I was driving along the other day when Jane's Addiction's "Been Caught Stealing" came on the radio and i got to thinking about how the intro to the song just wouldn't be the same without the sampled dog barks. This soon lead to thinking about the use of sampled animal sounds in songs in general and some of the noteworthy songs that take advantage of it to great effect.. Any number of great bands have sprinkled animal sounds through their recordings though I think I'd credit the Beatles with popularizing the practice, though I doubt they invented it. Can anyone suggest who might've been the first to use them in a recording that achieved widespread popularity?21 responses total.
I dunno, how about papa Mozart (W.A.'s father)'s "Toy Symphony"? (Ducks. I know they didn't use real ones, but still), or that chrismas peice that has the trumpits whinying at end? That said, I know that on "Good Night Saigon" by Billy Joel (One of best that he did, out of quite a few good ones, in my oppinion), he uses crickets as a sample towards the begining (OK, so I'm obsessive), but that was decidedly Post-Beatles.
I was thinking mostly of "real" animal noises, as opposed to animal sounds mimicked with musical instruments. I wonder if now that the technology exists for people to incorporate arbitrary sounds into a work of music the practice of musical mimicry will gradually fade away..
(Re #1: Wasn't the "Toy Symphony" by Haydn, not Mozart's father?)
I believe John is right. Besides, it does sound like Haydn.
A while ago I heard a debate of some sort on that point, John, but I don't remember how it turned out...
Purely speculation: With all the "novelty" kinds of pop songs from 50's (?)
etc. ("Snoopy Hang On", "Aham the Arab") some of which predated the Beattles
surely, I'd think there must be some animals in there somewhere...
Respighi's Pines of Rome has a recording of nightingale. Dates from the 1920s, I think. I seem to remember some animal sounds on the Rolling Stones "Their Satanic Majesties Request" album, but it's been years since I've heard it. Whale sounds in an Alan Hovhaness symphony called "And God Made Great Whales." Wendy Carlos's "Sonic Seasonings" has birds, wolves, frogs and insects. Bartok imitated the callof the wood thrush and the towhee in the second movement of his 3rd piano concerto. Samuel Barber based his entire cantata "The Lovers" on the call of the wood thrush.
re:3 I might have confused the name. Never the less, WAM's pappy did write
something involving duck noises. I recall that I found it more or less
attrocious, too ('though I enjoyed the sheer weirdness of it all. Sort of
like listening to "Spock Sings!" tracks...)
Hey, I liked _The Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy_, one of the albums Nimoy sang for.
To each their own, y'know.
An interesting CD: Bernie Krause & Human Remains "Gorillas in the
Mix" on Rydodisc/RCD 10119. put out in 1988/1989. Real animal sounds
in that.
"jingle bells" by the singing dogs was a Christmas novelty
thing from the late 60's/early 70's. Back in the days when you
had to get out the razor blade and scotch tape to put such a
thing togher. Nowdays it's easy to have Christmas Cats, Dogs,
Frogs and more.
Christmas Wildebeests! Christmas Penguins! Christmas Albatroses! Christmas Chameleons! Sorry, just getting a little carried away...
RE #11 I do remember the version of "Jingle Bells" by the Singing Dogs, where dogs seemed to be barking out the tune. There was also a version of "Oh Susanna" by the Singing Dogs. This is going to make me feel somewhat older than the rest of youse people, but I also remember seeing on the old "I've Got A Secret" TV show (circa 1962-64) a singing chorus with each person singing their own name and the song was "In The Good Old Summertime" (with a gentleman named "Somerstein" becoming a folk hero for awhile after that).
I remember that show! None of the panellists guessed the relationship between all the people.
...I've got a copy of 'in the mood' as done by chickens...
RE #15 "In The Mood" by the Henhouse Five Plus Two was actually performed by Ray Stevens doing the chicken clucks. My ex-girlfriend had a tape of "Ray Stevens' Greatest Comedy Hits," which featured the same recording.
Well, yeah. But STILL...
Hey, is he that guy in the scary ads on TV in the gorilla suit?
Oh man, Dan, don't you know who Ray Stevens is? He sings "Ahab the Arab," "The Streak," "Everything Is Beautiful," "The Haircut Song," "Guitarzan," "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex," and "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow." As a Southern comedian/musician, he spoofs elements of Southern life and even topics more familiar to us Yanks. Now, if you were just jokin', you can ignore that, of course..
"Guitar-Zan, the Guitar-Man......"
Heh, for a short time when I was a teenager, I started really getting into Ray Stevens. I wasn't so aware of who he was when he made a performance at our fairgrounds, but that was one fair I didn't forget (and most of my friends remembered it, too).
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