May the Fourth Be With You... or The Biggest Band Within 12 Parsecs

As the unofficial holiday of all things Star Wars, May the Fourth (be with you) is the perfect time to celebrate one of the best known bands to play the silver screen. Even if you've seen Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope a thousand times, you may not have known that the colloquially known "Cantina Band" has a real name, or that their signature song has a title, or even the existence of diverse and eclectic cover versions which have been done of this swinging song.

The group of musicians putting down the memorable riffs during the cantina sequence of Star Wars weren't known by an actual name for many years. The beauty of a universe as deep as the one George Lucas created  allowed for these little details to be filled in later. So the next time you are trying to impress your friends with arcane knowledge of nerdy things, blow their minds by busting out the cantina band's real name: Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.

Their galaxy-wide tour did not feature a performance on Alderaan.

And if you really want to impress them (or be labeled an über-geek; either or both could happen) bestow upon them the Jedi wisdom that the song known by most as "Cantina Band #1" from the Star Wars original soundtrack was later retconned with the name, "Mad About Me" in the story entitled "We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale" by Kathy Tyers. No matter what you call it, this number is instantly recognizable and has spawned numerous cover versions over the years since it first grabbed our attention in 1977. Here are some rather fun variations on "Cantina Band #1", err, "Mad About Me".

First we have a rendition on Chapman Stick, which almost looks like an instrument one of Figrin D'an's Bith band mates might have played!



The piece sounds exceedingly well in the style of Django Reinhardt, as displayed here by the Hot Club of Tucson.



Props to Rusty Cage for his Melodica rendition of "Cantina Band #1". I imagine The Hooters would be proud.



I had not seen this version of "Cantina Band #1" before today and I must say, this young harpist is frightfully talented.



Then we have a heavy metal medley of Star Wars music by guitar-Jedi, 331Erock who must be using The Force.



And no amount of digital wizardry will ever remove the sound of Meco's cheesetastic disco version from the minds of Star Wars fans old enough to remember when this track went to #1 on the Billboard charts in the Fall of 1977.



While those variations (and many others) of "Cantina Band #1" are fun, my personal favorite comes from the UK rock group, Ash. If they allowed electric guitars in Chalmun's Cantina, this is what the song might have sounded like instead. Crank this one up for maximum enjoyment.



Now that "Cantina Band #1/Mad About Me" is an earworm lodged in your memory banks, happy Star Wars Day and May the Fourth Be With You!

Tweet

Follow @LinerNotes