Theme from Mission: Impossible

1996
Should it be mentioned that the 1996 remake had the time signature changed? mwalimu59 (talk) 21:27, 24 September 2012 (UTC)


 * To what? —Tamfang (talk) 19:57, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

To regular 4:4. The original's 5/4 time signature is one of its key notabilities, for a popular song. The remake was made more palatable (for dancing, among other things) by reverting it to a normal signature. I will make the edits with references soon. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.10.185.25 (talk) 04:00, 24 June 2016 (UTC)

Pareles article
¶ I would very much like to add a few sentences from a copyrighted NY Times article, but I don't know if that is permitted here - Jon Pareles, "A Theme That Never Failed to Accomplish Its Mission", NY Times, 16 June 1996, sec. 2, page 32:  "Schifrin packed his theme with musical stratagems.  The melody's first phrases are played and then moved up to fit a new chord, as if the tune were about to turn into a blues.  To make it more unsettling, the tune wasn't in the conventional 4/4 meter; instead it was in an unusual 5/4 that could land dancers on the wrong foot." The details about chords and meters suggest that someone could work up an interesting demonstration of these aspects of musicology by assembling a number of versions of the theme to show what happens when those characteristics are varied. Sussmanbern (talk) 15:14, 17 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Quoting a few sentences, with attribution, is fair use (I believe). The interesting demonstration is an –er– interesting idea, and would well deserve an external link, but would be original research not itself belonging in Wikipedia. —Tamfang (talk) 19:57, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Flute Theme
The flute theme is taken from a bird song. The bird has a very clear flute-like voice. If you are very lucky, the bird will do a long series of variations that puts the human copies to shame. I would have had a tape recording of many minutes of the variations, but the tape recorder had mechanical-electrical problems with the switch, and the result was only motor-boating. I was never able to determine what bird it was, as it is very "shy", and stops if you try to get close enough to find out. At least part of its range is in central Illinois. It seems to like being high up in forest trees near the edge of a clearing. I have asked several people if they know what bird it is, but no one has had any idea.

agb — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.233.174.248 (talk) 17:44, 22 April 2014 (UTC)