What's That Song in the Sidney Crosby Gatorade Commercial?

Posted on Apr 3rd 2008 2:00PM by James Sullivan
Comments

'O Fortuna' (from 'Carmina Burana'), by Carl Orff

No piece of music howls "epic" quite as spectacularly as 'Carmina Burana,' the medievally-inspired choral work by the late German composer Carl Orff. In the hands of Gatorade, the apocalypse comes in the form of a hockey shootout: "The fate of the game lies in the hands of a kid," read the title cards as Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins' 20-year-old phenom, lines up for a game-winning goal. The camera voluptuously pans the still black-and-white images of the action; a bright orange drop of Sid the Kid's sweat lands on the puck with a colossal crash of cymbals.

The songs from the 'Carmina Burana' cycle, especially the bookending 'O Fortuna,' have a long, crazy-quilt history that attests to the work's universal (if sometimes critically dismissed) appeal. Orff's signature music has been interpreted by such wildly divergent characters as Barbra Streisand, Ray Manzarek (in Oliver Stone's 'The Doors') and Nas ('Hate Me Now'). Perhaps most improbably, 98 Degrees often took the stage to it.

Onscreen, it has been featured in Terrence Malick's 'Badlands,' 'Natural Born Killers,' 'Jackass: The Movie' and 'Cheaper By the Dozen.' Fans of 'The Office' might remember it from the barn episode, in which Dwight terrorizes new salesman Ryan by putting him through an initiation ritual.

That kind of comic application confirms that 'Carmina Burana' is now officially a cliché: Cue the frantic Teutonic choir, and something absurdly big must be about to happen. Time, apparently, like the marauders of yore, to stock up on the candy-colored water.

Listen to the song!

Buy it on iTunes

Next: Dell Vostro Commercial

Can't find that song from that commercial? Send the commercial, movie or TV show to us at whatsthatsong@aim.com.