Ever notice
In the old black and white shows..the same song always plays in the background in the saloon. Maybe the pianist knew only one tune!
shareIt's not one song, but there is definitely a limited number, repeated ad nauseum.
I think there's only one episode in which we actually see the piano, in which Kitty is auditioning a new pianist.
That's always reminded me of the cowboys in Blazing Saddles wanting to hear "Camptown Races" or Billy Clanton's requests in Tombstone. It would drive me nuts. Makes you appreciate not only the variety of music choices we have now, but the fact that we don't have to wait around for some guy to play it.
I've noticed they slip up on stuff where they've cast a musician character (Bonanza in particular). Those guys will often play things that sound way too advanced for the standard cowboy roster, and probably would have made them world famous. I even liked that hick guitarist that Festus accidentally shot. Hoyt Axton's "Five Hundred Miles" cover shows as possibly being as recent as the 1960's.
Take Care
Makes you appreciate not only the variety of music choices we have now, but the fact that we don't have to wait around for some guy to play it.But people then were far more likely to play musical instruments. Almost every middle-class young lady took piano lessons, as a matter of course. share
But people then were far more likely to play musical instruments. Almost every middle-class young lady took piano lessons, as a matter of course.
Yeah, I could see that. I also doubt that their playlists (even the saloon pianists) were as limited as what some of these shows imply. There's classical stuff going back way before that.
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There's classical stuff going back way before that.Not to mention tons of popular and folk music. share
Maybe they tried to play something else and the cowboys would yell at them, so they went back to the "classics".
Annoying the world since 1960!
There's a classic Far Side cartoon in which a bunch of cowhands are sitting around a fire. One asks another "Why don't you take that thing out and play us something?".
"That thing" is a concert grand piano, one leg of which is jammed into his pocket.
notice also that we never see the banjo player.... hmmm...
1 Clementine,
2 That old mare ain't what she used to be
3 Camptown Races
there was one more....
Smoke me a kipper. I'll be back for breakfast
....according to every dictionary on the Internet.....it's ad nauseam
Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot - than to open it and remove all doubt!
there was one more....When the Work's All Done This Fall
This one song is ubiquitous in western productions, you hear it constantly being played in saloons.
Although it was first published in 1893, and is a bit out of place in a western set 20-30 years earlier. Still, it's the one I hear the most. It was my grandfather's favorite song, he sang it constantly throughout my youth.
Here's the 1925 version by Carl T. Sprague, which sold more than 900,000 copies when 5000 was common for a good hit record. You *will* recognize the melody!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_S2BdEEeII share