Saturday 20 August 2016

Pony Music Library 22: "Winter Wrap Up"

I'm still recovering from that gripping hockey final; I really wasn't expecting us to beat the Dutch, but I'm so glad I watched the last quarter live. Anyway, it's PML time again – and I suspect quite a few of you have been wondering when this particular song would turn up!

What? "Winter Wrap Up"

Who? Daniel Ingram, Steffan Andrews (orchestration) and Cindy Morrow (lyrics)

Which? Show song

When? December 2010

Why? "Three months of winter coolness..." – go on, I dare you not to smile. This was where it all began as far as big show songs are concerned. Before this, early FiM fans had Pinkie's little ditties and Flutterguy's bout of weirdness to enjoy, but "Winter Wrap Up" took things to another level. It was actually leaked a few weeks before the episode went out (nothing new under the sun!) but even in 2016 I love watching people's first reactions to this. This is the point where many watchers become actual fans/bronies for the first time. It's also where we first heard just how good Rebecca Shoichet's singing voice was for Twilight. Oddly, there are two "official music videos" for this: one is on the Hasbro Studios Shorts channel, which is a little more of a PMV. The one embedded here, though, is the original, courtesy of the My Little Pony Official channel. As the traditional closing song for BUCK, it also provides me with some particularly special memories of my own.

3 comments:

  1. It always confuses me when people use the word "hockey" to talk about field hockey. I always assumed it was one of those sports that nobody cares about, but back in 2012 NBC said that it's actually one of the most popular sports worldwide?

    That just blows my mind. I mean, I don't watch soccer or cricket, but I was at least aware that lots of people outside of the US do. I had no idea that "professional field hockey" was even a thing; I assumed it was like luge or modern pentathlon, where it was basically an Olympic-only deal. How can a sport be so popular, yet have so little of a footprint in the American psyche? I ask ya.

    As for the song, I smiled, I admit it. Probably my second favorite show song, after "Find a Pet."

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    1. I had no idea that "professional field hockey" was even a thing

      It isn't, really, outside of the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, India and sort-of England. It's very popular in schools (even I played it for a while) but there's not much cash in it. Winning Olympic gold, though, wakes people up: the BBC delayed the main evening news by an hour to show this match live, and it got the largest audience of anything. (From memory, some of the track cycling events came next. The athletics were in the middle of the night UK time, so had no chance even with Bolt and Farah.)

      How can a sport be so popular, yet have so little of a footprint in the American psyche?

      Handball is the one that's always baffled me here. It's an exciting sport that's hugely popular all over Europe and doesn't need a lot of expensive equipment, yet it's almost completely unknown in the UK. I don't think I've ever seen it on TV apart from at the Olympics.

      As for ice hockey, it actually gets slightly larger crowds than (field) hockey, but because we're not successful at international/Olympic level, almost nobody away from hardcore fans cares about it. The fact that few towns here have ice rinks also has a bearing.

      Oh yeah, pony. I do like "Find a Pet", but probably not enough for it to make its way into the PML. No promises, though!

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    2. I, for one, do not even understand how handball is a sport.

      It's just a bunch of people running around with a ball, throwing it at each other. Literally anyone can do it. D:

      Of course, they give gold medals for walking, so...

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