| Author |
Message |
    
John Ruffels
Inspector
Username: Johnr
Post Number: 166
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 2:34 am: |       |
Sorry Steve Loughry,
Missed your first post (December 25).
Yes, your father's parody sounds exactly like the song I had in mind.
Spike Jones is one of my musical heroes too.I particularly like his "Hawaiian War chant" which segues from slide-guitar traditional Hawaiian to
Rag-Time Dixieland Mayhem!
And, of course, I just LOVE the gargling-with-water-whilst- singing routine.
Most of his songs sound like cartoon soundtracks. |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 1831
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 4:39 am: | |
"Cocktails for two" had gargling. My uncle had the record.
Why did those 78s have to be so breakable?
Robert |
Suzi Hanney
Inspector
Username: Suzi
Post Number: 258
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 4:59 pm: | |
Robert-
They're good for flower pots at that point..specially when mixed with a bit of the old farthing dip!! (Whoops Cross-Boarding here!!) Isn't it bizarre how you have to keep a record of what boards and threads you're on using pencil and paper!!..Well I do!! with a rather complicated code of visited..replied..waiting..! So much for technology!!
All best
Suzi
|
Steve Laughery
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 6:16 pm: | |
Robert, John, Suzi, etc.
I don't know where the "Sweet Violets" parody originally came from. (John - I don't mean to get nosey, but are you American? British? A bit of both, i.e. Canadian? I wonder how popular/international that ditty was! Where did you hear it?)
Also, Robert, I don't know if Spike ever recorded "He's His Own Grandpa" - it sounds like something he would have done in his early, "The Covered Wagons Rolled Right Along" period, doesn't it? (I do have recordings of "Grandpa" by both Guy Lombardo (1940s?) and Phil Harris (1950s).
Any facts/speculation out there on other songs Mary was likely to have been chirping? I seem to recall reading that a neighbor said she sang often; usually "Irish songs". If so, do any of you know of reissues of original }"Irish" tunes cut on cylinders or 78s back around the turn of the century, now on CD or cassette?
Steve |
John Ruffels
Inspector
Username: Johnr
Post Number: 170
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 12:11 am: | |
Steve,
In answer to your two questions:I am English born,
Australian raised.Came here aged ten.
I heard the "Sweet Violets" song sung by homesick English people in Sydney in the 1950's. There could have been an injection of reprised (British)war-time sing-a-long songs in there somewhere.
John. |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 1941
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 5:11 am: | |
Hi Steve
There is some information about music on the thread "The Fisherman's Widow" (under "Victims" and "Mary Kelly").
It would be nice to find out more about all this.
As you say, she would have had a number of songs in her head.
Robert |
Steve Laughery
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 11:45 am: | |
John & Robert
Thank you for responding!
I agree - it would be interesting to find out more about the "Irish" tunes and Pop songs Mary would have known. What were some popular titles in England and Ireland in the 1870's and 1880's? Do any of you know who the big Irish/English recording artists were before the turn of the century? I have heard a few recordings by "Music Hall" artists from the 1900's and 'teens (like Florrie Forde's "Down At The Old Bull And Bush" and "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?", both from around 1905/1910). Here in the western U.S., the only well-known Irish vocalist from a long time ago is John McCormack (did I just spell that right?). I wonder what the usual gang at Ringer's pub (including Mary?) used to sing around closing time ...
Steve |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 1952
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 10:05 am: | |
Hi Steve
If I find out anything, I'll post it. Just as a pure guess, I'd say she was probably singing a mixture of music hall stuff, maybe some old Irish folk stuff she heard as a child, and maybe some more topical Irish stuff perhaps only current within the Irish community. I don't know whether there were specifically Irish pubs where she may have learnt such songs, but that again would be interesting to know.
Robert |
Sarah Long
Chief Inspector
Username: Sarah
Post Number: 548
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 11:44 am: | |
I had a little delve into this subject on the internet and I found the following website which is interesting with regards to a recent conference of the SSNCI (Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland):-
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~pg2/Conreview.htm
With regards to irish music of the time it says the following:-
"The recent SSNCI conference, whose theme was chosen to reflect the centenary of Queen Victoria’s death, opened with a classic rendition of the music hall ditty ‘Killaloe’ written by Robert Martin, a landowner, a Unionist and a composer of popular songs and musicals. Music hall is not something commonly associated with the Irish musical tradition. In fact, nineteenth-century Ireland is rarely described as ‘Victorian’."
When looking for irish composers I came across the following information:-
Michael W Balfe (1808 - 1870) - wrote The Bohemium Girl and a variety of other operas.
Michele Esposito (1855 - 1929) - his music is rooted in the late-nineteenth-century romantic era, adding an unmistakable Irish overtone in many compositions using folk-song or dance material.
Julius Benedict (1804 - 1885) - wrote The Lily of Killarny based on an Irish theme and making use of Irish musical material.
Vincent O’Brien (1871 - 1948) - the first singing teacher of Irish celebrities John McCormack and Margaret Burke Sheridan; in fact, James Joyce was his pupil, too.
I know some of these don't fall into the right time but I thought I'd mention as many as I could.
Incidently there is an irish composer who is still around now called Mary Kelly who was born in Dublin in 1957.
Hope that something somewhere in all that helps with something although probably not much.
Sarah
P.S. By the way Steve, how on earth does a bit of American and British equal Canadian? |
Suzi Hanney
Inspector
Username: Suzi
Post Number: 443
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 2:28 pm: | |
Sarah
Verrrrrrry impressive girl!!well researched you!!
Robert
I agree most of the music hall /folk singers I've known for years work in this way!! There is so much cross over in Music Hall/Irish/Cockney
P.S. Robert.. have you ever heard or heard of 'Cosmotheka' the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
suzi get back on this thread I guess!! |
Robert Charles Linford
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Robert
Post Number: 1953
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 4:21 pm: | |
Suzi, Cosmotheka? Please explain.
Sarah, well done! Mary was an Irish girl who sang irish songs and lived in a fairly Irish pocket of the east end, so I reckon she'd have known quite a few songs.
Robert |
Bernda Love
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 7:25 pm: | |
You can listen to a lot of late 1800/early 1900's popular tunes at www.tinfoil.com. The earliest recorded sound never fails to amaze me....about 9 years before the time of the Ripper. Let me know if you like that site as much as I enjoy it. |
Suzi Hanney
Inspector
Username: Suzi
Post Number: 451
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 6:05 pm: | |
Bernda-
Sounds good!!
Robert
Cosmotheka are the dogs b*******! They are named allegedly after a Manchester Music Hall and do the most wonderful renditions of Music Hall with a slightly Brummie accent!!..stars tho!! Will look up their website now and post it here!
xsuzi |
Steve Laughery
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 8:24 pm: | |
Everyone -
Thanks again for responding!
Bernda - I have purchased a few CDs from Tinfoil in the past; great stuff! I love listening to those sounds, too. One of their collections has a lot of cuts from the Spanish American War.
Sarah - thank you for all your research! I hope you were not offended by my British/American = Canadian comment. I meant nothing wrong or rude. I live near the British Columbian border, and have spent a lot of time in Canada (beautiful country; nice people). The Canadians have their own unique culture, of course. I only meant the two biggest influences up there that I have seen are U.S. and U.K.
(U.S. = Country Western music; driving on the right; bugers & fries; Canadian football is almost identical to American football; shopping at the Bay or the Brick is like shopping at J.C. Penny's or Wal*Mart, etc.
U.K. = saying "Eh?" instead of "Huh?"; their cars have "bonnets" and "boots" instead of "hoods" and "trunks"; they smoke Players and Rothmans, not Winstons or Camels; judges wear wigs; they buy petrol, not gas; the Queen of England is on their money; many Canadians say "zed", not "zee"; Prime Minister, not President, etc.)
I don't say any of that in a negative way. I just think of Canadians as very British North Americans (if that makes any sense).
Steve |
Suzi Hanney
Chief Inspector
Username: Suzi
Post Number: 503
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, February 01, 2004 - 8:54 am: | |
Bernda
Have finally sussed out how to play the stuff from tinfoil!! much to the irritation of my husband who's sat at the other end of the table trying to listen to the radio!! Have done more than my fair share of music hall singing in the past and used to sing The Bird on Nellies Hat..was great to hear that again!!.
Thanks so much for that site..it's excellent!!
Cheers
Suzi |
Mary Tomczak
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2004 - 5:13 pm: | |
i have an extra credit assignment to find the parody of "sweet violets". I think it is one that actually says explicit things, butim not sure...i know its not what i found on one website, name sweet violets 1, 2, and 3. if someone could help me find the lyrics somewhere, id be very appriciative. thank you
mary |
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