Dylan song 'changed the world'

yahoo news/Reuters ^ | Aug. 5, 2005

[WKUHilltopper]

pffft! right......

[Publius6961]

find the 100 songs, movies, TV shows and books that "changed the world" in the opinion of musicians, actors and industry experts.

Ummmm. OK.

What if my respect for the knowledge and judgement of musicians, actors and industry experts is less than zero?

What possible significance can the opinion of a bunch of dumber than anvils have on my life?

[T'wit]

Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty Sapperticker, Howdy, Hooty Sapperticker, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty, Hooty Sapperticker, Howdy, Hooty Sapperticker: H-O-O-T-Y, Sap, per, ticker ticker ticker ticker

[Taft in '52]

Believe it or not, that song, Hooty Sapperticker by Barbara & The Boys, was a hit in Southern California in the spring of 1958.

[Taft in '52]

You've mentioned a bunch of songs from the '20s and '30s. Do you collect 78s? I'm a big fan of the Comedian Harmonists from that era; do you know the group?

I have well over 1,000 78's and probably about as many 45's. I don't have any by the Comedian Harmonists, but I do have their 1930 recording Wochenend und Sonnenschein (Weekend and Sunshine)--the German version of Happy Days Are Here Again--on CD (I have at least nine versions of Happy Days Are Here Again).

[T'wit]

It's nice and rock-y. Demento likes it, which is where I first heard of it. And, it makes quite a showy link :-)

Do we know who Barbara is?

[T'wit]

I'll take a flying guess that there may be as many as fifty Comedian Harmonist songs still around -- available on CD, mostly German and Brit. I have a couple of books on them and German news video (interview) with them. They made twelve movies, were very popular, and by the standards of the day, made buckets of money. Sang occasionally in French and even English, with bits of Russian, Italian and who knows what :-) A recent movie about them took liberties with their story but had the sense to use their originals for the songs and not try to reproduce their unique sound.

Three were Jews, three were not. Hitler broke up the group, I forget when, 1934 or 1935. All six survived the war but they never got together again, and never really got friendly again. The last died only a few years ago, in Palm Springs, CA.

The Harmonist were inspired to get together in the first place by an American group of the 1920s, I think called The Revellers -- a sophisticated group described as barbershop with a college degree. I have a couple of things they did on Retro CDs, "My Blue Heaven" and one other I can't think of.

[Taft in '52]

I was unaware that the Comedian Harmonists were inspired by the Revellers, but, come to think of it, both groups sound very similar.

I have a few Revellers recordings, including a beautiful rendition of Yankee Rose, a hit from 1927, on 78. As a graduate of Whittier High School in Whittier, Calif.--where Richard Nixon was once a student, and First Lady Pat Nixon was once a teacher--I am especially interested in Yankee Rose, because our school's alma mater uses that tune. When I was in the band, and we played the tune at the conclusion of football games, I had to play the tuba part on the baritone horn, because there was no baritone part.

Here's a version of Yankee Rose that was heard at the Republican National Convention in 1928:

Oh, Hoover's name and Hoover's fame
Are known at home, and around the world the same.
Our nation calls, he's the best of all.
He is tried and true. We know he'll do.
And he'll be elected president next fall.

[Taft in '52]

Holy smokes! You remember Two Ton Baker?

I'm from Southern California, not Chicago, but during the late 1950's, the Mitchell Marionettes, a troupe of local puppeteers, used the song Petunia in one of their shows. Over the years, I couldn't forget the lyrics, probably because they sounded so weird.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is a website devoted to Two Ton Baker.

[rwa265]

If there is one book, movie, or song that deserves the claim that it changed the world, it's Exodus.

http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.06.27/books8.html

http://www.internationalwallofprayer.org/Aliyah-020-Exodus-Lyrics.html

[nuconvert]

Thought I'd ping all the Dylan fans to something I came across on Amazon tonight. It's an upcoming Martin Scorsese film on Dylan to be shown on PBS end of Sept.
Here's a link to the info and a video clip you can watch.........Should be good!..........

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/14104231/104-0342990-8091161

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Thanks for the ping. I'll watch for it in September.

Scorsese is a notoriously angry fallen-away Christian. It will be interesting to see if this factors into his PBS film.

I've seen the 1967 documentary, "Don't Look Back" which covers the same time period. In it, the very young Dylan proudly announced he didn't believe in God. Twenty years later he changed his tune and wrote the music that evidenced his joyful conversion.

I just hope he's still experiencing the fruits of his faith.

[TChad]

Well you guys can sit home and watch tv, while Dean Moriarty and I tear through the night in the '48 Hudson :-)

Yes, into the American night. You might stop by Birdland, they've booked old God Shearing for the weekend...

[xzins]

Thanks, nuconvert.

I'll watch. Reading the write-up, it appears to me that the Dylan that comes across will be incomplete without his overtly Christian era, but I doubt that the media knows exactly what to do with that.

:>)

[scott says]

Thanks for the ping. I'm on Dylan.com mailing list and here is the special deal they are offering on merchandise for dvd ect......
http://bobdylan.com/ndh.html

[nuconvert]

Thanks for the info

[scott says]

You reminded me that I needed to pre-order the stuff..which I just did. Watched preview--Bob-" I was born a long way from where I'm supposed to be, so now I'm just going home."
DVD should be awesome. I'm sure when it comes out and someone posts an article about it, the sparks will fly around here. People are just so locked into their pre conceived notions, facts and reality just do not apply...Bob is a 60's anti war protester, blah,blah,blah....

[gitmo]

There's a certain arrogance in these polls as they don't give a time period. At least admit you're basically talking about songs in English from the 50 years or so.

I imagine most of those responding to this poll are unaware there was music before that.

[gitmo]

In what way did any of these songs change the world?

[SuziQ]

Don't know about 'changing the world', but it is one of my favorite songs! Don't know why, really. I like the electric organ parts of it.