Whistle While You Work - Music With A Lilt To Lighten Crime Fighting

In the comments of the previous Whistling selection, SSteve asked "What makes a man whistle?"  I put it in my own words here. It is a question that is short and the answer is wide. 

Unless you accept the obvious answer: Various Reasons. That is, that there are lots of ways to which an artist gets to include whistling in a song.  The ‘kunstfluiter’, an artist whose signature modus is whistling, shows his art.  Often we hear whistling in movie/tv themes where my guess would be: drawing attention. 

Also in movies there is great variety. The G B & U is for me a proud whistle. ‘Turks Fruit’ by Toots is a carefree live, being young, being in love, riding a bike and blissfully unaware.  Fritz Lang, in his 1931 movie M, uses the whistle as a wolf in sheep's clothing. The child does not know what horror awaits, but we, the viewers, recognize the whistle.

In lots of blues/folk music one would be happy to have strings to the guitar, and whistling adds something where the harmonica, cheap as it is, is unavailable or unpractical.  Often whistling lifts the mood, makes it feel that life is easy. 

There is a Dutch song in which the singer is annoyed by "that stupid song", that will not leave his head. And he sings: You whistle, hum or sing along willingly or not, you'll get mesjogge by that stupid song.

Everyone picks their own reason to whistle as part of a song. You can also ask, why not more often?  We have seen here the la-la-la, and sha-la-la.  We can ask why the word-less sounds like Great Gig In The Sky and The War Song (same singer Clare Torry) and seek more examples.  Sex sounds like Chakachas and Man.  The wordless vocal part in A Day In A Life, humming in Wand'rin Star.

Trying to stand out, or as I call it, re-inventing a wheel. Like "Hey, I know something original, add a whistle."  There are also ways of destroying a song. Introducing a band during a song, or public participation (Hey-ey  Hey-ey, Ho-oh, Ho-oh, Hey Hey Ho Ho aaaaaaaaaaah).

This selection now. It starts with one of my favorites Triggerfinger, a heavy duty band who made an unexpected cover with a lovely whistle. When you love power rock trios, listen to this band's other work.

The unification of this diverse selection through whistling works a treat here.  Recent recordings of oldies such as Georgie Fame together with the Einstürzende Neubauten and The Ex. The Humor of Frank Pahl with the serious Elvis Costello.  Björk and The Pixies or the joyous rendition of Peggy Sue.

There are Vic Chesnutt, Billy Bragg, Edwyn Collins, and (for me till now unknown) Steven Page, who namechecks Linda Ronstadt.  Another great song is The Heads with Andy Partidge, I don't know how I got to get it, I'm glad I did.  And the set is finished by the French Zaz and I like to hear more French whistling.  Enjoy this set of 90s/00s and some 10s.