Solved: Sounds like Robbie Williams, but doesn't seem 2 be...

Hi there!

I'm quite struggling with a song that I guess is easy to find once you can remember big enough a piece of lyrics to google, but so far I can't.

Okay, the song goes at quite some pace. In the beginning you hear a male voice singing with only an acoustic guitar playing in the background (the voice is quite like that of Robbie Williams), and the chorus goes "na na na naa naa na na naa... na na na naa naa na na naa... na na na naa naa na na naa... na na na!"

I go crazy with that one! Does anyone know the song?

Thanks a lot!

could it be Nah Neh Nah by Vaya Con Dios ?

He sings in English... I would swear it's Robbie Williams, but I can find no lyrics that would fit the song...

No, that's definitely not it. This song seems to be quite known, it's not a rare version.

ok, i'll try again (i'm gonna keep doing all the na na na or la la la songs i know that seem to fit)

How 'bout Dance Me To The End Of Love by Leonerd Cohen ?


(and btw: Vaya Con Dios sing in english and they are VERY well known)

tell me a bit more about the voice at the beginning, is he singing fast or slowly? soft or rough?

Nope, it's also not the Leonard Cohen thing. I didn't mean to diss VcD, I know them. But it drives me nuts that the voice sounds just like Robbie Williams!

Okay, the whole piece is in a minor, I guess. It starts with a voice like that of Robbie Williams in a soft tone, accompanied by an acoustic guitar, goes on like that for 2 verses and then develops into the catchy-sounding, somewhat happy chorus (i.e. the "na na na naaa naaa na na naaa..." part). You could dance foxtrot to that piece.

This drives me NUTS!

any way you can record the na na na part so I can get an idea of the melody?

I'm convinced I know what you're talking about, I can feeel the song on the tip of my tongue but can't seem to pinpoint it.

the chorus, is it just one person too, or several? male or female? is the song fairly recent?

Can you read notes or guitar tabs? I could write them down...

It's always just the one guy singing, I think it's no more than 2 years old.

yeah, guitar tabs would be great

Okay, here's how you would write the chorus (only the melody) as a guitar tab:

("...." means the note is held longer)

e|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G|------------------2....--0....--------------------------------------------------------------------
D|-------------2--------------------2---0....---0....------------0---3....---2....---0---2....----
A|--0----3--------------------------------------------------2-----------------------------------0-
E|-------------------------------------------------------3-----------------------------------------
dm G C am


EDIT: I put the fitting chords under the melody...

And the rest would be:

e|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
G|------------------2....--0....-----------------------------------------
D|-------------2--------------------2---0....---0....---0---2----------
A|--0----3-------------------------------------------------------0....--
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pretty catchy tune, sung with the before-stated "na na na"... I hope you know that tune!

that acutally fits quite well into your na na na naa sequence. Now it's driving me mad too. I know I'm gonna spend the better part of the week with that tune in my head if we don't solve this. Any other info at all? where did you hear it? tv? movie? radio? any sort of reference we can go on ? no words at all? not even a guess?

I heard it before on the radio, but what finally set me off was when I heard a live band playing it friday night.

Sorry 'bout the lyrics, I know it's in English, but I have virtually nothing but single unlinked words left in my mind. I didn't pay attention to that and I regret it now... The next time I hear it on the radio I will definitely try to remember as much as I can, but for now I go crazy

It could also be "ba" oder "da" for "na", I'll see what more info I can gather...

Okay, I finally got it out. That indeed is Robbie Williams - Road to Mandalay.

Thanks for letting us know the result

Here's the song for others. Very nice song. Po- pom- pom- pa-pa-ram...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVjIn05TRMo

Solved.