Entertainment For Lively Minds
Whistling in music - it's just wrong isn't it?
Posted by Diz on 23 January 2009 - 10:26am.
Driving home last night I heard the new Bruce Springsteen single on which - unless I misheard - The Boss whistles on a few bars.
Now this is something I've pondered before. Is there any song in popular music where whistling really works? Personally I avoid it as it makes me grind my teeth. And I can't think of a single song in my collection with whistling on it but may have to make an exception with the new Sprngsteen album.
My own view is that it just doesn't fit in the pop/rock music stable. But I'm prepared to be convinced otherwise.
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Otis,
of course:
And,
on a rather less glorious note:
No I'm sorry
this is just bad
Diz,
you may well be right. Note that I didn't say exactly *how much* less glorious. (And I dare say Otis had little time for Nazi 'glamour', too...)
Otis-
son-of-Bryan might!
I might concede this one
but would the song be any worse without it?
For the avoidance of doubt
I meant Otis
I seem to remember
reading somewhere that Otis, at the end of what was clearly going to be *the* take, forgot the words and winged a whistled part. If it's not true, it should be.
After checking, I found that a source at the Stax museum suggests that no lyrics had yet been written for that section of the song, and that Otis planned to complete the recording after performing in Madison, Wisconsin. Sadly that plane crash intervened.
So, given that Otis couldn't complete the recording, I'd say that the whistling adds a layer of extra poignancy that wouldn't be there without it.
Whistling and poignancy
now there are two words you would never see in the same sentence outside of this wonderful forum!
Good info Nigel - I never knew that.
Sans Otis whistling
This wouldn't be as good, still brilliant though
i began a balearic whistling
i began a balearic whistling mix once with bobby conn's 'the whistler' which is beautiful and self-explanatory - also kenenth bager's 'fragment 8' is currently being used on some dodgy advert - boss whistling and clarinet cod reggae/pseudo swing doesn't get better than this....
Andrew Bird
as famous for his whistling as he is for his violin. Good review in last months Word.
Whistling kicks in at around 6.13 for those without 8 minutes to spare.....
Indeed
an Andrew Bird record isn't complete without a bit of whistling.
I've just listened twice,
and that some of that whistling sounds a little to off-key to my ears...
bird whistling
The whistle/violin combo is great too - sounds like he's playing a saw
XTC's 'All Of The Pretty Girls'
has, if I recall, a whistled chorus which is rather splendid.
( Sorry, technical ineptitude prevents my posting it ).
Here it is...
...in the original promo. Not sure about Andy's 'Midge Ure' tache though. I sincerely hope it was a false one
Damn you, Stimpy,
and your nimble fingers! (*Shakes fist into the internet*) Maybe if I hadn't bothered to pass on Mr Lewry's invaluable advice...
Your gratitude
is reward enough, Eddie.
Re ineptitude : Eddie, if I can do it, anyone can.
Simply find the Youtube vid you want, type in the address you're sent to (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= followed by the eleven-digit reference), preview your comment to make sure no typos have occurred, then post. Easy peasey. (Once Fraser has talked you through it.) (He deserves every exotic holiday he takes, and more.)
My thanks
to you both.
Of Course
Andy Partridge is a great advocate of whistling on record, see Generals and Majors and Wait Til Your Boat Goes Down.
Whistle along with Peter, Bjorn and John
Marvellous.
I'm astonished
no one has mentioned the godlike genuis that is the Scorpions's "Vinds of Change" yet...
That was one
that I had in mind but I could not remember the band.
Thanks for reminding me................
"Thanks"
for reminding me, too. You are spoiling us with your Scorpion-related promptings....
I suspect I'd rather be stung by a Scorpion than ever hear that again.
Take your mind off it
with Guns n' Roses' 'Patience'.
Studio version
was a good deal less horrible than I feared. OK whistling, but I preferred the three acoustic guitars on the intro.
Only listened to the first minute or so, then cut my losses. It *is* G&R after all, and I was worried it might go downhill when they got going. Please excuse overt display of closed mind.
I am
being ironic* about it being good, so no skin of my nose.
Anyway, when's someone going to mention 'I was Kaisar Bill's Batman'?
* mostly
Civil War
I REALLY don't get...
...those shorts. Why Axl, why???
Er...erm....oh dear
Whaddya mean "Oh dear", Bisto?
I loved this as a kid, and after listening just now I'm seriously impressed.
That's virtuoso whistling, as far as I'm concerned. RW rocks. (On this track, at least.)
(And thinking back, probably at most...)
It is impressive whistling,
It is impressive whistling, I concur.
As good as Roger is at the old puccolo I'm not convinced it's a good thing in song per se.
So I am in two minds on the role of whistling in rock 'n' roll.
Unlike the bagpipes which like Satan can get behind me.
Speaking as a Sassenach
(and therefore somewhat under-qualified in some eyes) I'd say as long as you enjoy a good drone, one set of bagpipes: good; two or more sets: bad.
I've tried and failed to find on t'net the storming Old Grey Whistle Test performance I dimly remember from years ago by Breton piper/harpist Alain Stivell. If anyone could link to that I'd be very interested to see if it's as good as I fondly imagine.
On the subject of pipes, what about the uilleann pipes, which can produce as mournful and lonely a sound as can, in its own way, the pedal steel?
I like a bagpipe in the
I like a bagpipe in the context of a lonely piper but not in song.
Just look at the possible repercussions:
"Big Chief" - Professor Longhair
Great rhythms, wonderful whistling (one minute in).
I like a bit of whistling, meself.
Hits of the 60s
I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned Whistling Jack Smith and I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman?
I loved it as a kid. These days who knows? I'd probably hate it, but a wave of nostalgia could wash over me...
Bugger.
I scrolled and read all this way, intending to mention Kaiser Bill's brilliance, and then Carl's got here 5 minutes ahead of me. Arse.
*ahem*
12:22, back up the thread a bit.
Soz
Eyeball Mark 1 failure while scanning for "Jack Smith".
Note to self: you should have gone to Specsavers.
What can I say?
Failing eyesight here too?
It's a fair cop guv, and you got me bang to right an' no messin'.
At least you can spell
'Kaiser' properly!
Any Chris Moyles Listeners...
...might have heard him play Beyonce's "Put a Ring on it" mashed up with the whistly theme to the "Andy Griffith show" (me neither) recently. Works quite well.
Rolf Harris invents Screamcore/whistling fusion
Some catchy whistling at the start of Screamcore classic I want My Mummy by Rolf.
and while we're on the subject...
...let's not forget the brief melancholy whistling by Morrissey on How Soon Is Now
Yes but it's Morrissey
can't abide the man and his music
*gets coat*
intruder
The whistling at the end of Intruder by Peter Gabriel works as atmospherically ominous/eerie.
And then there's
Games Without Frontiers with its cod-military whistled refrain.
Are you sure it's whistling
Are you sure it's whistling on Games Without Frontiers?
I think so
It fits with the lyric:
V1:
Whistling tunes we hid in the dunes by the seaside
Whistling tunes we're kissing baboons in the jungle
V2:
Whistling tunes we hide in the dunes by the seaside
Whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle
And for what it's worth, Wikipedia thinks it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistling
Bollocks - that's tripped me up!
I've got this and thought I was in a whistle-free zone - I'll need to check tonight......
By the time of PG4...
...he'd have sampled the whistle onto his Fairlight and used that :-)
Does that mean I'm in the
Does that mean I'm in the clear?
Nope...
If you have PG3, you have whistling.
Learn to live with it, we won't tell your friends you've suddenly become deeply uncool.
Although there will be an advert in the next issue of 'The' Word - 'Diz hearts whistling'
No
.
Jeez,
not again! Do they call you Fast Stimpy, by any chance?
Whistling Tunes
cant post the actual video but here's the tune - the whistling starts at about 1min in
Mea culpa
bang to rights etc
I am in possession of whistling. But at least the Boss will have some company when he arrives.
Very cool post Riccardo...
...it didn't go unnoticed that the YouTube clip was referncing the German language version of the album.
Back in Judy's Jungle
Brian Eno has included whistling in a song with the opening line of "These are your orders".
Who are we to disobey?
And does this mean that whistling in song is OK?
Ooh ooh Mr Peebly!...
...Just remembered Ms. Goldfrapp's 'Lovely Head'
Plus, the bonus of some fetching clobber in the video.
Hello, you fool, I love you!
Surely the whistling on 'Joyride' by the ageless Roxette is one of the greatest pop things ever!
Oh Captain! My Captain
Even Jeff Tweedy's at it
Surely…
… whistling has never sounded as evocative as this
And isn't it about time someone mentioned Muzzy Marcellino?
Jethro Tull - The Whistler
Not just whistling, but a song about whistling
From
one of their finest albums too.
Golden Years
Although the case for the defence is compromised by the use of stills from Labyrinth in the video.
I think you'll find
it's the stills from Bowie's ritual slaughter of Dancing In The Street, committed in league with Jagger, that really scupper it.
Golden Years per se is great, mind. (Wah wah wah...)
Oh come on... It's Friday afternoon...
You KNOW you want to sing along!
"Tokyo! South America! Australia! France! Germany! UK!"
(and it's got whistling right at the start)
Jagger's outrageous preening at 1:35 suggests they weren't taking it altogether seriously :-)
Taking it seriously?
Well let's hope not. I always find it hard to decide whether they look or sound worse in this. Still haven't made up my mind, but I'll say this: it wasn't spoiled by the whistling.
Sums up in under three minutes what was crap about the 80s.
NB Your 'outrageous preening' comment leads inevitably to the conclusion that Jagger has rarely taken anything altogether seriously....
Stalinist edit.
In a cover-up worthy of the NKVD I have edited this post, thus concealing the fact that an unreliable internet connection led to my submitting the same text twice. Now no-one will ever know.
Hocus Pocus
Thys Van Leer even has the gall to throw in yodelling and what can only be termed a kind "Smurf Speak" in this song. You have to wait 'til near the end of the song for the whistling, by which time you may just about have recovered from the surreal image of Gladys Knight introducing a Dutch prog-rock band.
I wait to be proved wrong
and no doubt I will be, but being in possession of this on LP which I haven't listened to in donkey's years, I think the studio version may be whistle free.
Ok, the whistle in this is limited...
... but they're called Whistle, surely that has to count for something? (plus, the song and the video are both great).
The wonderful and frightening world of professional whistling
Here's Lancashire lad David Morris, "the world's top whistler":
And here's his website:
http://www.davidmorris-whistler.com/about.html
"That's brilliant!" - Des O'Connor.
You guys seem mostly to poo poo it
but surely it's importance in modern music was why there was a programme called the Old Grey Whistle Test?
(Aha, but who passed? And who failed?)
Boom
and indeed boom
The catchy tunes passed...
...and unmemorable tunes failed.
By my reckoning
Otis and Peter Gabriel passed. The rest have all failed miserably.
The Jam - Set The House Ablaze
Set The House Ablaze comes in about 2 minutes 40.
Apart from Otis the only whistling I can stand. My mum used to play Roger Whittaker every Christmas....used to do my head in!
Johnny Lennon's
Jealous Guy, Lt. Pigeon's 'orrible opus,the great Nick Heyward's "Whistle Down The Wind" (sans whistle) and err "Polly Put The Kettle On"
Goodnight Everybody!!!
You want whistling?
Want more?
Bazza
Just remembered another
The Stranger by Billy Joel.
Bing Crosby
The 'Road' movies are a particular favourite of mind and, having just watched the first three again, I can confirm that Bing Crosby is the best whistler ever.
An old schoolboy joke, but worth repeating. What's the connection between Bing Crosby and Adolf Hitler? They both died in a bunker.
I thank you.
how soon we forget, if, indeed, remember...
The Saints, The Prisoner, from their 3rd LP, Prehistoric Sounds.
A winner.
Sadly no link, search it out, like we used to...it's worth it.
Whistle for Victory
"Bridge on the River Kwai" - how whistling won the war:
unless everyone's over it already, but...
Walk Like an Egyptian by the Bangles.
Possibly the hardest 'whistlsing section' to emulate.
But I deem it acceptable.
It was done on a synth when played live...
and I suspect that was the case in the studio as well.
that's why it was good, I
that's why it was good, I suppose.
'Small Town Talk' by Bobby Charles...
starts with a wonderful whistle... unfortunately it's disappeared from You Tube, so I can't post it. Shame.
Whistling Fannies
"Mellow Doubt" Teenage Fanclub, works like a treat, whistling and humming together in the middle section. Brilliant song.
I Might Have Missed It...
..as I'm having to skim-read this during a severely curtailed lunch break, but surely somebody should have mentioned "Daydream" by the Lovin' (I think the apostrophe is correct - I await the comments and corrections if it isn't!) Spoonful by now?
Stand easy
Poorly researched/deleted