Sound Beat

You’ve heard different parts of the Giacchino Rossini’s William Tell Overture in cartoons, commercials, and The Lone Ranger of course. But there’s never been a version quite like Spike Jones’ Victor 78, recorded in 1948.

Rossini’s full overture is actually a musical depiction of the Swiss Alps, lasting twelve minutes in four parts. There’s Dawn, Storm, The Call to the Cows (the popular “daybreak”-sounding theme we just heard cowbelled, clown-horned  and gargled). And then, there’s the most famous bit, ( You know, the diddle-unt diddle-unt, diddle unt dunt-dunt part), known as The Cavalry Charge or The March of the Swiss Soldiers.   Now enjoy some good punning.

Who will win?

Well, after this weekend, we’ll know which four teams are Atlanta Bound.

Out of the 330 schools in NCAA Division 1 Men’s basketball, the 68 teams that made the tourney have been whittled to 32, 16, 8, and now, the final four are moving on to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

And, look, crafting episodes with such care as we use takes time…so we’ve made these in advance, buuuuut…we pick… the team with the animal mascot. Every year that the final four have played in Atlanta, a team with an animal mascot has won.

You’re listening to Johnny Marvin with Atlanta Bound, a recording made in 1932 on the Varsity label…a happy coincidence. One of the top crooners of the 20’s, and one of the big kahunas during the ukulele craze of that decade.

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You’re listening to Munchkinland by Victor Young and his Orchestra.

Every year the village of Chittenango NY turns into a veritable Land of Oz, during Oz-Stravaganza. The festival pays tribute to their town’s favorite son, the Royal Historian of Oz, L. Frank Baum. Their theme for 2013? The Patchwork of Oz, a reference to the ever-expansive and all-inclusive Oz universe.  From the books, to stage productions, a traveling picture show, an earlier film, the MGM smash, and beyond….

They celebrate with parades, guests from the Oz universe, including the original munchkins, and even an Emerald Idol singing contest. Would-be participants need not sing Oz-related songs…but we bet it doesn’t hurt with the judges.

They do it every year in Chittenango…though they had to cut festivities short in 2010. That was the year, and you can’t make this stuff up, a tornado warning cut down on the activities.

Thanks to Barbara Evans and Colleen Zimmer, two of the many people who keep the -stravaganza going. This year’s edition will run May 31st to June 2!

For more on Oz-Stravaganza, follow this link to Oz-stravaganza.com.

Man, remember this scene in the movie? No. You don’t. It was cut, and probably with good cause. It was originally conceived of as a way to get younger audiences interested in the film. The Jitterbug craze was sweeping the nation, and the scene had Dorothy and pals dancing wildly after being bitten by…well, a jitterbug. Buuuut, the film ran over time, and cuts had to be made. Yup, 5 weeks to rehearse and film, then…poof. It’s remained a popular inclusion for stage productions, and in 1995, a grainy home video of the original scene, shot by composer Harold Arlen was released.

But…they missed a spot. In the film, The Wicked Witch tells the flying monkeys that she “sent a little insect to take the fight out of” the fearsome foursome. It’s one of a couple of continuity errors in the film.

Wanna see more? Here’s a good list.

Good thing they left it…”Over The Rainbow”  won an Oscar that year, and would of course live on as one of the most popular songs in film history.

Whether you loved the film from your first viewing, or were emotionally-scarred by the witch and her flying monkeys, you probably didn’t look at the film as political commentary. But lyricist Yip Harburg pointed the songs, and this one in particular, in support of FDR’s New Deal.

Later, as Dorothy and her crew approach the Emerald City, (sorry, spoiler alert) we hear “You’re out of the woods, You’re out of the dark, You’re out of the night, Step into the sun, Step into the light.” According to Yarburg,”it heralds not only the four principals’ escape from the woods and an evil spell but, on another level, the end of the Depression”

Sound Beat is produced at the Belfer Audio Archive, Syracuse University Library.

I’m Brett Barry.

Hello out there. I, uh, don’t know where everyone is…It’s Friday, December 21st, and you’re on the Sound Beat. I’m, uh…I tell you what, I’m just going to have a quick look for the crew…you have a listen to the Victor Military Band with…

“Last Night Was the End of the World”.

Reverend J.M. Gates was a fiery southern preacher, and a popular one. Of all preaching recordings made in the 1920s, and there were hundreds, approximately a quarter were made by Gates. The sermons were rife with promises of an angry God’s retribution upon mankind. We’re talking titles like Death’s Black Train is Coming and, for the kiddies, Will the Coffin Be Your Santa Claus? How popular was he? His 1945 funeral was the largest in Atlanta’s history at the time…and was only surpassed by Martin Luther King’s.

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Most scientists agree that our little planet will end in fire… not on December 21st, but billions of years into the future.  The sun will eventually expand and this habitable distance from it’s heat we now enjoy now will disappear. 

Of course, this is omitting mankind’s capacity for nuclear war, and our seemingly-inherent penchant for self-destruction. As astronomer/philosopher Carl Sagan said: “We have a choice: We can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us, or we can squander our 15 billion-year heritage in meaningless self-destruction.”

The countdown continues. Read more about End of the World Week right here.

The Mayan Longform Calendar started on September 6, 3114 BC, and it ends at midnight on Friday, Dec 21. Whether that means fire and brimstone, reversal of the earth’s rotation, the rising of the undead, dogs and cats living together…or, just another day…

Either way, we’ve kept on making episodes. All week we’ll be talking “end of days… with recorded accompaniment, of course. So again, for perhaps the last time, listen to Bing and Grady Martin, with his Slew Foot Five, and “Til The End of The World”.

Nevermind the saccharine-sweet and, sometimes just plain obnoxious skits; the Lawrence Welk Show ran nationally on ABC for nearly 28 years. Welk’s bandleading style and arrangement lead to the term “champagne music”, which is what he called his orchestra. Here they are with, ahem, If You Can’t Get A Drum With A Boom, Boom, Boom. Get A Tuba With An Oom-pah-pah.

Welk’s famous accent actually embarrassed him in early years, prompting him to have someone else introduce musical numbers. But the public seemed to love the “and-a-one, and a-two”s and the like. It might have surprised said public that Welk was born in…South Dakota. Strasburg, actually, in a community of Germans from Russia, a name given to ethnic Germans who left the Russian Empire.

Want to see the very first pilot of the Lawrence Welk show? Go to Soundbeat.org right now.