Me and my buddy are trying to put a set-list together with the theme mentioned in the title.
“Unassuming places” is intentionally a little vague, but the idea is that feeling of “damn, I did not expect a song from this [insert piece of media] to be that good,” or when you sit down and really listen to something you are surprised at well-composed it is, or songs that sound simple and reach a wide audience, but are actually a lot more complicated under the hood.
Some examples of the sounds we’re going for are:
- Disney tunes like Someday My Prince Will Come and Bear Necessities
- Children’s songs/show themes such as Castaways by the Backyardigans, or the iCarly, Arthur, and Flintstones theme songs
- Songs from Nintendo games (really the epitome/inspiration of this list) like KK Jazz and KK Bossa, the Eterna Forest and Littleroot themes, Hateno Village theme, or the Underworld theme from Super Mario Bros.
You might also be able to call this list “songs geared towards children but are actually good” but I feel like that has more of a nursery rhyme-ish connotation and I’m hoping to branch out of that.
We’re a guitar duo with a jazz background, so songs that could potentially fit that mold are preferred, but I don’t want that to hinder anyone from giving suggestions! I’d love to see what anyone can come up with.
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I really love this theme. Off the top of my head:
“Verdanturf Town” and “Dewford Town” from Pokemon Sapphire/Ruby.
“Fate and Destiny” from Patrick Doyle’s score for Brave (or really anything by Patrick Doyle; his soundtrack for Goblet of Fire is lovely).
“Test Drive” and “Romantic Flight” from How to Train your Dragon.
“Thula Baba” from Civilization 6. (This one isn’t streaming, so it’s a little hard to find, but it’s a beautiful rendition of a traditional lullabye: https://youtu.be/25X8JYsPqyg.")
“What are You” from Silvestri’s soundtrack for Ready Player One.
Hope that helps! If I think of any more, I’ll add them.
Bubble Guppies. The songs are legit bops. I Sent You a Letter, Bunch of Bones, Go Down to a Restaurant, Long Time Ago, Super Super Supermarkets, Ocean Animals, the list goes on. I love the hooks, harmonies, production, etc. I challenge anyone to name songs catchier than these.
Also, Preschool Popstars. Juice Box, Wait Until I Cook It, Daycare Dance Party. Super fun, funny, and great production.
Lots of great classic Sesame Street songs. In particular, they had two disco albums that my kids and I have dance parties to. One of the Bee Gees produced one of them. Neither album has any skips. I also love the song I’ve Got Two—Susan could sing!
We love Disney soundtracks, and one of our favorites is The Princess and the Frog, very jazzy New Orleans tunes.
Have fun!