The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
Posted by Dala on Sunday Jan 17, 2010 Under Cartoons, Silliness, VintageFor the past few weeks, my daughter has been watching Looney Tunes cartoons quite a bit…and I must admit that I’ve plopped down on the couch and joined her a few times. After all, who doesn’t love the Looney Tunes? Think of all the classic characters they created; Bugs Bunny, the Road Runner, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Tweetie Bird, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester Cat, the Tasmanian Devil, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, the list goes on and on. Sheesh, my co-workers and I have even been reminiscing about Beaky Buzzard recently. If you consider the entire body of work, Loony Tunes (along with their sister series Merrie Melodies) are probably the best (and most popular) cartoons of the 20th century.
Independent of this, my little brother was pulling together some songs about birds a few weeks ago (the need to compile songs by a common theme must run in the family) and gave me a list of things he was looking for. Imagine my surprise when I saw that one of them was “I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat”. Did I have it? Of course I had it! A few years ago, I raided my father-in-law’s basement and nailed all of his old 45’s from the 1950’s. Frankly, most of it is not anything I would listen to on a regular basis (Pat Boone, Doris Day, Frankie Laine, Dinah Shore, Jo Stafford, etc.), but there was one record that made it all worthwhile…
“I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat”, Mel Blanc (with Billy May), 1951
From the 45 Capitol F1360
“I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat” lyrics
“Yosemite Sam”, Mel Blanc (with Billy May), 1951
From the 45 Capitol F1360
“Yosemite Sam” lyrics
You can’t talk about Loony Tunes and not mention Mel Blanc. Known as “The Man of a Thousand Voices” (which wasn’t just a catchy nickname), Blanc was said to have performed over 1,000 different voices during his 50+ year career, including all the characters mentioned above. Capitalizing on the popularity of Looney Tunes, he recorded this single with Billy May, who was famous for his work with Frank Sinatra and Nat “King” Cole.
“Powerhouse”, The Raymond Scott Quintet, 1937
From the compilation Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights
This song is an instrumental.
Raymond Scott was an interesting character: after starting out as a jazz musician, he later became the orchestra leader for the radio/tv show Your Hit Parade, then was one of the first people to experiment with electronic music (inventing many of his own instruments/machines to perform it), which finally led him to work at Motown Records as their Director of Electronic Music and Research. However, his greatest claim to fame is the fact that many of his jazz compositions were sampled extensively in the Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons (among others). Without a doubt, the most famous is “Powerhouse”, which was used in no less than 40 different cartoons.
“War Dance for Wooden Indians”, Don Byron, 1996
From the album Bug Music
This song is an instrumental.
This is another Raymond Scott song that was also used in quite a few cartoons. The album Bug Music has Don Byron performing compositions by Scott, Duke Ellington, and John Kirby. When it came out, he performed a concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where he played its songs and also showed the Looney Tunes that they came from. Not only was it a great show, but also a nice excuse to spend the afternoon watching cartoons. Unfortunately, it was geared toward children, and my wife and I were probably the only the only grown-ups in the audience that didn’t have kids with us.
“The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down”, Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm, 1937
From the compilation That Old Feeling (I think…)
“The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down” lyrics
You might recognize this as the theme song to the Looney Tunes cartoons.
“Merrily We Roll Along”, Lord Invader with The Calypso Orchestra, 1960
From the compilation Smithsonian Folkways Children’s Music Collection
“Merrily We Roll Along” lyrics
This one is a version of the theme for the Merrie Melodies cartoons. If you listen closely, you can also recognize it as “London Bridge is Falling Down”. On top of that, it’s pretty similar to “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.
“Various Cues from Bugs Bunny Films”, Carl Stalling, 1943-1956
From the compilation Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons 1936-1958
This song is an instrumental.
Just as Mel Blanc is synonymous with the voices of the Looney Tunes, Carl Stalling will be forever remembered for creating their musical accompaniment. Granted, some of it is pulled from Raymond Scott songs and other popular Warner Brothers tunes, but Stalling was the one who blended it all together with his own original music to create distinctively unique soundtracks, still recognizable today. This selection blends together the scores from classic Bugs Bunny shorts; “Rabbit Fire”, “Robot Rabbit”, “Half Fare Hare”, “Beanstalk Bunny”, “What’s Cookin’ Doc”, “Bewitched Bunny”, “Windblown Hare”, and “Hot Cross Bunny.” It’s definitely worth listening to, but as my daughter says, “it’s pretty weird without the cartoons.”