What's the most surprising song – via "Muzak" (style) – that you've heard in a shopping environment?

Mine is Happy Jack.

Froze me in the aisle.

 

Not Muzak but close, we were at a high class, fine dining holiday dinner featuring a harpist for entertainment. "Wait, I know this song... I don't know any harp songs... what is this?" Finally, I'm singing along in my head, "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow..."

 

Elvis Costello - "Veronica"

 

"Surf's Up"

 

Probably hearing "Golden Cage" by Erlend Øye's mid-00s outfit The Whitest Boy Alive at a Japanese restaurant two years ago. Very niche. Hadn't heard it in a long while before then; it was one of the first songs I "discovered" for myself as a teenager and was among the songs that got me into collecting.

 

Mid-70's, a friend of mine told me he had heard a Muzak version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash", but I didn't believe him.
About a year later I was working at Carl's Jr. after hours, and I heard it over the Muzak system. The main riff was played by violins.

 

Who Loves the Sun, VU

 

In 1965, noticing that Capitol was having success with their "Hollyridge Strings Play The Beatles/Beach Boys" records, Columbia decided to give it a shot with their most prestigious artist. Some tunes obviously lend themselves better to the format than others. This has got to be the lamest thing I've ever heard. You simply can't make an instrumental out of a lyric-oriented song that only consists of one note. It sounds like morse code. And what's up with the minor key? I don't even think Dylan himself would recognize this if he ever heard it while in a dentist's waiting room.

 

Wow, that is bizarre.
A bunch of one-note shrieking.
: )

 

Fairies Wear Boots- Sabbath

 

Shoppers flee the supermarket!

The cowboy harp on the fade adds "authenticity", brings it all back home.

 

Cocteau Twins-Iceblink Luck
New Order-Bizarre Love Triangle (Hook bass solo x2 version)

 

"The Visitors (Crackin' Up)" - ABBA

 

Prefab Sprout's "When Love Breaks Down"