Olympic Musical Flashback
The musical selections in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics certainly proved to be an entertaining and diverse mixture from Sir Edward Elgar’s LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY and Sir Hubert Parry & William Blake’s JERUSALEM to Queen’s BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY and The Beatles’ HEY JUDE. A few American compositions were included although most folks these days instantly identify THE LIBERTY BELL as the Monty Python TV Theme rather than the work of John Philip Sousa. One of my favorite inclusions was George Botsford’s BLACK AND WHITE RAG which was a huge hit parade success in Britain in 1951 as recorded by Trinidad-born ragtime pianist Winifred Atwell. I’m sure that Ms. Atwell, who died in 1983, would have been thrilled that an extract of her work was included in such a prestigious event. She sold masses of units for the Decca Record Company throughout the 1950’s both with individual compositions (also including THE BRITAINIA RAG and THE POOR PEOPLE OF PARIS) plus a series of medley singles such as LET’S HAVE A PARTY, LET’S HAVE ANOTHER PARTY and LET’S HAVE A DING DONG which were combinations of singalong favorites ranging from IF YOU KNEW SUSIE, KNEES UP MOTHER BROWN and BOOMPS A DAISY to YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS, I’M FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES and OH YOU BEAUTIFUL DOLL. One of the keys (pardon the pun!) to Winifred’s success was that she recorded mainly on an old upright piano which was referred to by Decca as her ‘other piano’. Her records were endlessly played on BBC radio request programs during the 1950’s and, as you can see from the following advertisement from May 1962, she was a headliner on the London cabaret scene.
And here’s a link to Winifred’s recording of BLACK AND WHITE RAG. http://youtu.be/MLN8AiQk-dw
Did they really say that?
In a recent issue of Billboard magazine, Cee Lo Green was described as a ‘veteran artist’. So with that in mind, I wonder how would they’d describe Smokey Robinson and Lionel Richie or, for that matter, Dave Brubeck and Clark Terry!
Source Music
American TV shows continue to feature some very interesting choices of commercial recordings on their soundtracks. I was particularly struck by the use of WISH YOU WERE HERE (John/Michels/Moushon/Panzer/
Whistling up a storm!
The latest chart single by American rapper Flo Rida is “Whistle” and it got me to thinking how many memorable records of years gone by featured whistling. Here’s an alphabetized list of just a few prime vintage examples of whistling on vinyl, if you get my meaning! As Lauren Bacall said to Humphrey Bogart in 1944’s “To Have And Have Not”: “You know how to whistle don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow”! I’ve included some YouTube links so that you can sample some of the recordings I remember.
AIN’T GWINE WHISTLE DIXIE ANYMO’ (Blackwell/Gilmore/Davis/
By Taj Mahal (Columbia: 1969) http://youtu.be/pHMxOjgAuL0
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE (Idle)
By Monty Python (Virgin: 1991) Eric Idle’s hit song from “Monty Python’s Life Of Brian” http://youtu.be/L2Wx230gYJw
BONY MORONIE (Williams)
By Larry Williams (Specialty: 1957) http://youtu.be/mdmuqYCf5Ik
CHARLIE’S SHOES (Baham)
By Billy Walker (Columbia: 1962) http://youtu.be/ARkn2niw-Jw
DAYDREAM (Sebastian)
By The Lovin’ Spoonful (Kama Sutra: 1966) http://youtu.be/fwH4wPz-URM
DON’T WORRY BE HAPPY (McFerrin)
By Bobby McFerrin (EMI Manhattan: 1988) http://youtu.be/d-diB65scQU
FREIGHT TRAIN (James/Williams)
By The Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group Featuring Nancy Whiskey (UK Oriole: 1957)
-A Top 5 hit in the UK. Nancy Whiskey sang and Chas McDevitt whistled http://youtu.be/YAuQV0IA8vk
GIVE A LITTLE WHISTLE (Washington/Harline)
Cliff Edwards voiced Jiminy Cricket with this song in the 1940 Walt Disney cartoon feature “Pinnochio” http://youtu.be/KqkdXV8ig9s
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (Morricone)
Ennio Morricone’s theme from the soundtrack of the 1966 classic western http://youtu.be/LQGGQ-FCe_w
A HANDFUL OF SONGS (Steele/Bart/Pratt)
By Tommy Steele & The Steelmen (UK Decca: 1957) http://youtu.be/XsKZ-NL_1Vg
THE HAPPY WHISTLER (Robertson)
By Don Robertson (Capitol: 1956) http://youtu.be/1SH37ksKseg
HEARTACHES (Klenner/Hoffman)
By Ted Weems & His Orchestra (Decca: 1947) Featuring the whistling of Elmo Tanner http://youtu.be/Mx4gi5_AV2U
HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBER (Howard)
By Guy Mitchell (Columbia: 1959) http://youtu.be/fmRjgWW8yn0
I WAS KAISER BILL’S BATMAN (Greenaway/Cook)
By Whistling Jack Smith (Deram: 1967) http://youtu.be/7fRS5nxYxoo
IF I WERE A BLACKBIRD (Murphy)
By Ronnie Ronalde (UK Columbia: 1950)
JUST WALKING IN THE RAIN (Bragg/Riley)
By Johnnie Ray (Columbia: 1956) http://youtu.be/8uCsvWgmjwg
KNEE DEEP IN THE BLUES (Endsley)
By Guy Mitchell (Columbia: 1956) http://youtu.be/wkTFrGkwxsA
MAGIC MOMENTS (Bacharach/David)
By Perry Como (RCA: 1958) http://youtu.be/9ND3oghPL5M
MARCH FROM THE RIVER KWAI (Arnold) and COLONEL BOGEY (Alford)
By Mitch Miller & His Orchestra & Chorus (Columbia: 1958) Theme from the 1957 war movie http://youtu.be/CB8F8g1-4Uw
MARDI GRAS IN NEW ORLEANS (Byrd)
By Professor Longhair (Atlantic: 1949) http://youtu.be/_3UDmZAVC1U
ME AND JULIO DOWN BY THE SCHOOLYARD (Simon)
By Paul Simon (Columbia: 1972) http://youtu.be/46Cfrl7hMoQ
MONTEGO BAY (Barry/Bloom)
By Bobby Bloom (L&R/MGM: 1970) http://youtu.be/gbXds42ZOj4
MY NAME IS JACK (Simon)
By Manfred Mann (UK Fontana: 1968) http://youtu.be/CwqhLdDYl1E
ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK A HEART (Bacharach/David)
By Gene Pitney (Musicor: 1962) http://youtu.be/uYya-hIus-U
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (Merrill)
By Guy Mitchell (Columbia: 1952) http://youtu.be/LNGRnJlvuhI
ROCKIN’ ROBIN (Thomas)
By Bobby Day (Class: 1958) http://youtu.be/PUKTgIK8DxA
SCHOOLBOY CRUSH (Schroeder/Gilbert)
By Cliff Richard & The Drifters (UK Columbia: 1958) http://youtu.be/B8gNaXN8RLc
SINGING THE BLUES (Endsley)
By Guy Mitchell (Columbia: 1956) http://youtu.be/hhrX6D1bBeo and Tommy Steele (UK Decca: 1956)
(SITTIN’ ON) THE DOCK OF THE BAY (Redding/Cropper)
By Otis Redding (Volt: 1967) http://youtu.be/8nA18g_PwG0
STANDING ON THE CORNER (Loesser)
By The Four Lads (Columbia: 1956) From the Broadway musical “The Most Happy Fella” http://youtu.be/rlbGQ0xKZbY
THE STRANGER (Joel)
By Billy Joel (Columbia: 1977) http://youtu.be/bnlvPoDU5LY
SUKIYAKI (Ei/Nakamura)
By Kyu Sakamoto (Capitol: 1963) http://youtu.be/mvuO0BsEEss
SWEET GEORGIA BROWN (Bernie/Pinkard/Casey)
By Brother Bones & His Shadows (Tempo: 1948) The signature theme of the Harlem Globetrotters http://www.youtube.com/watch?
TWISTED NERVE (Herrmann)
Bernard Herrmann’s theme from the 1968 British horror film “Twisted Nerve” which was later used by Quentin Tarantino in his first “Kill Bill” in 2003. http://youtu.be/qX4lBeRtexI
WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK (Churchill/Morey)
From the soundtrack of the 1937 Walt Disney cartoon classic “Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs” http://youtu.be/PgW3NDH6kmY
WHISTLIN’ BLUES (Lewis)
By Meade Lux Lewis (Bluebird: 1937) http://youtu.be/P2bxJfSUasE
WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL (Stephens)
By The New Vaudeville Band (Fontana: 1966) http://youtu.be/gxLAzuGtPpI
WISHING WELL (Trent D’Arby/Oliver)
By Terence Trent D’Arby (Columbia: 1988) http://youtu.be/n2Nd_lS9Kcs
I also loved the way that Alfred Newman’s “Street Scene” melody was whistled over the opening titles of Otto Preminger’s film noir classic “Where The Sidewalk Ends” (20th Century Fox: 1950) and, of course, TV viewers will never forget the Earle Hagen’s whistling theme which opened every episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” which ran from 1960 to 1968.
As I said earlier, this is just a selection and doesn’t include a number of more contemporary examples such as in John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” on his “Imagine” album in 1971 and I’m sure you have your own favorite examples. Thanks for reading about mine.
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Movie Quote of yesteryear:
“I am big…it’s the pictures that got small”
Spoken by Gloria Swanson as the fading movie actress Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard” (Paramount: 1950)
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Rock on!
Alan
8/30/12
For those of us who live even further in the past, here’s the Australian entertainer Albert Whelan, singing and whistling on disc in 1905.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZXdt-oTMnI&feature=related
Whelan recorded from 1903 (Edison cylinders) to 1960 (Fontana LP)which is not a bad innings!
Tony
PS
And here’s a very classy bit of whistling by the German soprano Elisabeth Schumann.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr2zjWwZocc
Tony
I loved the music in the Olympic ceremonies also..thanks for the info! Hope you are doing better, xoAnn
I miss seeing you at the clinic. Take care and welcome back to LA. xo Alan
Amazing article, lots of intersting things to digest. Very informative
Thanks so much.