What Is That Spooky Melody I Hear In Movies and TV Shows: The Dies Irae
What Is That Spooky Melody I Hear In Movies and TV Shows: The Dies Irae
It's not just some random melody somebody came up with.
Does this melody sound familiar? Well, it's everywhere in pop culture. The melody you hear is from a 13th century Gregorian chant sung by Catholic monks called Dies Irae or, in English, Day of Wrath, which for a long time was sung at Catholic funerals.
Here it is in its Gregorian chant form:
Only the first four notes, "dies irae, dies illa," of the melody are often used in secular media.
Here it is in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
The melody starts at 0:13.
And in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:
And twice in The Lion King:
In the second clip, the melody begins at 0: 53.
And in It's A Wonderful Life:
And the chant, lyrics and all in The Hunchback of Notre Dame:
The chant begins at 1:02.
These instances of the melody, or the chant, lyrics and all, just scratch the surface of how many movies and TV shows it's in.