Powerhouse (song)
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"Powerhouse" is a composition by Raymond Scott, most famous as the iconic "assembly line" music in animated cartoons. Written in 1936, "Powerhouse" first appeared in a cartoon in the 1943 Warner Bros. animation Porky Pig's Feat. [link]. It has been featured in over thirty-five Warner Bros. cartoons as well as shows such as Ren & Stimpy, Animaniacs, The Bernie Mac Show, and The Simpsons, including the film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and has served as a theme song for the Cartoon Network.
"Powerhouse" contains two distinct musical themes, played at different tempos, which have both been used in numerous cartoons. The slower theme is the "assembly line" music, which accompanies scenes of machinery or heavy industry. The faster theme is a frantic melody often employed in chase scenes.
The rock band Rush borrowed the melody in their 1978 song "La Villa Strangiato" on their Hemispheres album, as did Soul Coughing in their song "Bus To Beelzebub" from the album Ruby Vroom, not to mention They Might Be Giants, Devo, and many, many others.
External links
- [Clip of "assembly line" theme of "Powerhouse"] (.wav file) at [RaymondScott.com]
- [Clip of "chase" theme of "Powerhouse"] (.mp3 file) at [RaymondScott.com]
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