The Bobby Code
Did eccentric musician Bobby Flynn insert hidden codes into his Australian Idol performances?
While watching Bobby Flynn’s Australian Idol performances in 2006, I noticed some interesting melodic connections between some of his arrangements.
Connections between Bobby’s songs
Performance 1: Under the Milky Way - listen
I wish I knew what you were looking for………. ahh-ahh
I might have known what you would find………. ahh-ahh
Performance 3: Werewolves of London - listen
*dum* *dum* *dumdum* woo-o-o-ooooo werewolves of london….. ahh-ahh
*dum* *dum* *dumdum* woo-o-o-ooooo werewolves of london….. ahh-ahh
Performance 6: Superfreak - listen | watch video (awesome arrangement!)
You know that girl is pretty wild *dum* *dumdumdum* You know the girl’s a superfreak
The kind of girl you read about *dum* *dumdumdum* in those new-wave magazines
Analysis
The ahh-ahh motif comes in pairs, the first descending a semitone, and the second descending a minor third. This motif does not appear in the original versions of the songs (original “Under the Milky Way”, original “Werewolves of london”).
The *dum* *dumdumdum* motif is a descending series of notes played on bass, start-tone-tone-semitone. This connection is perhaps more astounding since it does appear in the original version of “Superfreak” (listen) as that “famous” bassline, but does not appear in the original version of “Werewolves of London” (listen). Did Bobby Flynn insert into “Werewolves of London” a forward reference to a song that he was to sing 3 weeks later?
Connections to other songs
- Performance 5: Under Pressure (watch). This song was sampled by Vanilla Ice in “Ice Ice Baby”.
- Performance 6: Superfreak. This song was sampled by MC Hammer in “You Can’t Touch This”.
