Today is the first official day of summer, which means... today is the longest day of the year! (insert trumpets and fanfare here). It's also Tuesday which means... Three Tune Tuesday! (insert louder trumpets and fanfare here). Thank you, 
The first full day of summer always brings memories of a time long ago back to me. The warm days with lots of sunlight and no school always reminds me of my own childhood summers spent carelessly riding a bike all over the community, walking through the park to my friends, and trying (and failing) to play tennis.
A lot of my childhood memories revolve around Saturday Morning Cartoons. If you're about my age, give or take a few years, you'll probably know what I mean and, most likely, also have some fond memories of it. I remember Saturday mornings spent glued to the tv with the weekly TV Guide in my hands to help me plan out my tv watching morning. It was like an engineering feat, really. This was also back in the day that a week's worth of television programming could be printed in a weekly paperback guide. It was truly remarkable.
Whether I realised it or not, some of these cartoons really did introduce me - and an entire generation of other children - to some of the classics of music. Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies were aptly named (even though I never personally called them - it was always just Bugs Bunny to me) - these cartoons were chock full of, what I didn't realise at the time, really great music. This first was a common staple. The Blue Danube waltz was composed by Johann Strauss in 1867. This particular version was recorded by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of Leopold Stokowski in 1919. I recorded this on my Victrola VV-IX.
This next song - Hungarian Dance Number 17 - was one of a number of Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms. He wrote a number of these based on traditional Hungarian folk songs, and many of these were pieced together into various Looney Tunes clips. This particular version was recorded by Mischa Elman, who is one of my favourite violinists, in 1921. I recorded this song on my Columbia K-2 phonograph.
Finally, this song almost doesn't need an introduction. Surprisingly, this is not The William Tell Overture fourth movement, which has been used for every conceivable purpose and is still one of my favourite pieces to play (when I do get a new phonograph I will play it to ascertain whether the phonograph has a good sound or not). You will want to get up and dance to this song, or at least bounce along in your chair.
This particular version of the song was also recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, but in 1920.
Enjoy these songs? Come listen to me stream them live! I hold a live Three Tune Tuesday show of three of my favourite analogue-recorded 78rpm records every Tuesday!
Blind Skeleton Radio: https://blindskeleton.one/radio
Tuesday, 12:00pm EDT, 04:00pm UTC
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
About Me
Sometimes photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
Creator of What I Learned Today Hive community: created/hive-131257
Blind Skeleton
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