[HN Gopher] Morse Code in Tubular Bells (2021)
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       Morse Code in Tubular Bells (2021)
        
       Author : xanderlewis
       Score  : 44 points
       Date   : 2025-01-23 20:19 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (madpsy.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (madpsy.uk)
        
       | kazinator wrote:
       | > Tubular Bells was famously recorded at The Manor Studio
       | 
       | I think that's referenced in the 1983 Black Sabbath song
       | "Trashed".
       | 
       | It really was a meeting
       | 
       | The bottle took a beating
       | 
       | The ladies of The Manor <---
       | 
       | Watched me climb into my car and
       | 
       | I was going down the track about a hundred and five
       | 
       | They had the stop-watch rolling
       | 
       | I had the headlights blazing I was really alive
       | 
       | And yet my mind was blowing
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Again_(Black_Sabbath_albu...
       | 
       | I was listening to this decades ago, and saw the note on the
       | cover that the album was recorded at The Manor, so I put that
       | together.
        
       | kazinator wrote:
       | Another British morse code in music story: in the title theme of
       | the 1980s sitcom "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em", the rhythm of the
       | notes is a deliberate morse code which spells out the title of
       | the show.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Mothers_Do_%27Ave_%27Em#T...
       | 
       | What the Wikipedia page doesn't mention this, but I read long ago
       | that the composer of the tune received only a small one-time
       | payment for it and no royalties, despite the popularity of the
       | show.
        
         | xanderlewis wrote:
         | See also the theme music of the television version of
         | 'Inspector Morse', though perhaps that's not very surprising.
        
           | Jordan_Pelt wrote:
           | ...and the opening of the Rush song YYZ.
        
         | flobosg wrote:
         | A Canadian morse code in music: The intro of Rush's "YYZ" -
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YYZ_(song)#Title_and_compositi...
        
       | ahazred8ta wrote:
       | A nearby VLF station was transmitting its 'GBR' callsign.
        
       | ryandrake wrote:
       | The article is about a studio device unintentionally picking up
       | Morse code during recording. But that's not the only intersection
       | between Mike Oldfield and Morse code. Oldfield also deliberately
       | (and quite obviously, if you're listening for it) inserted into
       | one of his later albums: a not-so-nice Morse code message[1] to
       | Virgin Records founder Richard Branson, with whom he was at the
       | time fighting over how he was being treated by the label and lack
       | of promotion. At around the 48 minute mark of _Amarok_ , you can
       | hear a synthesizer loudly tap out "F U C K O F F R B" in the
       | recording.
       | 
       | 1: https://www.mikeoldfield.org/amarok
        
       | hvs wrote:
       | "VVV" in Morse code means "attention, incoming message".
       | 
       | Cool to see amateur radio and fldigi in a Hacker News article.
        
         | xanderlewis wrote:
         | Yep. I've seen it used in place of 'CQ' when testing
         | propagation conditions to avoid other stations coming back and
         | attempting a contact. It always reminds me of the Doctor Who
         | theme: ...- ...- ...-
        
       | TheOtherHobbes wrote:
       | Radio pickup is a huge problem for audio electronics.
       | 
       | I used to live near someone with a CB radio, and the pitch of one
       | of my synths would go up by a semitone when they were
       | transmitting.
        
       | gorgoiler wrote:
       | The transmission signal path on the first map also looks an awful
       | lot like the album cover for Tubular Bells:
       | 
       | https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Mike_oldfield...
        
       | resters wrote:
       | the transmission in the recording is actually VVV GBR
        
         | xanderlewis wrote:
         | From the article:
         | 
         | > The decoded morse is actually slightly wrong - rather than
         | 'MVV' at the start it should be 'VVV' but that's down to FLDigi
         | not being 100% accurate. Anyone who knows morse can confirm
         | what you actually hear is 'VVV GBR'.
        
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       (page generated 2025-01-23 23:00 UTC)