Sound Beat

You’re listening to Anchors Aweigh by the United States Naval Academy Band, and…

You’re on the Sound Beat.

Spelling seldom makes for great radio, but “Aweigh” in this case is spelled “A-W-E-I-G-H”, and it means that the anchors have been raised, and the ship is ready for action. It also makes this the perfect fight song for the US Naval Academy.

The song was composed by Charles Zimmerman, the bandmaster of the Naval Academy Band, in 1905. It was first played publicly at the 1906 Army-Navy game, and spurred the team to a 10-0 victory, the first time they’d won the rivalry game in 6 years.

You’re listening to the very first recording of the song, made by Columbia in 1920.

Check out more college fight song info on our blog.

Photo info

This version of Partita Number 1 in B Flat Major was recorded by Walter Gieseking  in 1950.

It’s perhaps ironic that Bach’s compositions are celebrated worldwide; in his entire life he never strayed more than 200 miles from his birthplace of Eisenstadt, Germany. But his influence has been felt all over the globe, and through every generation since. Bach translates literally as “brook”, but as Beethoven put it, “His name should not be brook, but Ocean.”

Johannes Sebastian der Ozean. Has a nice ring to it.

Want to hear some more classical-themed episodes? Go to soundbeat.org and type “classical” in the search bar.

Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five first recorded “Caldonia” in 1945. This recording is a rerelease from 1947, the year that Jordan and Moore divorced. Apparently, being sent to the hospital with stab wounds was Jordan’s idea of a dealbreaker. Though, there was one other deal to address: Jordan had listed Moore as the writer of “Caldonia”, enabling him to sidestep publisher agreements, and she retained the royalties after the divorce.

His thoughts on the arrangement: “She didn’t know nothin’ about no music at all. Her name is on this song and that song, and she’s still getting money.”

This episode was co-written by Syracuse University student Alicia Drummond as part of the Sound Beat Class Partnership.

Django Reinhardt was a pioneer of European jazz, and one of the most influential guitarists of all time. But we almost never heard a note.

In 1930 Reinhardt was an eighteen year-old gypsy living on the outskirts of Paris, playing jazz gigs while his wife made and sold paper flowers.  One evening an overturned candle caught a flower and set their caravan ablaze. He was badly burned, and especially on his left hand. He emerged with full use of only two fingers. But, as you can hear…it didn’t slow him down.  From 1942, this is The Quintet of the Hot Club of France, with “Belleville”.

How did guitar god Jimi Hendrix honor Django Reinhardt?

Hendrix named his group “Band of Gypsys” in Reinhardt’s honor.

Square dancing evolved from folk dances of several different countries. It provided early American settlers with welcomed socialization, a respite from the loneliness of the frontier. And it’s instantly recognizable when you hear the caller shout out directions, whether you’ve seen it on tv or do-si-doed yourself.  This is the Blue Ridge Duo with an Arkansas Traveler Breakdown from 1925.

There are two subdivisions of the dance: traditional and Modern Western. Traditional square dances very region to region, but don’t bring your New England style to a Modern Western, or simply Western, square dance. And you’d best dress for success…most dances call for traditional square dance attire…black-bolo affairs, if you will.

Want to see the oddest square dancing video out there? Click here.

In the 1920s and 30s, boxing was one of the most popular sports in the country.  It and other forms of entertainment provided cheerful moments of respite from the gloom the Depression cast over the nation. In the movies and on radio, the public clamored for heroes like Superman and the Lone Ranger. But in the boxing ring, James Braddock proved himself the real life equivalent. After some inopportune losses and injuries, his career floundered, until a winning streak put him in the ring with Max Baer, the Heavyweight Champion of the World on June 13, 1935.  If you haven’t seen Ron Howard’s film…spoiler alert: He wins.

You’ve been listening to the Fontane Sisters with “The Cinderella Work Song”.

Want to see that championship bout? Click away.

You’re listening to “the Cajun national anthem”, sung and…fiddled…by Harry Choates on a Modern Music 78, and…

You’re on the Sound Beat.

Choates initially recorded “Jole Blon” (translated as “pretty blonde”) in 1946 for Gold Star records. It served as the B side, but when a Houston-area DJ played it instead of the A side, Basile Waltz, the rendition of the much-loved Cajun classic became a big hit. It was the first one for Gold Star records, and so big in fact that the recording was licensed to Modern Music for distribution.

In an all-too-common happening in the world of music, Choates didn’t see much of anything from the sales of the record. His payment, according to legend: 100 dollars and bottle of whiskey.

Photo: Wally Gobetz – A Harry Choates 78 from an exhibit at Barbara Jordan Terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport https://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/8028244820/

All Shook Up was the top song of 1957, and Elvis Presley’s second biggest hit ever. He’s backed here by the Jordanaires, and he’s on guitar and percussion at the same time. That sound right there? That’s Elvis slapping on the back of his Martin D-28.

It’s believed manager Colonel Parker had something to do with getting the King a cowriting credit on this one. Popular belief cites Otis Blackwell as the true author, on a challenge from a friend who witnessed him shaking a bottle of Pepsi. Presley himself had this to say in an interview that year: “I’ve never even had an idea for a song. Just once, maybe. I went to bed one night, had quite a dream, and woke up all shook up. I phoned a pal and told him about it. By morning, he had a new song, ‘All Shook Up’.”

Image: Uncredited, Elvis performing live at the Mississippi-Alabama Fairgrounds in Tupelo, Mississippi, September 26, 1956. This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed

You’re listening to Walter Huston recite the words of Walt Whitman in a Decca recording from 1947 and…

You’re on the Sound Beat.

Whitman published his famous elegy to Abraham Lincoln in “Sequel to Drum-Taps”, an 1865 pamphlet containing 18 poems about the American Civil War as well as “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”. Who said self-publishing doesn’t work?

If you are going to publish your work on your own, you’ve got to have artistic and editorial vision. Whitman kept revising the poem, even after publication, and even corrected newspaper editors for using earlier versions.

You’re listening to Edward M. Favor who recorded Mary and the Lamb to cylinder in 1892. But…it wasn’t the first recording of the poem…as a matter of fact, Edison himself used the first couplet as the first test recording on his phonograph invention, in 1877. The famous nursery rhyme was published in 1830, written by New Hampshire schoolteacher Sarah Hale. The inspiration reportedly came from a student who, you guessed it, regularly brought a pet lamb to her schoolhouse. And you thought students with cellphones were distracting.

Favor was, perhaps obviously, one of the first recording stars, and a popular vaudeville act. He was known for classics of the time like “Daisy Bell” and, ahem, “Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder?”

 Sarah Hale is perhaps the driving motivator behind our celebration of Thanksgiving. Check out more right here.

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

I’m Brett Barry.