The Cat From Ipanema

Have you ever heard of "The Cat From Ipanema"?

There is a song that I coded in to my blog theme that auto-plays when you go to my profile, and that very song is this masterpiece. It's like if felines and Bossa Nova had a baby-- that is to say, though the "singing voice" doesn't exactly sound like a cat, it does make you think of one doesn't it? It's the silly kind of pwaow-pwaow sound that's quite prominent in every "cat-themed" music that I find on YouTube.

Meowthsynth, as the musically-attuned folks call it.

Now, there are many versions of this song available on YouTube apart from the original one-minute and thirty-nine second video "the cat from ipanema" by user j1gggs, such as:

- five cats in ipanema (https://youtu.be/zKowD9BS0uE)
- 4 cats in ipanema (https://youtu.be/okHYxlqBkes)
- three cats in ipanema (https://youtu.be/QbDc66Xs2OY)
- two cats in ipanema (https://youtu.be/gbNQDvqIak8)
- and an honorable mention (https://youtu.be/FHVsaDnXVbE)

... and, actually, those are it. I wonder if there will ever be more than five. But I digress. Out of all of these listed, you may be wondering: well Chochi, which The Cat From Ipanema version did you put into the autoplay code? And to that I ask: What is the longest time you have stayed on my blog for?

When I was searching for a suitable song with the keyword "silly" (let's be honest, I embody the word!!!!), I came across The Cat From Ipanema as the first result. Mind you, I've listened to the original The Girl From Ipanema before so I pretty much know how it goes. But a cat singing the whole thing? This certainly raised my brow. However, what proved to be more eyebrow-raising was the second search result: the cat from ipanema 1hr version (https://youtu.be/V7vtKvV8oXo).

Inside jokes are always the funniest when they're just between you and yourself. I figured that if I shotput a 1 hour version into the code despite the loop feature already in the string, no one would notice but me. And it would be the funniest fucking thing. I wanted to double check however if this was truly the song that I wanted to represent my blog, my life's rambles... this, other plane of me on some random corner of the internet. And so I listened to it. The whole 1:00:05 of the thing.

The absolute surprise on my face when I heard a special addition to the original melody. It does not show up on the first few seconds and it doesn't either as the song ends, but rather, this little easter egg makes itself known to you when you have sat down for approximately 32 minutes and 50 seconds into it. The result is the track looping once more from the start, but instead of the G-E-E-D-G notes we're all familiar with, this melody takes a whole jazzy turn. You're going to have to go to the video and listen for yourself. This addition lasts for a delightful two minutes before it loops again to the original like that didn't just happen.

It really makes you wonder how much creative people have in common by sprinkling little "inside jokes" into their works. Discovering them on your own, however, now feels like you're in on the inside joke too; a little something from the creator to you.