Eight Melodies

Two different sets of the Eight Melodies appeared in the Mother series. The first in the original Mother, the second in EarthBound. They both play a large role in their respective games' stories.

In Mother
The Eight Melodies of Mother was the song that Maria sung to Giegue as a lullaby during the time she was with him.

Throughout the game, Ninten will have to check or use Telepathy on certain objects or characters to learn each of the Eight Melodies. After getting the Ocarina, he can listen to any known melodies anywhere. He can learn them in any order, although the order listed in the game is below, along with their lyrics.
 * Doll - Take a melody
 * Canary - Simple as can be
 * Singing monkey - Give it some words and
 * Piano - Sweet harmony
 * Smiling cactus - Raise your voices
 * Dragon - All day long now love grows strong now
 * EVE - Sing a melody of
 * George's tombstone - Love, oh love.

After learning the Eight Melodies, Ninten will be warped from George's tombstone to Magicant where he must sing it to Queen Mary. She will remember the song, and Queen Mary will finally rest in peace, destroying Magicant.

Singing the Eight Melodies are the only way of defeating Giegue in the final battle.

In EarthBound
In EarthBound, the Eight Melodies are learned from each of the Your Sanctuaries. After learning all eight, Ness's mind will be one with Earth, and create his Magicant, where he will defeat the evil of his mind.

At the beginning of the game, Buzz Buzz will give Ness the Sound Stone to record the melodies at each Your Sanctuary location. Similar to the Eight Melodies in, most of the melodies can be recorded in a different order. Below is a list of the sanctuary locations, in the order that the Sound Stone lists them in.
 * Giant Step
 * Lilliput Steps
 * Milky Well
 * Rainy Circle
 * Magnet Hill
 * Pink Cloud
 * Lumine Hall
 * Lava Spring

Trivia

 * In Mother 3, during the staff credits, a medley consisting of the Eight Melodies of Mother, the Eight Melodies of EarthBound, and the Mother 3 Love Theme plays. In the Sound Player, it is called 16 Melodies (Beginning), obviously referencing the two sets of Eight Melodies.