Friday, January 29, 2010

Whistle and I'll come to you

So while we put all thoughts of funerals to back of our minds until next week, let's talk about whistling in song.

I was very pleased to discover something new today which is all whistling and pretty marvellous. Where The Rainbow Ends by the Tony Hiller Orchestra made itself known on my ipod, as I was giving my new Dutch pop hits of the 1960s CD a first listen. It's whistling throughout, in a semi-sinister way, something I'm all for, and sounds like it should be from a detective show or a film. So then I thought more about whistling.

But, I mused, when you think 'whistling in song', there's only one person who really springs to mind. That's right. It's Roger Whittaker.

Now, I'm a big a fan of gems like I Don't Believe In If Anymore and Durham Town (The Leaving) as the next man, but what or who else is out there?

There's 1969 No.2 I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman by Whistling Jack Smith (the clue's in the name), but it's been hijacked by an advert and therefore it's over. There's the cutesy naive bangwagonesque Roger Miller Sixties smash England Swings, there's the theme to Twisted Nerve, which someone walked by my living room window whistling once and it made my nerves twist, and er, there I've drawn a bit of a blank.

But I'm a fan. Help me out. Anyway, here's Tony.

12 comments:

Simon said...

Two with whistling that immediately spring to mind:

Guns 'N Roses - Patience
Credit To The Nation - Teenage Sensation

I'll think some more.

Jon Peake said...

And that reminds me of The Scorpions' Wind of Change.

Anonymous said...

De la soul song? Three is the magic number
? It's prob a sample from one of your choons tho.

Anonymous said...

I'm the idiot above. It was Eye Know and the sample was of course from top whistling choon Dock of the Bay...

Girlonatrain said...

There's Andrew Bird. He whistles a lot. But it's not in the same class as 'Wind of Change' & Roger Whittaker, and I'm not suggesting anybody actually *listen* to him.

Mondo said...

Any song with a whistle-bit is guaranteed to get the listener a'whistling along..

Isn't there a whistling section at the somewhere in Roxy's Jealous Guy?

Jon Peake said...

Yes of course, you're all right. I didn't know the whistling bit in Eye Know was from Dock Of The Bay, but now you mention it, it all becomes clear.

Unknown said...

Isn't there a whistly bit in Lookin Back Over My Shoulder by Mike & The Mechanics?

Anonymous said...

[B]NZBsRus.com[/B]
Escape Idle Downloads Using NZB Downloads You Can Rapidly Find High Quality Movies, Games, MP3 Singles, Applications and Download Them at Maxed Out Rates

[URL=http://www.nzbsrus.com][B]NZB[/B][/URL]

Anonymous said...

[B]NZBsRus.com[/B]
Lose Sluggish Downloads Using NZB Downloads You Can Easily Search High Quality Movies, Console Games, Music, Applications & Download Them at Flying Rates

[URL=http://www.nzbsrus.com][B]NZB Search[/B][/URL]

Anonymous said...

[B]NZBsRus.com[/B]
Dismiss Sluggish Downloads Using NZB Downloads You Can Instantly Search High Quality Movies, Games, MP3 Singles, Software and Download Them @ Maxed Out Rates

[URL=http://www.nzbsrus.com][B]Usenet Search[/B][/URL]

Kolley Kibber said...

But what of 'Young Folks' by Peter, Bjorn and John? It even inspired the Today Programme to do a piece on whistling. Of course its charm has been annihilated by over-use in adverts and trailers now, but for me it will always be the sound of driving to Ostia in an open-topped car.

Labels