Listen along with me as we check out the progression of “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap.

The original:

And then the second chorus was heavily sampled in Jason Derulo’s “Watcha Say”:

And of course “Hide and Seek” made an appearance on Australian Idol in Season 5 by contestant Ben McKenzie:

What really made the song famous was it’s inclusion in a scene of the (now-defunct) teen drama The O.C.:

That inspired a Saturday Night Live Digital Short parody of The O.C. finale, called “Dear Sister”…

Check this out here (it was playing automatically).

And then someone parodied the parody on YouTube:

And then, of course, there are parodies of the parodies and parodies of the parodies of the parodies. And parodies using Lord of the Rings scenes and parodies using The Office, etc.

So what does Imogen Heap think of the sampling, at least in Jason Derulo’s hit version of the song?

She spoke about it recently with the BBC:

Finally, I have to ask you about Jason DeRulo’s single Watcha Say – which samples Hide and Seek. It seems to have split fans right down the middle: Some love what he’s done and others are literally out for his blood. What do you think of it?

I really believe a song has a life of its own, so when I heard his version, I actually thought it was pretty good.

Even the first time? I found it took a bit of getting used to…

First time I heard it, yes. I understand that for some people, it’s their favourite song and it feels like he’s butchered it and butchered their memory of it. But, to me, I’ve heard it in so many contexts – by a choir, by a marching band – I loved that it was completely different.

You just can’t keep a good song down!

Thanks for listening along!