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What's In My MP3 Player: Mother 3+'s "Pollyanna"

Posted by Nadia Oxford

There exists a song that's a perfect accompaniment to the sunrise on the first warm day of the year. That song, as I discovered though an example of ideal iPod shuffling, is “Pollyanna” from the Mother 3+ soundtrack.

Pollyanna is one of a few pieces of music that recur through all three games in the Mother/Earthbound series. The revision done for the Mother 3+ soundtrack—which you can buy on iTunes (do it)—is very pretty and, as I already stated, God's own theme song for springtime.

However, I dare say that the first occurrence of the song (Mother for the Famicom) is the most impressive. The 8-bit era wasn't lacking for ambitious and memorable game music, but retro-Pollyanna is especially heartfelt and spunky. The story for Mother was a bit less structured than most Famicom RPG offerings: not aimless, but not as urgent as “Holy crap, a Dragon Lord draws near.” Pollyanna, which serves as the basic world map theme for Mother, reflects the laid-back start to Ninten's adventure.

The name of the song is telling in itself: “Pollyanna” is a reference to the hyper-positive lead girl of a popular children's book initially published in 1913 (it's still being printed and adapted today). When things were looking down, Pollyanna played the “Glad Game,” which allowed her to see the good bad situations. “Pollyanna” is even a term in the English language that refers to cheerful optimism.

No surprise that the Mother tune of the same name is so upbeat. Even its lyrics are warm with sugary references to love, hope, and silver linings.

Yes, Pollyanna has lyrics. Karaoke time!

Related Links:

What's in my MP3 Player: Earthbound "Snowbound" OC Remix
What's in my MP3 Player: Castlevania II "Castle of Tears"
What's in my MP3 Player: Shadow's Theme


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Roto13 said:

You may have convinced me to give Earthbound another shot. Maybe.

March 19, 2009 1:18 AM

AlexB said:

It's wonderful when this plays in Mother 3 and you're traveling through the "museum of Earthbound." Makes the nostalgia hit hard and really ties the series together. It was at that moment that it occurred to me Itoi might have been sincere when he hinted at Mother 3 being the last in the series.

Smash Bros. Brawl had a great rendition of the song, too.

March 19, 2009 1:41 PM

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

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Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

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