Jem recycles "They", they recycled too
Proving again that everything new is old, the hit single "They" from Jem's recently released album "Finally Woken" is hauntingly familiar. The background chorus repeats a twelve note phrase, and once you hum along, you can't get it out of your head. You know you've heard it before, but where?
Turns out I'd heard the song itself during a rerun of the pilot of Grey's Anatomy, but that's another story.
Jem, a DJ from Brighton, UK, who decided she could spin a few hits of her own, started with a solid musical foundation. For "They", Jem sampled an early sixties French acapella ensemble known first as Double Six and later as the Swingle Singers. They, in turn, were performing scat (singing without lyrics) jazz vocal arrangements of Bach's Prelude in F-Minor. My mother is a francophile and my sister is a concert level pianist, so I'd heard the melody from both sources when I was young.
Have a look at the Swingle Singers history, and pick up at least the Keyboard Classics album. Listening to the artistry of several of the songs on this album will give you chills, and all of them are a welcome alternative to the 150 channels of sameness on my XM Radio.
Whether you'll enjoy Jem's album depends on whether you like Euro pop. Here's a more in depth discussion of the song "They" and its Bach background.
While you're listening, brush up on your mathematics of music and geometry with Godel, Escher, Bach.