Anna’s Lullaby or How I Wrote the theme to How to Train Your Dragon…sort of
The following is a true story, that no one will believe.
Picture this. You’re working at your desk which faces a large window. The smaller, opened side windows allow in the sweet smells of a recently passed rainstorm in tandem with the multi-chordal harmonies of migrating birds. In a moment of peace, you decide to accompany the avian orchestra by playing some background music to assist you as you work. You open YouTube, a go to for orchestral background music and select a video that seems promising.
An arrangement for piano of a popular movie theme seems like the perfect selection. You start upon your work, but something seems off. Something in the chords, something in the timing, something feels different. Your attention pulls away from your work to the music. It is in that moment, that you recognize the music. You recognize not the famous musical theme, but your music. You recognize the lullaby that you wrote over twenty years ago.
It may seem obvious, but that is what just happened to me. Twenty years ago, I wrote a lullaby. After a period of frustrated “learning”, I was finally in a place where I could truly learn and enjoy playing the piano. I wrote a lullaby titled “Anna’s Lullaby,” entitled for a girl that I was then seeing. It was a short piece that was both calm but driving. Since 2003, I have played this song regularly, but have never put it to paper.
The movie, How to Train Your Dragon has an amazing score. John Powell’s ability to find the right tone to match this epic Dreamworks film is worthy of its Academy Award nomination. “Test Drive” contains what, most would arguably agree, to be the lasting musical theme of the movie. A swelling piece of music filled with the potential of adventure. I have heard arrangements of this piece played at events ranging from concerts to galas to weddings. The piece transcends the movie it was written for. Personally, I have enjoyed it for many years, having played it as my mental soundtrack for any number of adventures.
In all these years of listening to this theme, I had never heard it played significantly slowed down and on solo piano. That is until today, when trying to get some work done, I put on a seemingly innocent track entitled “How to Train Your Dragon (Calm Piano + Rain ASMR).” Instead of being relaxed, I am getting overstimulated with increasing anxiety as the similarities between the two pieces begin to reveal themselves.
For legal reasons, I should probably state that “Anna’s Lullaby” and “Test Drive” are not the same piece of music. However, when you strip the two pieces to their bare bones, the similarities are eerily similar. At some points, sounding like the exact same song. I’m not sure how I never noticed that the chord progressions and melodies were so similar. The only reason that I can think of is that I have never heard John Powell’s score stripped down to solo piano before today.
In case you were wondering (and this seems like a good place to put it), “Anna’s Lullaby” was composed in 2003 and How to Train Your Dragon was released in 2010.
Whether you believe me or not, is up to you. Besides a presumably long since deleted voicemail, I have no proof of this claim. You might think that this would make me upset, but it doesn’t. Proof or not, I have that song in my heart; and no one will be able to take it away from there.