Our newly appointed, official fourth Beatle, the one and only Richard, came up with another intriguing collection of tunes and wrote the following:
When I worked on Grandpa's Whistling compilations I remembered that a journalist from my hometown already had a thing with whistling in songs.
He had made a list of about 300 songs in the late nineties.
In hindsight that is remarkable when you know there was hardly a decent way to search the internet for it, and compared to now, the internet was pretty empty.
His name is Johan Peels and he has worked with the Dutch Platenblad, amongst others.
In that magazine he had a regular item about people's collections: De Omgevallen Platenkast (The Overturned Record Cabinet).
For that he interviewed hundreds of record collectors in The Netherlands and neighbouring countries. Two hundred of those are collected in his book Meer! Meer! Meer! (More More More).
I for one, am in it, and so is Marty from the Four One & Onlies and 'Cil from Buy Off The Bar.
I recently went through his list, updating and correcting and adding at will, and I have now hundreds of artists whistling in songs.
There are full song whistlers.
Artists like Toots Thielemans, Roger Whittaker, Jan Tromp, Bob MacGimsey, Jack Smith, Ilse Werner, etc., etc.
Here is Geert Chatrou, Wereldkampioen Kunstfluiten - Verrassend Klassiek Amersfoort
In this selection you will find a lot of the great and good. Some of the great artists are Vic Godard, Palais Schaumburg, Serge Gainsbourg, Nick Cave, Garland Jeffreys, Shocking Blue Elvis and The Beatles.
The best songs on this selection are XTC, Roger Miller (no family?) The Fugs, Q65, Non Plus Ultra and one of the ultimate whistlers Monty Python.
Whistling that is plain sampling or
signal whistling like wolf and dog whistles, or builders whistles are
disqualified.
I also would like to exclude movie and tv themes as much as possible, No Good, Bad, nor Ugly!
You will not find Jealous Guy or Dock of the Bay in this selection.
When your response is of a quantity I can make some more whistling compilations.
I have enough to make a few themed ones.
And I haven't even included Jerry Lee Lewis or Sonny Burgess yet!
Link: https://pixeldrain.com/u/yv7tYTsE
ReplyDeleteRichard's question: Give us another neat whistlin' tune!
Let me be the first to contribute a classic:
Shinehead's brilliant Michael Jackson's cover: Billie Jean - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4FFvZ3dCDE
Bryan Ferry's rendition of "Jealous Guy" --Muzak McM.
ReplyDeleteDear Muzak McM, I named Jealous Guy above, and Dock of the Bay. Though they are among the most brilliant songs containing whistling I saved them for another section. Top Pop whistling.
DeleteTo Geert Chatrou there is a fine utube link in the pdf, included in the download.
ReplyDeleteOne song that I was happy to find was Rocking Richard & Whistling Vic Templar - Peggy Sue and before questions are asked, I am NOT Rocking Richard
Thank You Koen, Jon and Stinky
Rocking Richard was a humble man (by all accounts), and it would be typical of him to deny that he is Rocking Richard, to avoid the embarrassment of being mobbed by autograph seekers, paparazzi, and young women hysterically screaming and tossing their undergarments. Followed by a public uproar about the indecency of youth and how you can hardly go anywhere nowadays. Your secret is safe with us, Rocking Richard.
DeleteLong may you be rockin', Richard.
DeleteThanks Koen. My tip: Nicky Hopkins & His Whistling Piano: Mr. Pleasant. And we're in Meer! Meer! Meer! as well (Platenclub Utrecht)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rob. I am going to use that one. I came across a few "whistling piano's" and now I am going to re-check them in case I missed some goodies.
Delete(and please do not limit yourself to one suggestion)
The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Poor Boy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF7wmAn6r1Y
ReplyDeleteThank you Will, A great band that rarely lets you down.
DeleteThere's a Meat Puppets instrumental on the "Up On The Sun" album with some cheerful whistling -- but I want to ask Richard's opinion as a connoisseur of the whistling arts. Recently I was enjoying this song by O-Type (an MX-80 Sound side project), but I began to wonder whether the whistling was produced by a human or a synthesizer. I suppose it is possible for a synthesizer or sampler to emulate just about any sound. But how do we distinguish simulated synthetic whistling from the REAL THING? Can your ears tell the difference? Have a listen:
ReplyDeletehttps://quadrupedmedia.bandcamp.com/track/point-blank
In all honesty, I cannot. In this case I think O-Type whistles on PointBlank are for real, On some of their albums they mention sampling and/or effects. On other albums they do not mention it, but they do use it openly. Unlike Nik Kershaw - The Riddle, which is not mentioned as a synthesized one, but I think it is synthetic. Or a modified tinwhistle.
DeleteYes the more we head forward in time, the more dificult it will be to hear the difference between drum computers, synth strings, bass lines and therefor also whistling. We might even be fooled by a.i. talking to us, even when we take a video-call. Therefor I try to limit myself to the easy part of musical recording and stay on the safe 20th century side.
The music I have gathered, I have listened to. And I can only hope that I selected nothing-up-my-sleeve & look-mama-no-hands whistling.
Lately there are a.i. songs simulating the 50s, 60s sounds.Unlike a lot of people, I do not obeject to the use of a.i. in composing and performing. Just be open. Say there are drum computers, synth strings, voice straighteners (I do not know the technical term) etc used. As with sampling and synthesizers you can use the default settings or be creative.
The Meat Puppets is a different one to my find. I think yours is very usable. Thanks
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of "Point Blank". O-Type does use loops and other effects, which is what made me wonder -- as well as the quality of the whistling, which is performed with good pitch and steady volume. Any of us who has attempted whistling has realized that those are difficult to control. And I'm glad you found "Mother's Milk" by the Meat Puppets. A glorious chorus of whistlers!
DeleteAutotune is the term I think you're looking for ("voice straighteners"), and there's no reason it couldn't be used to keep whistling in tune. But whistling wouldn't sound real if it didn't fluctuate a bit in pitch and volume. Have other sound effects been applied to whistling? Fuzz, phasers and distortion for psychedelic whistling? Echo and delay pedals? Wah-wah whistling?
& now days, there is the ubiquitous "Whistling AI" with artificial "real" breathing sounds.
ReplyDeleteSay it ain't so! I suppose AI can also imitate those quiet passages in a saxophone solo when you can hear the valves of the instrument opening and closing.
DeleteSomeone told me that you can ask AI to "humanize" a text that you have written, and it will insert spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Are there deliberate "bad notes" in AI music? Rushed tempos? AI vocalists wandering off key?
And since artificial intelligence seems to tend toward racism (when it is fed a junk food diet of social media), wouldn't there be a lot of AI Oi and neofolk out there? I hesitate to look...
You raise a lot of good questions, Jon. I wonder if there are there any squeaky drum pedals in AI?
DeleteAnother collection that's worthy of a wolf whistle, guys!
ReplyDeleteCrooks - New Mexico
Dean Owens - Here Comes Paul Newman
Nick Shoulders - Western Meta Sin
https://mega.nz/file/q2A0SIRQ#UYzKcOklvOKHXCE4xLLHqKGLpBalR8c4gNwDsw-t0ak
Thank you, Berni, these are, relatively speaking, so new, that they had not reached me yet. Very kind, and very kind to put them on Mega for all.
DeleteJust thought of another one! At the very end of "I Think I'm Wonderful", members of The Damned whistle along with a guitar quote from "Voodoo Child".
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/42VJ8C26ag4
I would be interested in an analysis of why artists chose to whistle in a song. I think, generally speaking, encountering someone whistling indicates that this person is in a good and relaxed mood, and the whistling is somewhat contageous: one gets in a better mood encountering a whistler. But is this also the case in songs?
ReplyDeleteExcellent question! If I hear someone whistling in a song, I imagine a guy with his necktie loosened and his sleeves rolled up. One hand is holding onto his suit jacket, which is slung over his shoulder. He's snapping his fingers with the other hand, keeping time with the song. "Let's do one last take, boys" he says to the musicians in the recording studio. It's been a long day, and he's about to meet some swingin' gals at the local bar. He's got money in his pocket, and not a care in the world.
Delete