Eight Melodies


 * This article is about the song from Mother. For EarthBound's eight melodies, see Smiles & Tears.

Eight Melodies is the name of a song from the NES game Mother. It has a mayor role in the storyline, though it does not appear in the next two Mother titles. Outside the game, it is a famous song that has been used in the Mother Soundtrack and, along with the song Bein' Friends, remixed in Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Onett stage.

Mother
Early in the game, the protagonist Ninten travels to Magicant and meets Queen Mary, who gives him the task to recollect eight melodies from a song she doesn't remember. After a long journey in search of said melodies, Ninten finally collects the eighth melody and goes back to Queen Mary. She reveals her as Maria, Ninten's great-grandmother and husband of George. The couple was abducted 80 years before the beginning of the game and raised a baby alien named Giegue, who was now trying to conquer the Earth.

During the final battle with Giegue, he explains Ninten about his great-grandparents raising him, and a new command becomes able: "Sing". Any character from the party may try to sing Eight Melodies to Giegue. At the beginning, he quickly reacts to make that character stop singing. However, he becomes weaker each time the melodies are sung, until he can't stop them anymore. Apparently, he is being hurt by strong emotions that song makes him feel. It is likely George and Maria taught him the song while they were raising him, and that an emotion so strong as love (see the lyrics section below) hurts his confused mind.

The song appears in the credit sequence, along with a part from the title screen's music, but it is never used again in the Mother series, because each of the following games use new different melodies, even though Giygas/Giegue appears in EarthBound.

Mother Soundtrack
In the soundtrack of the game, Eight Melodies appears as the tenth song, and includes, like the credit sequence, the title's screen music, even though the original song does not contain this fragment. The lyrics from Eight Melodies, including the second part, are shown here:


 * Take a melody
 * simple as can be.
 * Give it some words and
 * sweet harmony.
 * Raise your voices
 * all day long now,
 * love grows strong now,
 * Sing a melody of love.
 * Oh, love.


 * Love is the power,
 * love is the gory,
 * love is the beauty
 * and the joy of spring.


 * Love is the magic,
 * love is the story,
 * love is the melody
 * we all can sing.