Nobuo Uematsu, YOU THIEF! I KEEL YOU!

[Nekofrog]

I AM ON TO YOU, NOBUO.

I can't believe, in the ten years since it was created, that I did not notice this before, but Final Fantasy 7's "On That Day, Five Years Ago" is essentially just the Batman theme.

Not the TV theme, but Danny Elfman's Batman theme, just in a different key.

WARNING. WHAT HAS BEEN HEARD CANNOT BE UNHEARD.

The song in question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlnk5ThilSo

And Elfman's Batman theme:

Your honor, I rest my case!

[NNY]

Holy crap. You're right.

I don't think it needs to go to court though. I think Batman is perfectly capable of beating up that spiky haired faggot himself.

[LuketheXjesse]

When and how did you freakin' pick this up?

[Nekofrog]

I was actually listening to the VotLS track for this song when it just suddenly hit me. Now I will never hear it without thinking "I'm BATMAN"

[Bleck]

That FF7 song is actually the main leitmotif of the entire game.

[Nekofrog]

So... FF7 = Batman?

[Bleck]

Exactly. ALSO TEN

[kitty]

I hear the similarity on a small scale, but I think that may just be a case of "hearing what one wants to hear" thing.

[Wacky]

I don't know about you but the Batman theme is perfect for the Dark Knight series also. I have no idea why they didn't want to keep it.

[Nekofrog]

I hear the similarity on a small scale, but I think that may just be a case of "hearing what one wants to hear" thing.

It's almost exactly the same melody.

[Aninymouse]

Hahaha, good catch Neko.

[cobaltstarfire]

It could just be a coincidence, I remember writing a song once and then hearing something with a very similar motif a few weeks later.

[RoeTaKa]

Nobuo is Batman!

[zircon]

The tonality is pretty different. However, the Elfman theme actually quite a ripoff of a Schubert symphony written hundreds of years ago. Here's proof - I made this comparison to a part of the Credits theme from Advent Children (which is just the FF7 main theme in a minor tonality anyway), but it applies here:

http://zirconstudios.com/music/random/schubff7.mp3

This is more damning imo

[Sil]

Elfman's Batman theme is taken from Bernard Herrmann's 1959 score to Journey to the Center of the Earth. I think Elfman admitted this in an interview but it was a while ago.

[K.B.]

Could someone please contact Mr. Elfman? That's a pretty sweet remix; we should ask him to submit it.

BTW: there's a lot more to Uematsu's tune than just that bit, and that bit is so small that it's reasonable to think it's been used more than once before... see

(shamelessly stolen from an older thread).

EDIT: I post too slowly. See previous two posts.

[cobaltstarfire]

I LOVE the Patchabel rant.

And it's so terribly true, always fun to pick out that particular chord progression in songs. Cause then I get to run to one of my friends and go "look look!" /nerd

[Cerrax]

The correlation is iffy to me, because the version of the Batman theme he uses as the example is a variation of the actual Elfman Batman theme. The true Elfman theme is an upbeat sort of march tune with a completely different rhythm and it changes the sound of the song a lot. Much how like how the Elder Scrolls main theme sounds a lot like Pirates of the Caribbean if you use the right varion of both, because they have similar notes

[LuketheXjesse]

I was actually listening to the VotLS track for this song when it just suddenly hit me. Now I will never hear it without thinking "I'm BATMAN"

You're really observant.

Also your sig to the right creeps me out

[Escariot]

What I hear:

FF7:

A, B, C, G, Gb

Batman:

B, Db, D, G, Gb

[Alexis]

In most western music there are a total of 12 different notes to choose from in order write music with. Some music is going to eventually end up sounding the same.

[zykO]

pachalbel rant is one of my life's inspirations

[1337 1]

I hear the similarity on a small scale, but I think that may just be a case of "hearing what one wants to hear" thing.

Case in point is this "misheard" song. WARNING: you will never be able to play brawl again without thinking of it like this:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=IXLlBLq82fI

[Salluz]

Case in point is this "misheard" song. WARNING: you will never be able to play brawl again without thinking of it like this:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=IXLlBLq82fI

AHAHAHAHAHA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj5xq-VQBTU

[DrumUltimA]

What I hear:

FF7:

A, B, C, G, Gb

Batman:

B, Db, D, G, Gb

escariot is actually right on. The only thing those two motifs have in common (aside from the G and Gb) is the contour. The reason you listen to them back to back and go HEY WAIT A MINUTE is because of the G and Gb. But in reality, final fantasy is using that Gb (or as I prefer to think, F#) as a modal mixture, going from a minor i chord to a major IV (modally dorian), whereas the batman, just for that motif, is staying in a purely natural minor state (modally aeolian).

Honestly I am not familiar with the soundtrack to batman with anywhere near the same intimacy as I am with FF7, but even though I hear similarities between the two tracks, I hardly think nobou was "stealing" from danny elfman any more than any composer steals from any composer. In fact, I think coincidence is just as likely a culprit here as theft is. The FF7 motif, as mentioned earlier, is a motif used THROUGHOUT the game (I think Aeris' theme is the strongest example of this motif). Listening to just the batman track that Neko posted, the motif is used melodically much differently than the FF7 motif. Though I do admit, I hear bits of jenova in the batman theme opening

The other thing is that there is only so much music that can be contained in the genre of cheesy japanese video game music, so it's practically impossible to avoid sounding like other cheese incidental music without making a bold move. So all in all, I don't think nobou stole from danny.

But I still think nobou rehashes his music all the time