 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-08-07 01:44
Up from memory's deep cellar. . .
All right you young snapper-whippers, how many of you remember Bill Haley and His Comets from 1954?
How many remember his big hit Shake, Rattle and Roll?
How many remember the flip side, A.B.C. Boogie?
Well-a readin, writin, rith-a-ma-tic,
Taught to the tune of a licorice stick.
No education is ever complete,
Without a boogie-woogie-woogie beat, well all reet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H46B4D4R85Q
So what other pop song references to the clarinet do you know? Hint: There's a Fantasia by Kroepsch on "Down in the Deep Cellar," though I haven't been able to find a recording on any instrument except tuba, euphonium or contrabassoon.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2013-08-07 14:53
Ken, we are showing our age. Of course I remember Bill Haley, his Rock Around the Clock from the movie The Blackboard Jungle was one of the first, if not the first, popular "rock and roll" songs to come out. But I don't remember the other tunes you mentioned. I guess that doesn't make me one of the "young wipper snappers" does it.? :-)
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2013-08-07 18:08
I was very young when "Rock Around the Clock" was popular the first time around, but it was one of those songs that managed to stay somewhat popular for a long time. It had a revival of sorts when it was used as the first theme song for "Happy Days" in the 70s. As a young band director in the early 80s, I had my middle school group perform an arrangement. The kids all knew it and enjoyed it, but today, it seems to be somewhat forgotten.
Regarding songs mentioning the clarinet: There's "Mr. Clarinet" from the Australian post-punk band, The Birthday Party. Here's a link to the lyrics:
http://lyrics.wikia.com/The_Birthday_Party:Mr_Clarinet
Although this isn't a pop song, there's the Austrian folksong known as "The Instrument Song" or "The Orchestra Song." It features the famous verse so many of us know:
The clarinet, the clarinet, goes doodle doodle doodle doodle dat.
The clarinet, the clarinet goes doodle doodle doodle dat.
Post Edited (2013-08-07 19:40)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MichaelW
Date: 2013-08-07 18:48
When we were about 14 our education was completed by AFN Stuttgart (“The American Forces Network”) with music never heard before. I had a self-built detector radio (one diode, no valves, transistors to come only some years later). I hung a long wire antenna under the roof and listened with headphones to Bill Haley, Fats Domino and others. But I had to become 73 to learn from you what a liquorice stick is.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: curlyev
Date: 2013-08-07 19:52
All l can think of is when Raj from "The Big Band Theory" sings "Bernadette, Bernadette, please play my clarinet." If you've never seen the show, that will make no sense!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: danb1937
Date: 2013-08-07 21:25
My parents always sang "Taught to the tune of a HICKORY stick!"
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-08-07 22:58
Hickory stick is the original version from "School Days." Licorice stick is Bill Haley's travesty.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-08-08 12:11
There's also the French nursery song 'J'ai perdu le doh de ma clarionette."
A few years back I helped run a garage sale fundraiser for our local volunteer fire brigade. Wandering round the stalls I came across a pile of old records, 10 inch singles. Among them I found an absolutely brand new, virginal copy of Bill Hailey's "Rock Around the Clock", with "Blue Suede Shoes" on the reverse. I bought it for 50 cents, turned to a brigade colleague and said "Look at this", holding it out. It slid out of the cover and smashed into a zillion pieces at my feet. "Nice record, Tony", he said.
Tony F.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
