It's time again for Three Tune Tuesday, that day of the week where members of the Hive community shares three songs of their liking with the rest of the community.
I know, I post Three Tune Tuesday on Wednesday. It's done by design! I run a Three Tune Tuesday livestream on Tuesday, then post the songs the next day. Want to be the first to hear them? Tune in live!
12:00pm (noon) EDT
17:00 UTC
https://blindskeleton.one/radio/
I take a slow, relaxing approach to Three Tune Tuesday: I like to share pre-1924 78rpm songs from my collection, and record them while playing on an appropriate time-period windup phonograph. I encourage you to take a few moments and slow down with me. Settle down, close your eyes, and take yourself back.. way back.. in time, to a distant uncle's parlour in the early 1920's. There are comfortable seats, pleasant conversation, and old music.
Over this last weekend I spent some time migrating my list of records from a Google Sheet to an RDBMS, where it should have been anyway. Frankly, I might even move it to Mongo, just to do it. Regardless, the db is now easily searchable and there will soon be a search feature on the Blind Skeleton webpage.
During the process of moving the data I hooked the process up to openai to pull out the "genre" for each son. I won't get into the deep details, so the tl/dr of it all is that openai apparently identified the genre for over 6000 of the songs in the list:
mysql> select count(*) from records;
+----------+
| count(*) |
+----------+
| 11978 |
+----------+
1 row in set (0.06 sec)
mysql> select count(*) from records where lower(genre) not like '%unknown%';
+----------+
| count(*) |
+----------+
| 6224 |
+----------+
That's over a 50% rate, and I could take that as a victory. What was a little more headscratching, however, was this:
| 1919 | ByeLow | Campbell and Burr | Columbia | Blue | Hip-hop |
| 1920 | Rings | Lewis James Carl Harrison | Columbia | Blue | Hip Hop |
| 1921 | You Hoo | Gothams Favorites | Regal | Black | Hip-Hop/Rap |
| 1921 | Dapper Dan | Gothams Favorites | Regal | Black | Hip Hop |
| 1920 | Stop It One Step | Pietro | Victor | Black | Hip Hop/Rap |
I'm really dubious that anyone was playing Hip Hop back in the 1920s. But! This is a great reason to play three of these songs for TTT!
*Yoo Hoo
"Yoo Hoo" is a jazz song recorded by Gothams' Favorites in 1921. It is a fast paced song about a man who is trying to woo a woman.
The song was written by Al Jolson, who was a popular vaudeville performer and singer in the early 20th century. Jolson was known for his energetic performances and his ability to connect with audiences. "Yoo Hoo" is a classic example of Jolson's songwriting skills. This version, however, is an instrumental, so we won't get to hear any of Jolson's clever lyrics, which describe the man's many qualities, including his good looks, his sense of humor, and his ability to dance. The lyrics are full of energy and enthusiasm, and they paint a picture of a man who is confident and charming.
Stop It!
The second stop on our tour of early not-really-Hip-Hop songs is a song by Pietro.
Pietro Deiro (1888-1954) was one of the most influential accordionists of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Salto Canavese, Italy, he emigrated to the United States in 1907 and quickly became one of the most popular accordionists in the world.
Deiro was a master of the accordion, and he was able to play a wide variety of musical styles. He was particularly known for his virtuosity on the diatonic button accordion.
The accordion itself is thought to have originated in Italy in the early 19th century. The first accordions were very simple instruments, but they quickly evolved into more complex instruments with a wider range of sounds. The accordion became popular in many different countries in Europe, and it was also introduced to the Americas in the 19th century. There are three primary types of accordions:
The song "Stop It!" is about a man who has grown frustrated with a woman who is flirting with him and is finally telling her to Stop It because it's driving him crazy.
Dapper Dan
Gothams' Favorites was a pseudonym for the orchestra led by Sam Lanin. The band was active in the early 1920s and recorded for the Regal Records label.
The band was made up of some of the best jazz musicians of the day, including Lanin himself on piano, Miff Mole on trombone, and Red Nichols on trumpet. The band played a variety of jazz styles, including ragtime, swing, and Dixieland.
Gothams' Favorites recorded over 100 records during their career, and they had a number of hit songs, including "Dapper Dan," about a man who is always well-dressed and knows how to have a good time. The song opens with the lines:
There's a man in town, they call him Dapper Dan,
He's always dressed to kill, he's a real man.
The lyrics remind me of later, similar songs, by the Kinks, such as Well Respected Man and Dedicated Follower of Fashion. This particular version, however, is an instrumental.
Three Tune Tuesday (TTT) is initiated by 
I run a live stream of my TTT songs every Tuesday at 12:00pm EDT, then take that stream and share the songs from it here, on Hive, on Wednesday (or occasionally Thursday). These songs are all old pre-1923 78rpm records from my collection, played on my antique phonographs and recorded with a well placed microphone. Like what you hear? Come listen live!
Online Radio: https://blindskeleton.one/radio/
Three Tune Tuesday Live Stream: 12:00pm (noon) EST
Listen to the podcast!
https://blindskeleton.one/blind-skeleton-podcasts/
(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. 78rpm disc jockey.
General all around problem-solver and creative type.
Blind Skeleton
Online Radio: https://blindskeleton.one/radio/
Three Tune Tuesday Live Stream: 12:00pm (noon) EST