The First Known Song Ever Written!!!

[johnnyhempseed84]

The point is, this is a damn old song, so shut the hell up people.

[harrijac]

"Oldest song" does not mean "first song"...there could have been plenty more composed before this yet do be discovered.

not to be that guy...

[HelmutVillam]

@harrijac

notice the word "known" in the title...

[MucusFelidae]

The very first song of mankind went: "Wer soll das bezahlen...? Wer hat soviel Geld..?"

(Who's to pay for it, who has that much money?)

Nobody can convince me of the contrary.

[MrJsebastian00]

This needs to be remixed by Tiesto 

[MyPhysics101]

Syrian???? 3400 years ago, What?

Do you mean Assyrian?

[lightbulbyrne]

Thumbs up if your still listening in 2012 :)

[kaychaos5]

Just Wow ..... weve Gone a Loooong way :D

[Holycrap27]

It sounds like runescape

[bttfjulesvernemarty]

The picture on the video looks ancient Egyptian

[TheShkaf]

Thumbs down for ruining an ancient song with a stupid intro

[Noponewannabe]

Sounds like something from the legend of Zelda XD

[thedarkness667]

@Noponewannabe A Link to the Past XD (SNES)

[AWOC221]

Isn't it sad that somewhere in the bowels of the Internet there will be a dubstep remix of this...

[MattVariety]

@AWOC221 The bowels? You could just search on YouTube and easily find one, sadly.

[thruthseeker83]

soouds like some ol ringtones..lol

[8ltm8]

My mom made this song lol



[seyalcops]

I KNOW THIS SONG...not

[kulairock]

The first song ever made was Baby from Bieber, assholes.

[tomoole]

This is a tune not a song.

[IdarkphoenixI]

Weird Al made the first song in history. You heard it here first folks!

[PaladinCS2007]

sounds like a song from a snes rpg game lol

[2Granule]

Sounds like the tune to Gregorian Chant "Hodie Christus natus est"

Played slowly.

Perhaps there was some unconscious "borrowing" going on here.

[jackzop]

if it was the first song ever written, why is it hymn no. 6?

[pawspector]

@jackzop The tablet was discovered in Syria in the 1950's and was made of clay. There were instruction for a singer accompanied by a nine-stringed instrument. Likely a Lyre.

Tempo notation is missiong so several artisans have tried to recreate the instrument and there is some personal interpretation. The music it is very beautiful in it's simplicity.

[menohraful]

@pawspector simple and enchanting!

[kvn89]

@jackzop haha very true

[bluesborn]

@jackzop LOL! that's good.I assume no.6 is the earliest KNOWN song.Those Hymns written prior to 6 having no doubt been forever lost in the sands of time.

[DavidDecapitation]

@jackzop earliest discovered song, not first song. Big difference.

[toocrazyboutdogs]

@jackzop It belongs to a collection of clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform by the Hurrians around the same time period. Number six was the only complete tablet and therefore the oldest surviving complete work of notated music.

[DAZZER435]

GO GO GO

[planetery]

Ancient music + shitty modern keyboard sound = authenticity:FAIL

[mystic81006]

it sounds like we are chiness if you plaese,we are chiness if you dont please.

[Tim4196]

The Ancients had super mario brothers 3!

[MushroomedAnymore]

That's the most worthless garbage reconstruction of an Ancient Melody I've ever heard. If you played that back in ancient Canaan they would flay you alive and spit on your remains!!! :-O

[panosGiat]

its sounded like t mobile spot

:ppp

[a2r1v1i2s]

really? is this the first song ever written? if so thats amazing. hints of ode to joy and crappy modern music. thats awesome.

[The8Animals8]

an instrument with a big pharaoh head wow!!

[schef75]

A big 'surprise' they already used computers to play music music back in 3.000 B.P.

[joealanouf]

not the first song but a song found on a achent sumarian clay tablet

[SimplyShaded]

sounds like a song from a video game lol

[shaharmos]

NICE

[sonicfanguyable]

they did not invint music in the 1800's they did at like the begining of man, u can find first ra probs tho

[jmbluhevn]

What happened to songs no.1 to no.4?

[shaharmos]

??????????

[tysonleefortman]

yeah i misspelled NO. I'm American too after all.

[tysonleefortman]

wow what a waste of air. Wasting space on this page for mindless chatter. Did you all get to this page on accident? Have you know relevant comments about the actual song or images? America is indeed dumbing down.

[EyEnOtgAy]

i'd wonder what cave men would think if they heard tic toc from kesha

[Kahini1998]

@EyEnOtgAy theyd probably think a constipated cow was trying to poop. Even though the songs not all that bad.They would probably think that.

[joshuahawkins63]

wheres hurrian hymn no.1?

[lgo26]

waaats the inro song??

[toocrazyboutdogs]

@lgo26 eBay - Weird Al 

[joey143anna]

@toocrazyboutdogs is this originally sumerian music?

[thefogster61]

The first song was "Who Let The Gods Out... Who? Who?"

[thesweetheartofevery]

hustle hustle,hustle,haaaaaaaaard

i see ace hood on this. lex luger

[thekaileyledoucer]

This is the first song ever written ? It says No. 6 what happened to No.1 ?

[lessermystery]

After listening to this several times, I became intrigued by the layers of instrumentation, musical arrangements, and harmonies. It sounds as if this is before chords were developed - but I think I'm getting in over my head by bringing chords into this because I'm not competent to explore this that deeply at this time.

I had a crazy though during my workout. Those additional arrangements came from the numbered editions of this Hurrian Hymn, and were put together in one song? ->

[lessermystery]

@lessermystery ... I further mused that each edition, like Hurrian Hymn number 7 for example, not only harmonized with all the other versions, but was played with a specific instrument as compared to Hurrian Hymn number 12. I don't know if those versions exists, I do know other numbered versions exist, I was just using those numbers to quickly illustrate my point.

[jenny21127]

without this we wouldn't have rebecca black, britney spears and justin bieber.

wait....

[troglodyto]

@jenny21127 killlll

[AGTLI]

The sad part is this is better then most of the modern 'songs' that we have to deal with today.

[Mrgalacticone]

@lessermystery no, your right. Cats are auspicious creatures. They walk around like they're the coolest thing on the planet, like they're too cool for even humans, which in most cases they are. Yep. thats a cat for you.

[Jonroger15]

oh my god thats crazy!

[atchoo2u]

slowed down pastoral would be awesome, and played more arpeggio fast would be cool to hear as well

[toocrazyboutdogs]

@egr5593 Clearly history just isn't for you.

[lessermystery]

@toocrazyboutdogs lol.

[MegamanFan86]

@toocrazyboutdogs Don't worry i spamed him =)

[toocrazyboutdogs]

@MegamanFan86 Thanks, that's thoughtful of you.

[12macuser]

@egr5593 can u crap enough!? gosh

[LebronBeast23]

@egr5593 ok calm down OFGWTKA haha

[CreativePotion]

@egr5593

Funniest comment EVER MADE!

LMFAOOOooOoOooOOOOO!!!!

[talkingdog]

DUBSTEP REMIXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

lolol i dare someone

[CardingtonLZF]

Coolio

[Dinglemaniac]

I swear.. this shit went off on my sub

[derbigpr500]

Its amazing to hear somethin that old, but its makes me depressed....its so primitive and just bad. Its haunting.

[TacoFlaco123]

THIS ROCKS! \m/

[KendrixTermina]

it was played? Anyay, it's surprisingly catchy. Nothing addictive-soul-touchingly-grea­t, but of all the ancient songs that could have survived, it was at least a good one.

[KendrixTermina]

This is it? The odd thing is, it SOUNDS like a hymn/religious sort of music. We made up so much new sorts of music, much more complex music, and yet, that similarity... It's astonishing how much information science can get out of old texst/ancient bones. You notice how much human life has improved... and how much the humans themselves have stayed essentially the same. It's a beautiful song, I'm glad it wasn't entirely lost to time. That the "rythm is unknown" means that you don't know how fast

[TrollReviewer]

wheres the download link so i can add this behemoth to my ipod

[DeltaForceExtra]

Bieber's*

[DeltaForceExtra]

better than Justin Biebr's

[zwhnekrh]

this is terrible!

[stormtrooper302]

Yeah.Sorry.But I don't buy it.

[pkrska]

Didn't Justin Bieber do this cover?

[ducktapemagic]

-head bang-

[UpForDanceroid]

That is THE MOST evil song ever...

[AryanMede]

¨Originally composed by Syrians about 3400 years ago¨

Syrians and Hurrians have noothing in common whatsoever.

[sclock2]

@AryanMede But this song is also on the rolling stone's first album...

[pkrska]

Needs work.

[sclock2]

@pkrska Yeah could definitely use more cowbell.

[aj863]

Music has come a long way. Thank god.

[MrLittleboomer]

i liked the first 1

[JRigals]

Sounds like my little brother playing piano.

[mrdogman666777]

This is not the first song ever written. It even in the title its number 6!!!

[guitarwaysted]

I like it,but i was wondering doesnt song means that people actually sing,and that this is a melody not a song.

[DBAMB1]

this is not the first song search up fires of nineveh about 5000 bc

[MrManky77]

at first i thought the e-bay song was the first one ever written

[JTeamjesters]

@MrManky77 Lmao lmao! Omg I thought that too for some strange crazy reason XD

[BunnieeBritt]

@MrManky77 LOL SAME!

[Lamentfordeath]

I feel like I am playing Civilization 2???

[gargos25]

@Lamentfordeath for me it sounds more like the first one... Babylonians had something similar, right? :D

[Lamentfordeath]

@gargos25 I've never had the honor of playing the first Civilization. In the second one theres a little tune entitled "The Shinning Path" which sounds oriental, but reminds me of this ancient Babylonian tune.

[MSK2232]

If this is the first song ever written, than why is it called Hurrian Hymn "no.6"? Wheres no 5? That makes this is the oldest known song.

[TheTrancemaster90]

I have seen another video about this ancient composition but the interpretetion was totally different and, I have to say, more credible than this one.

[xhemexx]

Thank you HURRIANS for starting music!! Thank you wherever you are!!

[gargos25]

@xhemexx come on... hurrians did not start music... music started when we stopped being apes... this was just the first music to be written down in some way...

[richarddumbrill]

Most scholars now agree that this interpretation by Anne Kilmer is incorrect on the basis firstly that she assumed that the scales were ascending while they are descending and that she assumes, secondly, that the Hurrians were knowledgeable in the practice of harmony, for which we have absolutely no evidence.

[lessermystery]

@richarddumbrill sour grapes Dick. Even if she is incorrect, she established a great starting point for further investigation into how it might have actually started. I assume your accomplishments are comparable to hers.

[richarddumbrill]

@lessermystery Well, if this is what you think, then you must be right...

[lessermystery]

@richarddumbrill I meant to say she established a great starting point for further investigation into how the piece really sounded, and you would likely have not got it right, if she hand't broke ground first, and did all the reconstruction work without the benefit of your counsel. You should thank her for clearing the path for you. All great discoveries come on the shoulders of others who made the great discovery leading to yours.

[krirre]

but.. how did this recording survive 3500 years??? :D

[12fig]

@krirre It isn't a recording.It's sheet music.The oldest recording comes from 1860,and it sounds like screams from the dead now.

[MSK2232]

@12fig he was joking, as you can see from the smiley...

[Jadwilli]

@krirre I hope you are joking!!! The notation was discovered written on a tablet in Ugarit, Syria. This is just an interpretation of what it would sound like. It's 3500 years ago, there was no way to record a melody!!!

[MSK2232]

@Jadwilli he was joking, as you can see from the smiley...

[jacksonshakur]

is this from a midi file?

[McFro95]

Rachet & Clank, thats the shit! XD

[lealowo]

wow! 3500 years ago there were some very stupid gigs

[figuamy]

ughhhhhhhhhhhh :@

[worldhypocrisy]

actually,there are older songs then this, they have deciphered sumerian music that dates back to 6000 b.c, im sure there is older then that, sumerians are supposed to have been around since 8000b.c, the oldest civilization ever known, older then the mayans,the incas, the egyptians....

[zaaaaaaaaaar]

how is it possible for this song to have been recorded and then stored?

[lessermystery]

@zaaaaaaaaaar Cuneiform was engraved onto clay tablets with a stylus. Maybe music was notated in the same fashion. Not sure just a guess.

[squeakyceej]

Hey, well to them this music must have been a freakin fad like Justin Bieber or something!

[cjalaska1]

lol werid al

[nikker1985]

Syrian music sucks.

[Corvastus]

Stupid question: if it's Hurrian Hymn no. 6, what about the other five?

[ThePhilosorpheus]

@Corvastus Well... it´s the oldest known song, doesn´t mean it´s really the first song ever written

[utubeuser112358]

@Corvastus I know this comment is super old, but hymn no. 6 was the only one well-preserved enough to be interpreted. There were something like 25 other hymns, but they didn't survive the thousands of years that passed.

[Skaggydog]

Now that Michel Jackson's dead I guess you can play anything on the internet

[Klezfiddle1]

Doe anyone out there know why Kilmer's interpretation of Hurrian Hymn no. 6 heard here, is so radically different than Dumbrill's interpretation (which I have uploaded of my arrangement for solo replica lyre) of the same piece?

[lessermystery]

my cat doesn't like this song. but i do! just found another vid saying a mesopatamian (sp) melody dated 2000 years earlier was recently discovered. i definitely want to here that one.

[Mrgalacticone]

@lessermystery this song brings back bad memories for your cat. Thats because cats are inter-dimensional space travelers capable of traveling forward and backwards into time. Your cat obviously didn't like his past live in mesopotamia.

[lessermystery]

Can I hazard a guess that all instruments are period instruments? This is beautifully done and SO exciting. I want to get a copy of all of her publications especially the ones dealing with her studies in this field.