What kind of whistler are you? Some people make up their own jaunty tune, like Richard Briers in The Good Life.
Some have a minimalist approach, keeping an even tone and concentrating on breathy repetition rather than anything melodic. What’s that, Sooty? Yes! Exactly like Einsturzende Neubaten!
I am a simple man with simple, red-blooded tastes. I whistle a bloody TUNE, lad! My latest pursed-lip banger is the theme tune to the Phil Silvers Show. Also the whistled bit from the song Breakdance Party from about 1983. I do have others in my repertoire but I don’t recall what they are.
So very glad you brought up this fascinating topic!! Firstly, I am now only able to whistle by INHALING through me pursed lips!! WHY?!?!?!? Secondly, Siam is NOT a nation of whistlers!! The act is as foreign to them as wearing sensible footwear!! WHY?!?!?!?
I am rather proud of my somewhat atrophied skills in “YODEL WHISTLING”!! Through the simple yet tricky to master agency of “trilling” the tongue whilst in “full whistle” mode, a very pleasing birdlike effect is produced, delighting both whistler and whistlee!!
Schubert’s “The Trout” is a favourite for the pucker treatment!!
That inhaling technique is curious. It’d be like permanently reacting to a mildly surprising statistic. Or a higher-than-expected plumber’s bill.
The yodel whistle is in the “Percy Edwards Zone” i.e. unbelievably exciting.
Gotta start here surely.
I’m minded to look at the reams of live versions to see what BF did live – though from memory the live mini-lp The High Road version has the whistling live and present.
Could we just ONCE in the name of all that’s holy have a conversation without being interrupted by a fucking Roxy Music clip? JUST ONCE? APPARENTLY NOT.
Calm down, HP – you’ll give yourself a stroke!
NOBUTREALLY. I MEAN.
I expect Bryan to beat you in a whistle off, HP.
A most ill-advised contest, as it might result in the Roxy’s sensitive rendition of Jealous Guy being interrupted by a stage invasion of sheep dogs.
… ‘ang abaht ‘ang abaht … I ain’t got me teef in.
Oh I say Moosey – several snapshots from your happy childhood here:
https://flashbak.com/north-east-england-1970s-1980s-chris-killip-graham-smith-photographs-467206/
I’ve got Roxy Music earmarked for a future thread about finger clicking. Bry doing finger clicks in the middle of Street Life is one of my earliest pop memories.
If the answer used to be Bowie seems it’s Roxy Music now.
Depends on the question: are there any Bowie examples of whistling – or fingerclicks?
Inspired by Bowie?
A whistling (not laughing) garden gnome
Both in Golden Years, I think.
I remember the whistling, don’t remember fingerclicks…but certainly feasible.
God help me I just checked the Soul Train video clip – which I remember seeing at the time. You can hear the finger clicks in the track but he does actually do it himself near the end.
You checked the clip??
I trust that this attention to detail serves you well in your daily life.
I’m not sure it does.
I can attest from the numerous times I’ve seen him in concert that Wor Bryan always does the whistling live… although it was more of a struggle for him in the last Roxy tour.
Here is one I did earlier.
That’s a famously difficult piece to perform with standard instruments, so that takes it to another level.
I specialise in sax solos. Baker Street, obviously – I’ve written to Raffety asking if I can do it on his next tour, but he hasn’t replied. I can do a pretty good Will You, except for the bit at the end where it goes all fluttery. You’d have to be avian to do that justice.
Leave it to Bird.
I think I can do Baker Street but Will You sounds tricky.
I can’t whistle so no pursed lips tunefulness here, only a showering of spittle for those nearby.
I’m also unable to swim, perform minor brain surgery, split an atom, or hang a door.
Pretty impressive – spittle-showering and literally every other skill set not listed?
I can’t tie a balloon. I have never done it successfully.
I bet you can let a good one off, though.
Can’t believe we’ve got this far down without featuring that solitary whistler, Whistling Jack Smith.
He probably a whole LP didn’t he? Absolutely no need for that.
Whistling is something you do rather than watch or listen to.
Oddly enough I’d to look this up today as a friend didn’t know what a batman was.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Was_Kaiser_Bill%27s_Batman#:~:text=The%20German%20lyrics%20were%20credited,song%2C%20but%20that%20is%20unconfirmed.
PS Almost a hamper.
Theme from Great Express, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Colonel Bogey, Liberty Bell March – all the classics and more – pretty much name the tune and I will try to whistle it. Done in a thin, reedy whistle, starting with an intake of breath, but with some sound on the outguff as well. After a few notes, my lips start wobbling and I get a ‘charming’ vibrato effect as well.
I think I hum better than I whistle, but that’s probably because I don’t shower often enough.
Boom boom!
Remember when you could walk through the office, or be waiting at the bus stop, whistling whatever tune was currently in vogue? Twas like having a magical power. Soon everybody, including Grandma Mac, who only ever smiled when she heard of the neighbours’ latest misfortune, would join along (if only in their head – but you could tell by the giveaway foot tapping). We made our own entertainment back then
Milkmen would provide this service with elan. Dustmen and posties were generally too miserable to whistle.
Whistling tunes, we hide in the dunes by the seaside
Whistling tunes, we piss on the goons in the jungle
It’s a knockout
If looks could kill, they probably… oh, ffs!
Just as a sidebar – when this song was discussed recently I wanted a to ask whether Rico is playing with the bonfire set in place by Adolf…or is he playing with his willy?
We all need a siffleur in our lives.
Of course, the French have to be all stylish and dignified. Not a washboard in sight.
I tend to whistle whatever I’ve been listening to recently, assuming that the tune has stuck in my head. So lately, it’s been rivmic melodies from Brahms’ and Sibelius’ violin concerti. Last week it was Stevie Wonder’s Superstition.
Suzanne Vega’s Luka. Not the DNA remix.
My friend Dan, actor and professional whistler.
Ace
My dad was a cracking whistler and no mean pocket-change rattler, often simultaneously and usually on his way up or down a garden path.
Those two skills are closely aligned to vocal percussion – a precursor to human beatbox which tends towards the avant garde end of music, often consisting of making hihat sounds to accompany activities such as changing a spare tyre or a spot of gentle brass rubbing.
And then, of course, there is “pom-pomming”, an activity beloved of becardiganned buffers going from room to room trying to remember what they came in here for. Fatty Cameron’s “I’m off now, fuck you” routine in Downing Street might have ruined it though.
I think he’s just had a rush of endorphins after finishing his announcement – and the Pom Pomming is a natural contra-mantra common in British men. The Pom pomming calms the body down because it has detected a risk of emotions being displayed or something similarly unacceptable.
Well, to be fair, he doesn’t have a cardigan to protect him.
I’m now singing S & G’s I Am A Rock.
I have my books
And my cardigan to pro-tect me
How timely. My cheerful weekend’s-coming whistling round the aisles of Booths today, prompted recognition from staff and customers alike. You will know that I am not being perverse when I advise that I whistle Breton and French dance tunes. Schottische a Virmoux is just the job.
How lovely that is. I’m not sure I could cope with 45 accordion pieces though. Not in one sitting.
This thread is just buggin’.
I’s a-buggin’
The whistlin’ bit I refer to in the OP comes at 51 seconds in this clip. If you are anywhere near my shed in a given weekend, you may well hear this tune as well as Sgt Bilko.
I can’t believe we’ve got this far without a mention of the whistling language of La Gomera, one of the smaller Canary Islands. It’s used primarily to communicate over long distances.
Here’s a full documentary.
And we’d really be dropping a clanger if we didn’t mention Oliver Postgate!
Here we go. Happy now @black-celebration ? Happy with what you’ve done?
I was starting to fret when the French accordion song appeared. I could sense KFD’s ears pricking up and unearthing more of the same but he went in another direction. Having said that, the clips of the whistling language are quite interesting. I’ve always wanted to whistle like that.
Accordions. All those reeds and bellows. They’re basically ‘assisted whistling’. Parfait!
I’ve always liked the whistling at the end of this. George Clinton can’t sing, dance, rap or play any instruments but it turns out he’s pretty good at whistling.
I’m a really good whistler. I quite like tricky things like bebop solos, but I used to particularly enjoy whistling the tune to Corrie just off pitch to annoy Mrs. T. She loves it really. People at work used to accuse me of being happy because I was whistling. I would reassure them that, no, I’m not happy.
Sadly my ability to whistle at deafening volume with two pairs for fingers in the corners of my mouth has left me. Must practice. I could never do the finger and thumb whistle which is annoying.
Two famous whistling moments from TV and cinema.
MR James’s ghost story, Whistle and I’ll come to you.
“Professor Parkins (Michael Hordern) has come for a week’s holiday in a small hotel on the Norfolk coast. Wandering in a clifftop cemetery he discovers a bone poking out of one of the graves and takes it back to the hotel in order to examine it. He soon realises that the bone has been carved into a whistle, and can’t resist raising it to his lips and giving it a blow, an act which has eerie and unexpected consequences…”
Michael Hordern in very fine form.
And from the golden age of Hollywood, Bogart and Bacall…..
All together
Or this.
https://www.visitsnowdonia.info/porthor-whistling-sands
Walt Disney did like a bit of whistling, However despite the title, there is not so much whistling in this one.
And if I felt short-changed by Snow White and her forest pals, it’s nothing compared to my reaction to Whistle while you Twurk by the Ying Yang Twins. It is 100% whistle- free. Just lot of bodacious babes shaking their bottoms.
I watched it twice just to be absolutely sure there was no whistling.
As Weird Al said to Madonna when she tried to do a comedy song – it’s not as easy as it looks, is it? I am referring to the Ying Yang clip where they’re going for a “who let the dogs out” type vibe but there’s a lot missing.
You are so right, @Black Celebration. It’s a dog’s breakfast. Awful beyond words
My apologies for wasting your time with such nonsense.
This thread is really going great guns. This clip contains some superb Japanese whistling.
I am curious. Are there any composers who have written a piece where the performer is called upon to whistle?
I did find this jolly piece which was very popular in its time.
“Pryor’s most popular composition was “Whistler and his Dog”, written in 1905. Inspired by his boyhood pet bulldog named Roxy, the song included a very popular whistling strain and ended with a dog bark.”
Arthur Prior put Asbury Park on the map long before that Springsteen chap.
Eric Idle
“just purse your lips an whistle that’s the thing”
aaand …
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
Very cheerful little tune. You don’t see choral whistling though, do you? A group of 20, say, whistling Jerusalem.
No, because we don’t want to provoke terrorism
I liked this so much I bought the record. It’s the best track by far, but the whole thing scratches the occasional itch.
Molly Lewis – Oceanic Feeling:
I quite enjoyed that.
Yeah, it’s only a couple of years old, but sounds like it might have come out fifty years ago on Music For Pleasure.
That’s got a certain something special about it. And don’t forget: Relics was on Music For Pleasure!
There’s something about that backing music too (is it bossanova?) that reminds me of something completely different. It’ll come to me.
Thank you so much @fentonsteve. That is quite sublime.
Very Les Baxter. Very space age bachelor pad.
The music is not really bossa nova. Not quite sure what to categorise it as.
Ms Lewis has a wonderful sense of fun!
I love the YT comments.
“My dog stops whatever he is doing and watches this video with me every time I put it on. He tilts his head quizically at the screen. He is completely enamored.”
Molly would go own a bomb at Battersea Dogs Home.
Let’s have another tune from Les Baxter.
One of the YT comments says that the clip is from Madame Satan by Cecil B. De Mille
If you need to categorise, KFD, I think “Space Age Batchelor Pad” would do the trick!
Completely agree, Fitter.
That makes me think: whatever happened to all the space age bachelors?
Did they all follow in the footsteps of John Cooper Clarke and Marry a Monster from Outer Space?
Today’s bachelors don’t seem very space age to me.
I’m still waiting for my jet-pack!
This post is the best, most KFDist post KFD has ever done!
You are right there, H.P.
With the arrival of the gorgeous Molly Lewis, this has become the best thread I never started.
Here she is serenading Stephen Fry!
Oops! Correction, I’ve just realised that is not Molly Lewis the whistler. That is Molly Lewis the ukelele player!
Crazy though it may seem, we are in now the Molly Lewis Multiverse!!
There’s an army of them and they all possess arcane skills!
Next up: Molly Lewis the accordionist!
An article about Molly Lewis (the whistler) who is originally from Australia.
https://theheadstream.com/label-directory/jagjaguwar/molly-lewis/
Her idola are Alessandro Alessandroni who is known from spaghetti western soundtracks.
and Steve The Whistler Herbst.
I’ve now done my homework about the other Molly Lewis, the one who lays the ukelele. She’s from Orange County.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Lewis
You can find her on Spotify as Mollylele. Just a few tracks though.
Ooops! The one who PLAYS the ukelele.
Molly made her name with wacky online cover versions.
There’s also a Molly Lewis who is a famous Aussie basketball player!
Whistling in the 1960s: if it wasn’t Whistling Jack Smith, it was the Andy Griffiths Show theme (even has the finger clicks at the end).
And I always had a sneaking admiration for the fellow they got for the Whistling Jack appearances…he was all alone, no instrument to play, he had to SOMETHING to fill in those two and a quarter minutes – reckon he did a reasonable job.
For your listening pleasure…
How could we have forgotten this one :
Here’s the tune that became forever identified with the Harlem Globetrotters. Some superb whistling from Brother Bones and his Shadows.
Film composers love a bit of whistling. Not least the legendary Bernard Hermann.
Imagine a cross between Whistling Jack Smith, Bill Oddie and Indiana Jones!
Time to introduce you to a remarkable Swedish chap from Örebro. Not only was Jan Linblad an expert whistler and recording artist.
He was also a naturalist, explorer, writer, photographer and film maker. There’s a photo on YT of him wrestling with an anaconda in the Amazon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Lindblad
A remarkable chap!
Here he is doing bird impersonations on Radio 4.
1924 a good year for the whistle (and flute).
Nice one @hubert rawlinson. You don’t see many coster boys in 2024!
Here’s a treat: A Brief History of Whistling. 26 songs spanning 98 years!
I found it on this page:
https://www.flovoice.com/articles/5967398-top10-whistler-videos
It also features this treat from the Indian Whistlers Association.
Anyone fancy some North Korean whistling pop? Don’t be shy now!
https://inews.co.uk/culture/music/molly-lewis-whistling-music-3002482
Article in today’s i.
Which mentions this film.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452669/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
A world of competitive whistling.
Great find Hubert . The doc looks very interesting.
This channel is a whistling treasure trove.
https://www.youtube.com/@WhistlingRecords
Tom Good didn’t make up his own jaunty tune. It was a repeated snatch (if you’ll forgive the word) of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’.
I’m very sorry, but I’m not on board with this, @cleanersvenus.
The Tom Good tune I am thinking of doesn’t sound like SOTR to me.
My Trimphone impersonation may count as whistling as I can also do many kinds of birds too.
That’s great.
Stoppit now.
Please!
And just to get this over the hamper line how can one forget the Whistler by Tull, god knows I’ve tried to.