Speaking of NPR, I heard a big band tune, a very famous one, at 4pm, and I have no clue what it is called and it is driving me insane. I’ve looked everywhere to find it on the NPR site, but it is not one of the songs listed in today’s All Things Considered. It was just a liner track they played while going into the 4 o’clock headlines, and it is killing me.
This is one of those super-known big band tunes- any ideas what it might be? Or did any of you hear it?
It isn’t string of pearls or moonglow or anything like that, but I know every one of you has heard it. Very brassy.
*** Update ***
Apparently all I need to do was say in the comments that it went “Bah, bah bap ba bada,” and then several of you knew exactly what it was– Duke Ellington:
Thanks, by the way. That was driving me mad.
Just Some Fuckhead
On the Sunny Side of the Street?
guyermo
sing sing sing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9J5Zt2Obko
Just Some Fuckhead
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White?
SFAW
“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”?
Oh, “band”, not “Band”! Never mind …
AhabTRuler
Umm, why don’t you call or email your local NPR affiliate and ask them?]
Oh, I forgot, you always go to the flying monkeys first. ;-)
Alan
Something by Glen Miller? Moonlight Serenade, In the mood, etc?
Just Some Fuckhead
Was it uptempo or romantic?
Nathan
You mean the one that goes “ba bappa da bappa da bap bap bappa da da da DA bappa da ba ba ba” or the one the goes “bappa dada bappa bappa da bappa BA BA BA bappa da”?
Just Some Fuckhead
How ’bout I zip up my 221 big band mp3s and send ’em to ya. It’s gotta be one of ’em.
Wait, you’re not with the RIAA are you?
Alan
Chattanooga Choo-choo?
geg6
“In the Mood?” A personal favorite, by the way.
cleek
I Loves You, Porgy
(that’s what i’m listening to now, anyway)
regardless, NPR’s ATC site lists the day’s musical interludes, with clips. look for the ” musical interludes view”.
Lee
Was it old school? Or could it have been something from the revival in the late 90s like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy?
Just Some Fuckhead
Was it Grazing in the Grass? Everyone loves that one.
General Winfield Stuck
nevermind
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Haaaaaaaaaaa!
You’re a gas.
Just Some Fuckhead
Did it sound like a game show theme? It could be something from Al Hirt: Cotton Candy, Java.
SFAW
“I’m a cranky old Yank in a clanky old tank on the streets of Yokohoma with my Honolulu mama doin’ those beat-o, beat-o, flat on my seat-o, Hirohito blues”??
John Cole
@cleek: I checked that. It was not there.
John Cole
It was slow then went uptempo.
Bah, bah bap ba bada..
Just name some famous songs.
siameselover
Goodman’s Stompin at the Ritz?
SFAW
4’33” ?
gypsy howell
Was it “In The Mood”? We heard that around 4:00, but I’m not sure what it was playing on. (Radio? CD? iPod?)
Mr Howell made a joke, that’s why I remember it…..
General Winfield Stuck
I now there’s a way cause I checked on one a couple of months ago. But there’s too much pressure, can’t think/
Bah, bah bap ba bada.. — I’ve heard that one, I just know it.
Alan
Little Brown Jug?
Dennis-SGMM
It was probably the instrumental version of the glorious John Prine’s “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian”.
Just Some Fuckhead
@John Cole:
Where is JK when ya need an interminably long list with included hyperlinks?
AhabTRuler
@John Cole:
Jesus, let’s work with the new media here!
Easy enough to eliminate obvious candidates.
@Just Some Fuckhead: Personally, I’ve learned to max out at two.
Linkmeister
Was it during ATC or before that show started? If the latter, maybe it’s listed as the “button” (that’s what they call those little interludes) for the previous show on the way out.
wilson
I believe it was “Detroit Has a Skyline” by Superchunk ;)
TuiMel
“Take The ‘A’ Train” – Duke Ellington?
Nathan
Holy crap – it’s Take the A Train, isnt it…
“Bah, bah bap ba bada”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrisYOEpADY
Just Some Fuckhead
The Peter Gunn Theme?
JGabriel
Nathan:
I’m pretty sure that first one is Tom Courtenay and the second one is from the last 2 minutes of Blue Line Swinger, or vice versa.
John Cole, any chance it’s Roll ‘Em from Benny Goodman?
.
Nathan
Dammit… got there first.
Laura W
I’m pretty sure it must have been Linda Ronstadt with Nelson Riddle. Either Someone To Watch Over Me or What’s New?
Maybe Round Midnight.
cecilia
“Sing, sing, sing” ???
Lurked
My guess from the meter as described:
Take the “A” Train
Youuu, must take the A train, if, you want to get to Harlem…
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: snort.
John Cole
@Nathan: YES!
God, I feel like a moron.
General Winfield Stuck
Jitterbug
Anne Laurie
Rhapsody in Blue?
Just Some Fuckhead
Theme From Route 66?
General Winfield Stuck
@John Cole:
So do we, now/
Frank
Pennsylvania 6-5000?
SFAW
.
.
.
John –
I don’t quite know how to tell you this, but …
I think you’ve spent a little too much time reading Pantload – you’re starting to sound like him.
You wouldn’t by any chance be working on your magnum opus, called “Lieberal Fascistism” (or something like that), would you?
General Winfield Stuck
@Nathan:
how in hell can you get a song from this? Smacks forehead.
Just Some Fuckhead
Cool, now we can go back to hatin on Sarah Palin.
The Grand Panjandrum
Speaking of crazy stuff, watch this video with Marcy Wheeler on MSNBC earlier today. The money quote is around the 3:25 mark. Gold, pure gold.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead: Do you like Manhattan Transfer?
“Coming Out” is my fave album from college days (insert yer gay joke here), but I can never find one song I love best on youtube, but this is sorta fun.
For this one brief moment in time.
JK
@Nathan:
@John Cole:
I LOVE the original studio version of Take The A Train, but I think this version by Sun Ra and his Arkestra is incredibly cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KmhHIcF5e0
AhabTRuler
@Frank:
Which of course, semi-inspired the execrable (but entertaining) Jeff Goldblum-Ed Begley jr. comedy Transylvania 6-5000, also featuring a young Geena Davis as a nympho-vampire and the pedo principal from Ferris Bueller’s. Also look for an appearance by Michael Richards, Carol Kane (who’s appearance in a movie is somehow both a blessing and a curse), and, for all you Canuckistanis out there, everyone’s favorite z-list comedian, John Byner!
Just Some Fuckhead
Ya know, John.. when I saw the post title, “A Crazy Request”, I thought this is finally it, he’s going to ask one of us to kill Tunch.
JGabriel
The Grand Panjandrum:
Unfortunately, now the takeaway from that segment won’t be “Evil Cheney Kept Assassination Squad” but “Liberal Bloggers: You Can’t Take Those Potty Mouths Anywhere”.
And, no, I’m not condoning the silly vapors and the pearl-clutching over saying “blowjob”, I’m just being realistic about how it’ll be portrayed.
.
John Cole
@JK: This is probably going to offend you, but that has never stopped me before. That sounds like someone dropped a band down the stairs at the Empire State Building. I like Ellington’s version better.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Laura W: The only Manhattan Transfer recording I own is their version of On the Sunny Side of the Street.
Gotta stop playing Big Band now, it puts Mrs. Fuckhead to sleep.
Demo Woman
Since the song has been identified, can we now have a tape of Tunch’s purrs to see how he manipulates you?
AhabTRuler
@John Cole:
I can dig it, but I can also dig the piece in question. I am listening to it for the second time, and I am still not sure if I like it, but it is interesting. But I can understand how it might be difficult to access, and personal taste does still entire into.
Plus, what do I know, I liked Transylvania 6-5000
ETA: Nope, it’s
awesomevery, very good!khead
John must’ve never been in the school band.
Dennis-SGMM
@Frank:
Powerman 5000?
JK
@John Cole:
None taken. Sun Ra is not for everyone.
I wasn’t familiar with your attitude towards the more experimental jazz musicians who came on the scene in the 1960’s.
From time to time, I like to check out radically different interpretations of songs that I’ve grown up with.
JGabriel
John Cole:
John Cole = the kind of guy who wanders around the Museum of Modern Art, stopping in front of all the Pollacks and muttering, “My cat could do that.”
.
AhabTRuler
@Dennis-SGMM: That was just terrible. Painfully and unwatchably so.
Addie Loggins
As soon as I read “Bah, bah bap ba bada..” I knew it had to be “Take the A train” I think the whole thing goes something like this:
Bah
Bah bap ba bada,
Bah
bada dada dada da dada…
John Cole
@khead: Opportunity to tell my favorite joke:
“Did you hear that 90% of high school students are sexually active?”
“The other 10% are in the band.”
ellie
I love that song!
cleek
@JGabriel:
Tom C = my fav YLT tune, evah
Jared Tester
For the esoteric character of this request, this is a stretch that probably beats John’s, but do the NPR shows keep extensive archives of the songs they play?
Last year, after doing a segment with M.E. Dyson on the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death, the NPR program “Here and Now” featured as bumper music a lovely guitar riff that sounded alot like Hendrix. Sorry for the stretch, but this thread reminded me of it, and if anyone can shed light, it’s the Balloon Juice audience.
JK
@John Cole:
Don’t know about you or the others on this thread, but I wish Ken Burns would make a 6 or 7 hour sequel to Jazz. I know it sounds nuts. A sequel to a 20 hour documentary? Overall, I enjoyed Burns’ documentary a great deal.
However, I think he gave short shrift to Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, The Arts Ensemble of Chicago, John Coltrane’s later work and other experimental jazz musicians. My recollection is that he didn’t even mention Sun Ra or Weather Report.
I fully understood his need to give extensive coverage to Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Once he got up to the 1960’s, I think Burns did a super rush job to wrap things up.
Dennis-SGMM
@AhabTRuler:
Thank you. A day without disturbing the commentariat is a day wasted.
Did you know that Powerman 5000’s lead vocalist is Rob Zombie’s younger brother?
JGabriel
@ cleek: I’m torn between BLS, I Heard You Looking, and the cover of “The Whole of the Law” (which always reminds me of Auden’s “Law, say the gardeners, is the sun …”).
But Tom Courtenay is pretty great too.
.
Laura W
@John Cole: OH Lord. Every time you tell that you know you are just begging for a fight with LilBit’s DH.
The brawl on Inauguration Night was ugly enough. We need another one in July? He’ll probably call you an asshole again, and then he’ll back down and agree with you when he cools off.
(Not to imply you repeat your jokes or anything.)
AhabTRuler
@Jared Tester: AFAIK,it all really depends on whether it is a bumper from the tape (well, file, these days) or national program, or one inserted by the local station.
Just Some Fuckhead
@John Cole:
Ha!
*hides trumpet*
AhabTRuler
@Laura W: Do you take notes? Can I get the condensed version in a bi-weekly digest form?
Laura W
@AhabTRuler: I haven’t yet decided if I want to twat or kandle it.
I’ll put you on The List and have my Annie take lunch with your Momo to work out the petty details.
Thank You For Your Interest.
Best,
L-Dub
AhabTRuler
@Laura W: But does it come with a steamy BJ discount?
Also: It’s true what they say, Joey Beltram is very good.
Laura W
@AhabTRuler: Of course!
That’s all you need to say to qualify.
Truth in advertising and all that jazz.
DemonDem
Ok – so this was not the song I’ve been trying to figure out for – I don’t know – like eighteen friggin’ months but in the process of everyone’s guessing, I finally managed to learn the name of “Grazing in the Grass” – which I hear on This American Life like every other month, and it drives me crazy when I can’t figure out what the name of that song is.
I consider myself a fan of Jazz (have been going to the Chicago Jazz Fest every year since birth, save for two) so it was borderline embarrassing that I didn’t know what that was called.
Thank you, Just Some Fuckhead, for saving me from myself!
Just Some Fuckhead
@DemonDem:
You’re welcome.
BTW, I’m not a band dork and I don’t play the trumpet. That was just a joke. I was way too busy with my duties as secretary of the chess club for band nonsense.
Randy Paul
Duke Ellington had the good sense to draw upon the enormous talent of Billy Strayhorn, the composer of Take the A Train to write such beautiful songs as Chelsea Bridge, Lotus Blossom, Day Dream and the Intimacy of the Blues.
Strayhorn is probably best known for writing Lush Life, arguably one of the top ten standard compositions of all time. He wrote it while in high school.
Laura W
@DemonDem:
That’s sort of his speci-al-ity.
He’s a true Handyman.
(And he hates JT, which is why I go out of my way to link to him.)
General Winfield Stuck
@Just Some Fuckhead:
He ain’t in the band Demondem, but sometimes toots his own horn.
SiubhanDuinne
@ SFAW/22: Okay, are you and I the only people on this thread who get that? I’ve been laughing and laughing (but VERY quietly) since I read your comment.
Why yes, I WAS a music major in the 1970s, why do you ask?
DemonDem
@ General Winfield:
Fine by me – I’ve got Hugh Masekela playing on iTunes, my world is much happier, and he’s therefore entitled to toot until his heart’s content…
Bob
“A Train” has a special place in radio history.
It was the opening theme for Willis Conover’s “Jazz Hour” on VoA for many years.
Here’s the NYTimes obit for Conover:
http://nytimes.com/1996/05/19/us/willis-conover-is-dead-at-75-aimed-jazz-at-the-soviet-bloc.html
.
JK
@Bob:
This is very cool. Thanks for passing it along.
HRA
I knew it from the first few notes and was too late in responding. Drats!
I grew up hearing big band and jazz at home.
AhabTRuler
@Bob: Yes, but that just proves that Jazz is subversive.
Brachiator
@John Cole:
You should, a little. Not knowing Take the A Train is like saying, “I never heard of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band,” even if it’s only a matter of knowing something about the history of 20th Century popular music.
And this cannot be said enough: Take the A Train was composed by Ellington’s collaborator and friend, Billy Strayhorn.
A clip of Strayhorn playing piano during a 1965 performance of Train can be seen here.
Bad Horse's Filly
OMG! Is there no question that cannot be answered with a visit to BJ? My sinuses are plugged – get a neti pot. Cat a mess of hair – get a furminator. Lonely – adopt a dog from the local shelter. Oh, hell, got the dog, now what do I do? 500 comments later, dog is fine and happy. Oh yeah, hate torture, want health care, confused by the latest GOP talking point? We got your answers here.
I’m just going to get rid of all my other bookmarks. BJ rules.
BTW, since there’s no open thread, here’s my health plan (I’ll repost in an open thread if we have one).
Boyfriend with Health Benefits
General Winfield Stuck
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
Put that up on the DNC website and make the wingnuts chew their tongues off.
CMcD
@Brachiator:
Great clip of Strayhorn on piano. If you have a moment, could you transcribe the run at the 0:45 mark for me? :-)
I always loved the story behind the song. From wikipedia:
“Take the ‘A’ Train” was composed in 1939, after Ellington offered Strayhorn a job in his organization and gave him money to travel from Pittsburgh to New York. Ellington wrote directions for Strayhorn to get to his house by subway, directions that began, “Take The A Train.”
J Bean
The last time that I lived in the Chicago area, I lived on Harlem Ave. between River Forest and Oak Park. I used to take the Congress-Douglas El and in order to get off at the Harlem stop, I had to take the A train rather than the B train which didn’t stop at the Harlem stop. I had to move.
The Boss
That’s better. I was wondering how many posts I’d have to scroll through before someone gave Billy Strayhorn’s genius its due.
Paul T
Wasn’t this a Seinfeld episode? And Elaine was the expert?
JGabriel
SiubhanDuinne:
No, I thought it was funny too, if a little cagey. But I wasn’t a music major in the 70’s, just a college radio geek in the 80’s.
.
SFAW
Jeez, I hope not, although John not recognizing “A Train” is pretty appalling, so maybe I’m giving these dweebs too much credit. (Of course, if this were Teh Corner or RedState, and someone got it, I’d probably have either a major MI or a stroke.)
I wasn’t a music major, but I did learn how to sit on a piano bench. Without falling off. Most of the time.
Irony Abounds
I think Swing Era music is grossly under-appreciated, perhaps because it really only lasted a brief period of time. Close your eyes while listening to Sing Sing Sing and just imagine teenagers on Saturday night looking to burn a lot of energy. You can really understand how the kids got so worked up dancing to that stuff. Begin the Beguine is simply gorgeous. I don’t care for the stuff with vocals though. The singing simply gets in the way of the music.
2th&nayle
I’d never even heard of Billy Strayhorn until I watched “Billy Strayhorn; Lush Life” on PBS’s “Independent Lens”. You can order the DVD. It’s great!
Nemoudeis
Little trivia note: The Duke wrote that song during the infamous ASCAP “strike” of 1941, when ASCAP (the guys who own the rights to most songs) didn’t think they were getting enough money for their stuff. After attempting to double their fees (and getting rebuffed), they refused to let radio stations air their music.
The Duke responded by, among other things, coming out with new lyrics-free songs like “Take the A-Train.” Other artists took the simpler route of recording songs from the public domain … which is why we have Glenn Miller versions of Olde Chestnuts like 1869’s “Little Brown Jug” and “American Patrol” (1885).
And the strike? Well ASCAP eventually cracked and was forced to pay LOWER fees than they had before the strike. It took them years to recover from that fiasco.
AlanDownunder
JC: Apparently all I need to do was say in the comments that it went “Bah, bah bap ba bada,” and then several of you knew exactly what it was
Heck, sure. Apart from the odd “Bah, bada bada bada badee(dum)”, it’s nothing but “Bah, bah bap ba bada” over and over. Very clever how that works, especially in the bridge (the different bit than the verses)