Disco instrumental from late 1970s - trying to find out what it was

[Jesse Davis]

Hi DiscoMusic members,
This is my first post on the site.

Was wondering if anyone can help me figure out the name of a disco instrumental song. I'm a 39 year old male in Connecticut. More of a rock guy but a big fan of many disco and funk artisits between the late 60s to early 80s. Especially the Ohio Players and the band GQ.

When I was a kid, I remember a nice disco instrumental that was often played as dramatic background music to sports highlight clips on television. Not an obscure song by any means but I have no idea who the artist was or the song's title.

I know its harder to describe instrumentals so for those of you who are musicians, it may be easier for me to describe the notes in the song's basic melody. Here is what I recall as the main melody (I'm picking guitar notes using Key of A major, position 1 - Ionian mode in A):

E,C# D#, B,C#, D#,E, F#, G#, B, G#

E,C#,D#, B,C#, D#,E, F#, G#, B, F#

E,C#,D#, B,C#, D#,E, F#, G#, B, G#

(octave up?) C#,D#,E, D#,C#,D#, C#,B,C# G#F#

(repeats) C#,D#,E, D#,C#,D#, C#,B,C# G#F#



That's the melody. Sorry that I am not better educated in music theory or music notation. If anyone remembers this song, please post. It stuck with me for 30 years and would love to burn it on to a CD to listen to the full track. Pretty sure the song has synthesizers or guitar synth effects. I'm thinking 1979 release but its a guess.

Thanks for reading. Any help appreciated.


Jesse Davis

[needlefingers]

Can you whistle or hum it and record it for us?

You can post it on zshare or yousendit.com and post the URL here.

[Old Disco DeeJay]

Hi Jesse,

I apologise for my ignorance, but unfortunately, Egyptian hieroglyphics would have made more sense to me, than the musical notes which you spent time listing.

Back in the 70's and 80's most Disco records had an instrumental version on the 'B' side, which were often used as Radio and TV background music, particularly sports programmes, so unless you are certain that it was an instrumental track, you may be throwing yourself a red herring.

I know that it's a long long shot, but 'Underwater' by Harry Thumann has synth effects, from that era.

YouTube - Harry Thumann - Underwater

[Jesse Davis]

Hi Old DiscoDJ and Needlefingers,

Here is a link to a wav file with me picking the melody out on my guitar. Its the best I can do on the melody recall. Disco DJ, you may be right about it not being an instrumental.

Needlefingers, thanks for the tip on yousendit.com.

Hope you can access this:

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/753293747/0e1e53c9fdcf7c72013f46669935fb17

[needlefingers]

Chase by Giorgio Moroder.

It's from the movie Midnight Express.





http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/8353_0_2_0_C/

[Old Disco DeeJay]

Needlefingers beat me to it. LOL

Good guitar playing by the way, you got the tune perfectly.

If you like that tune, you might also like this one..

YouTube - Space - Magic Fly

[Jesse Davis]

Needlefingers & Old Disco DeeJay,
Excellent, excellent. Very cool. Thanks to both of you.

I've had this song in my mind since I was a child. Its been difficult to know where to look until I found this community. I used to hear this song over NBA basketball highlights and other sports shows. I knew it wasn't too obscure.

Old DiscoDJ, thanks for the props on the playing, that melody stayed in my head for 30 years. I'll check out that other song too. Thanks again to the both of you. I'm listening to it right now!

Have a great day.

[needlefingers]

You're welcome and glad you found your song title.

Just a bit of trivia...Moroder won the Oscar in 1979 for Best Score for this film.

It is a haunting melody, isn't it? The soundtrack has a few different versions(slow, etc.)

And the 12 inch version is 13 minutes and 6 seconds long.

Take care.

[Cory Ander]

I agree, "Chase" is one of the most infectious instrumentals I've ever heard. To me it's a lot like "Axel F" in that directly after hearing it, I find it tends to stick in my head a lot longer than I wish it would. Moroder's "The Seduction" (from "American Gigolo") and "Love Theme from Flashdance" have a similar effect. Makes me think Moroder could have also had a successful career in jazz.....,.

[Old Disco DeeJay]

More useless trivia :icon_biggrin:

The Seduction (Love Theme) was credited to The James Last Band, but was actually performed by sax legend David Sanborn.

Don't ask me why he never got the credit for it, I love to listen to David Sanborn when I'm in a chill out mode and it's one of my favourite tracks. I still have the 12" version on Polydor Records, which unfortunately wasn't extended, at just over 3 mins long.

[Old Disco DeeJay]