The Recording Revolution Sound of Song


The Recording Revolution

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MUSIC: My Favourite Things from The Sound Of Music

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Songs - some my favourite things. I bet they're some of yours too.

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How about this one?

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MUSIC: You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers

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You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers.

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Or how about a bit of Springsteen?

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MUSIC: Born In The USA by Bruce Springsteen

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Born In The USA, that iconic opening riff.

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Now, there's genius in the writing of all these songs,

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but, for me, that's not the whole story.

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To really understand songs like this,

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I think we need to know a whole lot more.

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We must examine every stage in the life cycle of songs

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to appreciate why they mean so much to us.

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Not only how they're written, but also performed, recorded

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and how we listen to them.

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MUSIC: Da Doo Ron Ron by The Crystals

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This is the magical alchemy

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through which songs become the soundtrack of our lives

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and how Da Doo Ron Ron by The Crystals

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became the ultimate teen anthem.

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I'll investigate how new ways emerged to record music

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and how this helped musicians like The Beatles

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to entirely reimagine what songs could be.

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MUSIC: Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles

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I'll meet pop genius Brian Wilson,

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in whose hands songs became three-minute symphonies.

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MUSIC: Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys

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And join me to experience the different ways that songs

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have been consumed by us as listeners,

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including the futuristic world of the silent disco.

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But, in this first episode, I'm going to begin

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when everything changed in our relationship with music -

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when songs were recorded for the first time,

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giving them a new presence, availability and global reach.

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When newfangled machines called record players

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began a listening revolution.

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I'll explain why the songs of writer Irving Berlin appealed then,

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and still do now.

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We'll hear the hits of the day

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and the glorious way a singer like Louis Armstrong interpreted them.

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MUSIC: I Cover The Waterfront by Louis Armstrong

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How the microphone brought a new kind of singing called crooning.

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MUSIC: The Very Thought of You by Nat King Cole

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And how all of this together began our modern love affair with songs.

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MUSIC: Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who

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Now I'm listening to MY all-time favourite thing.

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It's Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who.

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When I was 16, I heard this song for the first time.

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I loved it then, and I still do now.

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What an opening.

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A completely new-sounding use of organ,

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Townshend's crashing guitar,

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then the driving beat of The Who at the top of their game.

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So try and conjure up a world without this pleasure.

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A time when any kind of recording simply didn't exist.

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When, apart from occasional musicmaking,

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there was a strange silence in the home.

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Imagine.

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Imagine.

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And let's go back to New York, September 1893,

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when a group of poor immigrants

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arrived off a transatlantic passenger ship from Europe.

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Making this journey was a five-year-old Jewish boy,

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his family refugees from pogroms in Eastern Europe.

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He was Irving Berlin.

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Destined to become one of the greatest songwriters

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of the 20th century

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and a witness to this early story of the sound of song.

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Berlin grew up on New York's Lower East Side, Jewtown it was called,

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living in a typical tenement block.

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Irving left home at 14 for a life of sleeping rough, eating scraps

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and wearing hand-me-down clothes, later remarking that

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everybody should have a Lower East Side in their lives.

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It was in downtown saloon bars that the teenage Berlin

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began singing and playing piano,

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where he came under the influence of ragtime music

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and began writing songs.

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In 1909, Irving got his first break

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when he began working for a music publisher on Tin Pan Alley.

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Tin Pan Alley, so-called because,

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after walking the bustling, hustling streets

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that housed New York's music business,

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journalist Monroe Rosenfeld wrote that the cacophony of upright pianos

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sounded like tin pans clashing in a busy kitchen.

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Throughout his Tin Pan Alley days,

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Berlin would never learn to read or write music

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and, at the keyboard, ignorant of key signatures and harmonic theory,

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he kept it simple.

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HE PLAYS RAGTIME

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And he was always happiest with the black notes on the keyboard.

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Now, the thing about those notes

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is that they're proud of the white notes. They're slightly higher.

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It makes it much easier

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to get from one note to another

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and it falls naturally under the hand shape as well, so that...

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HE PLAYS RAGTIME

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For a lad like him, was not only a great way into playing the piano,

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it really influenced the first songs that he wrote.

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From the beginning, Berlin wrote the music and the lyrics

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and expressed a determination that both should be easy on the ear.

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"My songs aim to be a conversation set to music," he said.

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But, perhaps more importantly,

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he wanted to create a sound to his songs that captured the energy

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and excitement of the world around him in New York.

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As he also observed, "All the old rhythm was gone

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"and, in its place, was heard the hum of an engine.

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"The new age demanded new music for new action."

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In 1911, when Irving Berlin was only 23,

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he first realised this ambition by writing Alexander's Ragtime Band.

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Berlin was always searching for that memorable melodic phrase

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which, as he put it, he would keep at

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until he could hum it out into something definite.

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In the case of Alexander's Ragtime Band...

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HE HUMS THE TUNE

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Now, that...

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That sticks in the mind. But then you put under it...

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that fantastic syncopation, the sound of modern America,

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a sort of sophistication.

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But it's about the tension between the left hand and the right.

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There's two different rhythms going on at once there -

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syncopation is that rhythm between the left hand and the right.

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And in the middle, a little bit of humour.

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Those black notes...

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sound just like a bugle call.

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HE PLAYS BUGLE CALL MELODY

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Alexander's Ragtime Band

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was a song that Berlin would be asked to sit down and play

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again and again throughout his long life.

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# Up to the man, up to the man

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# Who's the leader of the band... #

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And no wonder.

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The song has such appeal that it's become a standard -

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immortal even - still regularly performed and recorded today.

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# Alexander's Ragtime Band. #

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# Come on along, come on along... #

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Nearly two million sheet music copies of Alexander's Ragtime Band

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were sold worldwide, making it an international hit.

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That had always been the traditional measure of a song's success -

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but by now it was also available through recordings of the song.

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And three of these recordings were made by

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the company of Thomas Edison,

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who, in 1877, began the revolution in recording

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that would give us the 20th-century sound of song.

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This revolution happened here,

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at Thomas Edison's Invention Factory in West Orange, New Jersey.

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Every kind of scientific investigation took place

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in these labs -

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one of the most urgent was into sound reproduction.

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In the last quarter of the 19th century a race was on

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between Edison and his rivals

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to capture this hitherto elusive phenomenon.

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The big bang moment when Edison became the very first

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to record and play back sound

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was explained to me by Professor Paul Israel.

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This is the first machine. It was made in December of 1877...

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-Wow!

-..and astounded people,

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because the simple device suddenly could not just record

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but play back sound - something that nobody had ever done before.

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Nobody had ever heard recorded sound.

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Now we can't think about life without it, and yet there it was.

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These first ever recorders captured sound onto tinfoil -

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and the words of Edison speaking into the mouthpiece

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of what he called a phonograph

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were the first sounds ever to be recorded.

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EDISON: The first words I spoke

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in the original phonograph -

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"Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

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"And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go."

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By 1888, Edison had developed a more elaborate machine

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that recorded onto wax cylinders rather than tinfoil

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to get a better sound quality to the human voice.

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The real business, they thought, would be dictating. Right?

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These would be dictating machines, office machines,

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so that's how this was originally sort of conceived as a business.

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The company developed this "talking machine"

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as a useful product for the office,

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and these Edison Dictaphones used the first ever headphones -

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but Edison realised that the real money

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lay not in words, but recorded music.

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So, beginning in '87,

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he actually thinks that the biggest part of the business

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-might be selling recordings.

-Ah!

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And, by the spring of 1889, Edison is producing commercial recordings.

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When he sends out phonographs to his friends,

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he sends out musical records as well.

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Shared domestic enjoyment of the first recordings

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was followed by a more public and commercial outlet for music.

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Another fantastical device was invented -

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the jukebox.

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Over time, What begins to happen is these phonograph parlours are set up.

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-Mm.

-Where you could go and listen to a number of different recordings.

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-Yeah.

-And these machines are also put up in railway stations

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and other places where people are moving about and waiting for

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something to happen - like a train - and they could listen to a recording.

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For the first few years of recorded music,

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-this is how most people heard music.

-Yeah. So, in a way,

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a machine like this is actually DEFINING popular music, isn't it?

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This is where popular music was first being heard

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-outside of live performances.

-Yeah.

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MUSIC: By The Light Of The Silvery Moon

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Just to look at this photograph

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is to understand the sheer novelty and surprise of recorded sound.

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These people had simply heard nothing like this

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before in their lives.

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Look at this woman's face,

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and see the sheer joy and wonder of listening to her favourite thing.

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With a demand for new songs, recording took off.

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-HE GASPS

-Beautiful room.

-Right!

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So, this is the music room.

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This is where the earliest recordings were made,

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where Edison and people working with him were selecting out

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who was going to be recorded, and what music was going to be recorded.

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Wow!

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# Beautiful dreamer

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# Wake unto me

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# Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee... #

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What was Edison's view of popular song?

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What was his take on what would sell to an audience?

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For Edison, the popular music that he was recording

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was the most sentimental kind -

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a ballad, looking to the past, to the country, um...

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A lot of the people who came from the country to the city

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-longed for that life back home.

-Of course.

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-Small-town America was really his market.

-Yeah.

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And he was recording the more old-fashioned song.

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# List while I woo thee... #

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The music recorded by the Edison Company

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could be bought as wax cylinders

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that played on the first machines to enter the home.

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And it was the singing voice which was, from the beginning,

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so appealing - able to provide the warm and sentimental sound

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that made the parlour songs of the day so popular.

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# How'd you like to spoon with me...? #

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But how were these songs of the late 19th and early 20th century

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actually recorded?

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# Call me little tootsy-wootsy baby... #

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To find out, I got a trio together to record a hit

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from the 1906 West End Musical The Earl And The Girl.

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It's the mildly risque How'd You Like To Spoon With Me? -

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words by Edward Laska and music by Jerome Kern.

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That's fine - nothing...

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You can't do anything wrong at this point,

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this is just to give us an idea we've got everybody on at about the right level.

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Patricia Hammond is our singer,

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playing this strange-looking violin is Aleks Kolkowski...

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and there's me on upright piano.

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We could try another quick test with a slightly different horn...

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which might pick up more piano,

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and slightly change the way that your voice is appreciated.

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Our ringmaster is early recording expert Duncan Miller.

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Get you a little bit higher on that.

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A session like this had to be tightly controlled by a recordist -

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where to place the musicians

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and how they should play to the recording horn were crucial.

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No wonder the first record producers

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were so coveted by the original record companies.

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It does really nice things

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-when you do a really, really straight tone, I noticed.

-Yeah.

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It does... It sounds really nice that way.

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Miss Patricia Hammond sings her popular success,

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How'd You Like To Spoon With Me? Vulcan record.

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# I don't know why I am so very shy

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# I always was demure... #

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The technology here dictates how the song is sung.

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# I never knew what silly lovers do

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# No flirting... #

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Patricia shouldn't sing too softly, as the recorder won't pick up her voice.

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# In all my life I've never kissed a man... #

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But not too loudly, either,

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as that makes the recording stylus jump out of its groove.

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# But now at last I'm going to break the ice

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# So how'd you like to try? #

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Some instruments work much better than others -

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drums and double basses are too loud.

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Violins can be a problem,

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because their thin sound struggles to record -

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so Aleks is playing this specially adapted violin - called a Stroh -

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that has its own horn

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to better project sound towards the recording machine.

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And my piano is raised up to get the maximum volume out of it.

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# How'd you like to be my lovey-dovey...? #

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Now here's the science.

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Sound through the horn creates vibrations,

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which, via a diaphragm, activates the recording stylus

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that in turn engraves the sound onto a wax cylinder.

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# ..large and shady

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# Call me little tootsy-wootsy baby... #

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To get a good recording, you needed to keep the wax soft,

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so early recording studios were like a sauna.

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Plus the first wax cylinders only lasted two minutes -

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so songs had to be short and sweet.

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Bags of room on there.

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It looks so simple -

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but there's a great skill in singing well into the horn,

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as Patricia is finding out.

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Without anybody playing anything else, just sing through that little bit.

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# How'd you like to be my lovey-dove...? #

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-Oh, yes...

-Yeah?

-I really detect how it really...

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-Yeah.

-You almost feel the danger as it comes back at you.

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-Yes, you'll know either to moderate it or to draw back slightly...

-Yes.

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..or to turn slightly.

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-Yeah, and you can also get more intimate, as well.

-Yes.

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That was the art, because you're getting closer -

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cos when we play it back you'll see there was a lot more presence...

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-Yes!

-..in the one you just did than the one we did before.

-Yeah.

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And whether it is 1906 or today,

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nothing beats the magical moment of instant playback.

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'Miss Patricia Hammond sings her popular success,

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'How'd You Like To Spoon With Me? Vulcan record.'

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# I don't know why I am so very shy

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# I always was demure... #

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From the very beginning,

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it seems technology was shaping the sounds of the songs we heard.

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That's like listening to the great-great-great-grandmother

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you never had. Who was a singer.

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-Well, you have now!

-That's extraordinary.

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We'd have sold a million of those in the Edwardian period.

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# How'd you like to spoon with me...? #

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The recording machine now went out into the world

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to capture sound wherever it could.

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For the first time,

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an address of the President of the United States...

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a Navajo Indian...

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a school in the Midwest...

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# I don't know why I am so very shy... #

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There were not only sentimental ballads,

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but also music hall and vaudeville hits,

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comic songs and opera.

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All these recordings were now being bought in their thousands.

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There is a treasure trove of these songs right in the heart of London.

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# I never winked my eye... #

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In the basement of the British Library

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are 7,000 precious and valuable wax cylinders,

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acquired and preserved for the nation.

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Here you can find the top ten

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that entertained the Edwardian public.

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And, voila - here's a box of delights

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that the curators at the Library's Sound Archives

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have kindly selected for us.

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Wow.

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Look at this!

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Treasure indeed.

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This is an Edison cylinder known as a Blue Amberol.

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Absolutely beautiful.

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But, of course, it was pop songs of the day

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that people wanted to hear in their homes.

0:19:250:19:27

It was the music hall artists, particularly.

0:19:270:19:30

Billy Williams, for instance,

0:19:300:19:32

singing When Father Papered The Parlour.

0:19:320:19:35

# When Father papered the parlour

0:19:350:19:37

# You couldn't see Pa for paste

0:19:370:19:38

# Dabbing it here and dabbing it there

0:19:380:19:40

# There was paste and paper everywhere

0:19:400:19:42

# Mother was stuck to the ceiling

0:19:420:19:45

# And the kids were stuck to the floor

0:19:450:19:47

# You never saw such a blooming family so stuck up before. #

0:19:470:19:50

Florrie Forde, one of the greatest of the music hall artistes,

0:19:500:19:53

singing Down At The Old Bull And Bush -

0:19:530:19:56

and that's actually celebrating a pub in North London,

0:19:560:19:59

but it's to a kind of German beat - that oompah-pah beat.

0:19:590:20:03

# Come and make eyes at me

0:20:030:20:04

# Down at the Old Bull and Bush... #

0:20:040:20:06

# Come, come, drink some port wine with me

0:20:080:20:11

# Down at the Old Bull and Bush... #

0:20:110:20:15

These cylinders were the way that the song

0:20:150:20:17

and the sound of song found its way into people's homes.

0:20:170:20:21

# Just let me hold your hand, dear

0:20:210:20:24

# Do, do... #

0:20:240:20:26

But in the first decade of the 20th century

0:20:260:20:28

there emerged a rival to the cylinder

0:20:280:20:31

in the affections of the new listening public.

0:20:310:20:33

And there are over 250,000 examples of this competing medium

0:20:330:20:38

in the vaults of the Library.

0:20:380:20:40

And here it is.

0:20:420:20:43

Much more recognisable.

0:20:430:20:45

The rival format to the Edison cylinder -

0:20:450:20:49

the Gramophone disc.

0:20:490:20:51

Now, this is the same number, by Billy Williams,

0:20:510:20:53

When Father Papered The Parlour -

0:20:530:20:55

equally precious recording, it has to be said.

0:20:550:20:57

And these discs were made out of a natural resin called shellac.

0:20:570:21:02

And they span at 78rpm - 78 revolutions per minute.

0:21:020:21:06

So, the early 78s were often known as shellacs.

0:21:060:21:09

Much cheaper and easier to produce than the cylinder was,

0:21:090:21:14

and much more durable.

0:21:140:21:16

MUSIC: When Father Papered The Parlour

0:21:160:21:18

The disc was pioneered by a German emigre

0:21:180:21:21

to the United States, Emile Berliner,

0:21:210:21:24

who, in partnership with businessman Eldridge Johnson,

0:21:240:21:26

founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901.

0:21:260:21:30

In their factory in Camden, New Jersey,

0:21:300:21:33

Victor mass-produced discs and the record players they played on,

0:21:330:21:36

which they called gramophones.

0:21:360:21:39

The company bought up the top singers of the day

0:21:390:21:42

and brilliantly marketed their products using

0:21:420:21:44

the image of Nipper the Dog and the slogan "His Master's Voice" -

0:21:440:21:48

HMV.

0:21:480:21:49

# ..Paddy Leary from a spot in Tipperary

0:21:540:21:57

# The hearts of all the girls I am a thorn... #

0:21:570:21:58

Records spinning on gramophones at 78 revolutions per minute

0:21:580:22:02

now competed with cylinders playing on phonographs

0:22:020:22:05

in a format war like that later between vinyl and CD.

0:22:050:22:09

# ..in the morning... #

0:22:090:22:11

Now music lasted longer on disc - with songs on both sides -

0:22:110:22:14

and the gramophone was just so much easier to operate.

0:22:140:22:18

So, eventually, the disc won out.

0:22:180:22:21

In 1912, Thomas Edison bowed to the inevitable.

0:22:240:22:27

He signalled the beginning of the end of his beloved cylinder player

0:22:270:22:30

by announcing the Edison Company's first machine to spin 78rpm discs.

0:22:300:22:35

To sell this, the Edison Company embarked upon a celebrated

0:22:370:22:40

sound experiment, and it gives us a fascinating

0:22:400:22:43

insight into the collisions of old and new at this time.

0:22:430:22:47

Audiences were invited, and came in their thousands,

0:22:470:22:50

to witness the Test Of Tone Re-creation

0:22:500:22:54

which was being staged in venues large

0:22:540:22:57

and small right across America.

0:22:570:22:59

On one of these evenings, a curious audience waited expectantly.

0:22:590:23:02

APPLAUSE

0:23:020:23:04

Onto the stage came the celebrated soprano Maggie Teyte.

0:23:040:23:08

# Believe me

0:23:090:23:12

# If all those endearing young charms... #

0:23:120:23:15

She began singing a famous melody

0:23:150:23:18

that you might also recognise as the fiddle intro

0:23:180:23:20

to Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners.

0:23:200:23:23

# Were to change by tomorrow and flee in my arms

0:23:230:23:30

# Like... #

0:23:300:23:31

This song was the popular folk tune

0:23:310:23:33

Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms.

0:23:330:23:36

# Thou wouldst still... #

0:23:380:23:40

Then, suddenly, the lights went down.

0:23:400:23:43

# ..this moment thou art... #

0:23:430:23:45

Just as quickly, the lights went up again

0:23:450:23:47

as the song continued to ring out.

0:23:470:23:49

# ..fade as it will... #

0:23:490:23:51

But now on stage with Miss Teyte was this -

0:23:510:23:54

the new Edison disc phonograph.

0:23:540:23:56

# ..ruin each wish of my heart... #

0:23:560:24:00

But the sublime Ms Teyte was mute -

0:24:000:24:02

no words came from those melodious lips.

0:24:020:24:05

So where was this music coming from?

0:24:050:24:08

A record on the turntable was playing -

0:24:080:24:11

the state-of-the-art diamond stylus reading the disc.

0:24:110:24:15

Who in the audience could tell the difference

0:24:150:24:18

between the real thing and the recording?

0:24:180:24:21

At first there was stunned silence,

0:24:210:24:24

and then, when they realised the trick that had been played on them,

0:24:240:24:27

they burst into spontaneous and generous applause.

0:24:270:24:31

APPLAUSE # ..and flee in my arms... #

0:24:310:24:35

The Tone Test proved just how far the quality of sound recording

0:24:350:24:39

had advanced by the eve of the First World War.

0:24:390:24:42

Recorded music was now so good

0:24:420:24:44

that Edison could with some justification claim

0:24:440:24:47

that the quality of the living voice and the re-created voice

0:24:470:24:51

were identical.

0:24:510:24:52

But I think the Tone Tests went deeper.

0:24:520:24:55

Before recorded sound, all music was live.

0:24:550:24:59

The important rituals of our lives happened with music there -

0:24:590:25:04

births, marriages, funerals.

0:25:040:25:06

We laboured to working songs, our entertainment was live,

0:25:060:25:10

be it in the bandstand or the music hall,

0:25:100:25:13

the parlour or the concert hall.

0:25:130:25:15

But these experiences were fleeting,

0:25:160:25:20

lingering only in the memory, no matter how sweetly.

0:25:200:25:23

# I had a lovely lady friend who lived next door to me... #

0:25:230:25:26

Music now had a new kind of presence and permanence in our lives,

0:25:260:25:31

that writer and critic Greg Milner considers profound.

0:25:310:25:34

What it was telling people was that recordings had reached this point,

0:25:350:25:40

very quickly, that a record wasn't a recording of music, necessarily -

0:25:400:25:45

it WAS music, you know?

0:25:450:25:46

It wasn't that this was something that you took music

0:25:460:25:49

and put it on - this was music itself,

0:25:490:25:51

which is a very powerful message, I mean, it's almost like...

0:25:510:25:54

You know, it's...

0:25:540:25:56

Recordings weren't going to sound like life, necessarily,

0:25:560:25:58

life was going to sound like recording.

0:25:580:26:00

Imagine you're sitting alone in your typical Edwardian parlour.

0:26:040:26:07

-It's evening.

-SOPRANO SINGS

0:26:070:26:09

You might be having a nice leisurely read before bedtime -

0:26:090:26:13

reaching out for one last sip of one last gin and tonic.

0:26:130:26:16

But now you had company,

0:26:180:26:20

in the shape of the machine that was leading the listening revolution

0:26:200:26:23

that was transforming your home life.

0:26:230:26:26

This is the wonderfully titled G&T Bijou Grand -

0:26:290:26:33

G&T for Gramophone & Typewriter company.

0:26:330:26:36

And the horn is actually inside.

0:26:360:26:40

VOLUME INCREASES

0:26:400:26:41

So it's disguised as a rather beautiful piece of furniture.

0:26:410:26:45

No enormous horns erupting out the top to frighten the ladies.

0:26:450:26:49

You can actually invite people round, now, for musical evenings.

0:26:490:26:53

This would be the centre of attention.

0:26:530:26:56

Or you could just sit and listen again and again

0:26:560:27:00

to your own favourite tunes.

0:27:000:27:02

MUSIC: The Liberty Bell March by John Philip Sousa

0:27:020:27:05

All this pleasure from a rotating turntable

0:27:050:27:07

WAS the shock of the new -

0:27:070:27:09

and seen as a threat to live performance.

0:27:090:27:12

The celebrated composer of American marching music John Philip Sousa

0:27:140:27:18

wrote passionately about what he saw as "the menace of mechanical music".

0:27:180:27:22

And, in 1913, French composer Claude Debussy worriedly asked,

0:27:240:27:29

"Should we fear this domestication of sound,

0:27:290:27:31

"this magic preserved in a disc that anyone can awaken at will?"

0:27:310:27:35

But, despite these concerns,

0:27:370:27:39

the record player instantly had enormous appeal.

0:27:390:27:42

MUSIC: Sweet Georgia Brown

0:27:420:27:44

You could gather around for an indoor campfire moment...

0:27:440:27:48

..or take a portable gramophone to war,

0:27:500:27:52

to help bear the unbearable.

0:27:520:27:55

And live music did endure - helped by recording.

0:27:550:28:00

Look at this snapshot from rural America -

0:28:000:28:02

in the foreground is a phonograph, cylinders on the ground.

0:28:020:28:06

But, behind it, see the man with the fiddle

0:28:060:28:09

looking defiantly at the camera -

0:28:090:28:11

proud of his playing, I think.

0:28:110:28:13

A recording engineer in the field, or the studio,

0:28:130:28:16

could capture his music and make it more widely available -

0:28:160:28:19

and that would shape the history of music itself.

0:28:190:28:23

Now, people who weren't hearing music as much because, let's say,

0:28:240:28:26

they couldn't afford it, who all of a sudden had access to it,

0:28:260:28:29

different types of traditions could be spread around,

0:28:290:28:31

and all of a sudden music was something...

0:28:310:28:33

it's almost like it added another dimension,

0:28:330:28:35

music was in 2-D before, now it's like in three dimensions.

0:28:350:28:39

That's the way I like to think of it.

0:28:390:28:41

# Born up on the mountain... #

0:28:410:28:43

One kind of music in this new 3-D of sound

0:28:440:28:47

emerged here on Beale Street in Memphis

0:28:470:28:49

in the first decades of the 20th century.

0:28:490:28:52

From plantations and cotton fields, evolving out of spirituals,

0:28:520:28:55

work songs and field hollers, this was the blues.

0:28:550:28:58

Really just three chords -

0:28:590:29:01

this one...

0:29:010:29:03

this one...

0:29:030:29:05

..and that one.

0:29:060:29:07

And the effect you get is this...

0:29:070:29:09

HE PLAYS BLUES PROGRESSION

0:29:090:29:11

It was here in Memphis where the classic 12-bar blues

0:29:140:29:17

was devised by the composer WC Handy.

0:29:170:29:19

And Handy was the first person to write the blues down -

0:29:200:29:23

notate them on the page.

0:29:230:29:25

But it was the recording of his songs, like Memphis Blues,

0:29:270:29:32

that allowed the music to thrive by making it available

0:29:320:29:34

to those who could neither afford nor read sheet music.

0:29:340:29:38

Everything about blues had to be heard in order to be copied.

0:29:410:29:45

If you wanted to be a blues player,

0:29:450:29:47

you had to be able to hear other people playing it,

0:29:470:29:49

understand how the thing worked.

0:29:490:29:51

That is where recording became so crucial -

0:29:510:29:54

because people now could hear the blues

0:29:540:29:57

and do their own thing with it.

0:29:570:29:58

Recording companies knew this - they had a massive new market,

0:29:580:30:02

and so, before very long,

0:30:020:30:04

they started creating their own blues recording greats.

0:30:040:30:07

MUSIC: Crazy Blues by Mamie Smith

0:30:070:30:10

In 1920, what's considered the first blues record was recorded -

0:30:100:30:14

Crazy Blues by Mamie Smith.

0:30:140:30:17

# I can't sleep at night

0:30:170:30:22

# I can't eat a bite... #

0:30:220:30:26

It was released by OKeh, who made what were called "race records",

0:30:260:30:30

targeted at African-American consumers.

0:30:300:30:32

Selling for only 20 cents, Crazy Blues was a million seller -

0:30:340:30:38

proving that disc buying wasn't just for the white and well-heeled.

0:30:380:30:43

# I hate to see... #

0:30:430:30:45

Then in 1923 the singer who would be crowned Empress of the Blues

0:30:450:30:49

signed to Columbia Records in New York.

0:30:490:30:52

She was the extraordinary Bessie Smith,

0:30:540:30:57

and her recordings would make the blues an American -

0:30:570:31:00

indeed, a global - phenomenon, and an art form to be cherished.

0:31:000:31:04

# ..sun go down. #

0:31:040:31:06

On the 14th of January 1925

0:31:070:31:10

she went into Columbia Studios on Columbus Circle

0:31:100:31:13

and recorded another WC Handy classic, St Louis Blues,

0:31:130:31:17

accompanied by a young cornet player called Louis Armstrong.

0:31:170:31:21

LILTING CORNET PROGRESSION

0:31:210:31:23

A performance of the song was captured on film in 1929

0:31:260:31:29

at the height of Bessie's fame.

0:31:290:31:32

# ..like I feel today... #

0:31:320:31:35

Just listen to the sound of her song.

0:31:350:31:37

# Feelin' tomorrow... #

0:31:400:31:42

She sang what's called gut-bucket blues -

0:31:420:31:46

with a powerful and strong delivery

0:31:460:31:47

shaped by years of performing in huge halls without amplification.

0:31:470:31:51

# I'll pack my trunk and make my get away... #

0:31:510:31:55

The slow tempo with that preaching sound to her voice

0:31:550:31:58

suggests the call and response of gospel music.

0:31:580:32:02

Here, the celestial choir of backing singers

0:32:020:32:04

take the place of Armstrong's cornet.

0:32:040:32:07

# ..rock in the sea

0:32:070:32:10

# Oh, sister... #

0:32:100:32:13

We're in a nightclub, but we could so easily be in church.

0:32:130:32:18

# ..rock in the sea

0:32:180:32:20

# Yes, my sister... #

0:32:200:32:24

Bessie bends and stretches each note for maximum effect.

0:32:240:32:28

# Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me. #

0:32:280:32:35

The genius of her performance was inspiration for other new music.

0:32:350:32:41

If, as the song goes, blues had a baby and called it rock'n'roll,

0:32:410:32:45

then its big brother was surely jazz.

0:32:450:32:49

And it was Bessie's playing partner who was jazz's greatest innovator

0:32:490:32:53

at this time - earning the accolade Master of Modernism

0:32:530:32:57

and creator of his own song style.

0:32:570:33:00

MUSIC: Heebie Jeebies by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five

0:33:000:33:02

Louis Armstrong first began singing in church and barbershop quartets -

0:33:020:33:06

later vaudeville and cabaret halls.

0:33:060:33:09

In 1926 he recorded a song that,

0:33:090:33:11

due to the disciplines of time in the studio,

0:33:110:33:14

had to be just right on the night.

0:33:140:33:16

# Say, I've got the heebies

0:33:170:33:19

# I mean the jeebies

0:33:190:33:20

# Talking about... #

0:33:200:33:22

In fact Heebie Jeebies turned out to be jazz perfection,

0:33:220:33:25

and what's said to have happened during the recording

0:33:250:33:27

has passed into popular music legend.

0:33:270:33:31

Armstrong began singing his vocal section, but then accidentally

0:33:310:33:35

dropped the paper that his lyrics were written on.

0:33:350:33:38

But, not wanting to ruin the wax recording, he soldiered on.

0:33:380:33:43

He sang without words.

0:33:430:33:46

That African-American tradition of scat singing

0:33:460:33:50

that uses the human voice as an instrument.

0:33:500:33:54

A chance accident in the studio had led to an innovation

0:33:540:33:57

that made his name as a singer -

0:33:570:33:59

brought a lot of humour to the song, too, and made it a smash hit.

0:33:590:34:03

HE SCATS

0:34:030:34:07

This was the essence of jazz - improvisation and spontaneity -

0:34:070:34:13

caught on record at the very moment that it happened.

0:34:130:34:17

Gary Giddins is Armstrong's biographer.

0:34:170:34:20

It's not just that he is using nonsense syllables -

0:34:200:34:23

it's that he is improvising a solo,

0:34:230:34:25

that if you transcribed it for his trumpet

0:34:250:34:27

-would be just as brilliant as anything else he recorded.

-Yeah.

0:34:270:34:30

-That is his solo, that is his improvisation.

-Yeah.

0:34:300:34:34

And part of... The gravel in his voice

0:34:340:34:36

is one of the things that puts it over.

0:34:360:34:39

I think it was Earl Hinds

0:34:390:34:41

who said that for months after that record came out

0:34:410:34:44

musicians were sticking their heads out the window every time it rained

0:34:440:34:47

trying to get a cold so they could sound like Louis Armstrong.

0:34:470:34:50

HORN SOLO

0:34:500:34:53

By the time that Armstrong recorded Heebie Jeebies,

0:34:570:35:00

you didn't have to buy his records

0:35:000:35:02

to sit at home late at night enjoying his music.

0:35:020:35:05

JAZZ CORNET PLAYS

0:35:060:35:09

Louis was all over the airwaves, from New York to Los Angeles,

0:35:090:35:12

spreading the gospel of jazz.

0:35:120:35:14

And all this live and free in your front room.

0:35:140:35:17

An entirely new way of listening had come along - radio -

0:35:210:35:25

the next important stage in the sonic revolution

0:35:250:35:28

that was shaping the sound of song.

0:35:280:35:30

Imagine having this magnificent machine in your front room

0:35:330:35:37

for the first time.

0:35:370:35:39

And this radio music box came to rival and, indeed,

0:35:390:35:42

threaten the gramophone as the medium for enjoying popular song -

0:35:420:35:46

for the simple reason that you could go round that dial

0:35:460:35:49

and choose exactly the music to fit your mood.

0:35:490:35:52

Radio at first was a novel and exotic experience -

0:35:560:36:00

the early sets fantastic-looking creations.

0:36:000:36:03

Following radio's introduction after the First World War

0:36:050:36:08

there was a broadcasting boom.

0:36:080:36:10

On both sides of the Atlantic,

0:36:100:36:12

millions were buying these wirelesses.

0:36:120:36:14

And what they really wanted to hear were songs.

0:36:140:36:18

Just as songs were the lifeblood of the recording industry,

0:36:180:36:21

so they were of those running radio during its golden age.

0:36:210:36:25

And this was just more business, and very welcome business,

0:36:250:36:28

for the habitues of Tin Pan Alley.

0:36:280:36:31

Which is where Irving Berlin re-enters our story.

0:36:320:36:36

By the coming of radio's golden age,

0:36:360:36:38

the songwriter from downtown New York had moved up in the world.

0:36:380:36:41

Irving Berlin was running his own publishing company,

0:36:410:36:44

writing for Broadway musicals and revues like the Ziegfeld Follies.

0:36:440:36:48

'Music man Irving Berlin assists at the piano.'

0:36:480:36:52

But as well as all the high jinks,

0:36:520:36:54

he was writing songs full of sadness.

0:36:540:36:57

The death of his wife after only five months of marriage

0:36:570:37:00

left Berlin a long time alone.

0:37:000:37:02

So, real heartache poured out of him at the keyboard.

0:37:020:37:05

Take, for instance, the beautiful ballad All Alone.

0:37:070:37:10

Now, there's a nice, simple melody to the hook -

0:37:100:37:13

the bit you're going to really remember, which is just...

0:37:130:37:16

HE PLAYS MELODY FROM "ALL ALONE"

0:37:160:37:18

But when you put the lyrics with it, it goes like this...

0:37:200:37:24

# Wondering how you are

0:37:240:37:28

# And where you are

0:37:280:37:30

# And if you are

0:37:300:37:32

# All alone. #

0:37:320:37:36

The sting's in the tail.

0:37:360:37:38

"Are you all alone, or have you found somebody else?"

0:37:380:37:42

It's almost like he's inventing the idea of the torch song

0:37:420:37:46

for a keening male singer.

0:37:460:37:48

# Just for a moment you were mine

0:37:480:37:52

# And then... #

0:37:520:37:54

The powerful Irish tenor John McCormack

0:37:540:37:57

made the best-loved version of All Alone.

0:37:570:37:59

# I long to hold you in my arms again... #

0:37:590:38:03

Thanks to radio technology that widened sonic frequencies

0:38:030:38:06

and allowed extra amplification,

0:38:060:38:07

listeners could hear the great man with a better sound quality

0:38:070:38:11

that was loud and clear.

0:38:110:38:13

Indeed, they came to expect it.

0:38:130:38:16

# There is no-one else but you... #

0:38:160:38:20

And this was a challenge to other entertainment industries -

0:38:200:38:23

either embrace the sonic possibilities,

0:38:230:38:25

or suffer the consequences.

0:38:250:38:28

And silent film, for one, got the message.

0:38:280:38:32

In September 1928,

0:38:320:38:33

movie fans gathered here at the Piccadilly Theatre in London -

0:38:330:38:36

then a West End cinema - for the premiere of a film

0:38:360:38:39

that had already caused a sensation in New York.

0:38:390:38:42

They were eyewitnesses to cinema being the next entertainment medium

0:38:420:38:46

to be revolutionised by recorded sound,

0:38:460:38:49

with songs as the agents of change.

0:38:490:38:51

The film was The Jazz Singer, a version of a Broadway show

0:38:590:39:02

made by Warner Brothers in Hollywood.

0:39:020:39:05

It featured the biggest vaudeville star of the 1920s -

0:39:050:39:08

Al Jolson.

0:39:080:39:09

And what delighted and enchanted cinemagoers that evening

0:39:090:39:12

was Jolson singing this.

0:39:120:39:14

# Blue skies

0:39:140:39:16

# Smiling at me

0:39:160:39:19

# Nothing but blue skies

0:39:190:39:22

# Do I see

0:39:220:39:23

# Ho-toh-toh

0:39:230:39:25

# Bluebirds... #

0:39:250:39:26

The song was Blue Skies, written by Irving Berlin.

0:39:260:39:30

# Nothing but little bluebirds

0:39:300:39:32

# All day long... #

0:39:320:39:34

After his own blue period,

0:39:350:39:37

Berlin's mood in Blue Skies is jubilant.

0:39:370:39:40

Perhaps little wonder, given that he had just fallen in love

0:39:400:39:43

with the woman who would become his second wife.

0:39:430:39:45

# Blue days, days, days

0:39:450:39:47

# All of them gone... #

0:39:470:39:49

And this happiness expressed in song

0:39:490:39:51

seemed to reflect the optimism of an entire nation.

0:39:510:39:54

Blue Skies is another one of those songs -

0:39:540:39:57

it's almost a more sophisticated version of Alexander

0:39:570:40:00

in that it's very optimistic.

0:40:000:40:03

It totally captures the period when Americans think

0:40:030:40:08

that...the world is changing and it's all for the good.

0:40:080:40:13

Because this is still two years before the Depression,

0:40:130:40:18

before the stock market crashes, and what's going on in the world?

0:40:180:40:21

Lindbergh flies the Atlantic.

0:40:210:40:25

Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs.

0:40:250:40:27

Uh...Mickey Mouse.

0:40:270:40:29

# Bluebirds, singing a song

0:40:290:40:32

# Nothing but little bluebirds all day long... #

0:40:320:40:35

To see Al Jolson, but to actually hear him sing,

0:40:350:40:40

that was an extraordinary experience

0:40:400:40:42

for audiences that had grown up with silent film.

0:40:420:40:44

It was a kind of magic.

0:40:440:40:46

Never before had picture and sound synchronised so perfectly together.

0:40:460:40:51

Eyewitnesses reported that at the end,

0:40:510:40:53

the enchanted audiences were on their feet cheering.

0:40:530:40:57

And it was the half-dozen songs

0:40:570:40:59

that made The Jazz Singer such a hit.

0:40:590:41:01

To quote Harry Warner of Warner Brothers,

0:41:010:41:03

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?

0:41:030:41:06

"The music - that's the big thing about this."

0:41:060:41:09

And Harry had a point.

0:41:100:41:11

Warner Brothers made millions at the box office

0:41:110:41:14

from their gamble on sound and changed cinema forever.

0:41:140:41:17

Soon, the rest of Hollywood entered the race

0:41:170:41:19

to make more of these talkies with songs.

0:41:190:41:22

Everybody quiet, please...

0:41:220:41:24

Now behind the film camera was a sound recordist.

0:41:240:41:28

This sonic revolution on set came from American Western Electric,

0:41:280:41:31

developing a 33rpm disc that could synchronise with a reel of film.

0:41:310:41:35

This sound on disc format was given the name Vitaphone.

0:41:370:41:40

# So I made up my mind

0:41:420:41:43

# That I wouldn't find

0:41:430:41:45

# The only girl that I adore... #

0:41:450:41:47

At the same time, Western Electric developed a new way

0:41:470:41:50

to capture music in the recording studio.

0:41:500:41:52

# She'll be a lady... #

0:41:520:41:54

HE SCATS

0:41:540:41:56

It was this technology that Abbey Road Studios

0:41:590:42:02

would benefit from when they opened in 1931

0:42:020:42:04

as the first purpose-built recording complex in the world.

0:42:040:42:08

The key to what was a new way to record music here in Studio 2

0:42:150:42:19

were these beautiful objects.

0:42:190:42:21

Their first inventor thought they were like little voices,

0:42:250:42:28

so gave them the name "microphones".

0:42:280:42:31

Mics combined with other aids for recording and playback

0:42:350:42:38

that made radio sound so good.

0:42:380:42:41

There was the valve amplifier to expand the sound

0:42:410:42:43

and new loudspeakers to transmit it.

0:42:430:42:46

Together, they created a very different feel to songs,

0:42:470:42:50

and allowed the studio to innovate and experiment.

0:42:500:42:53

The Phonograph Monthly Review pronounced the last rites

0:42:550:42:58

over old mechanical recording

0:42:580:43:00

by enthusing about the new electrical way.

0:43:000:43:02

Recordists could now place their musicians anywhere around the studio

0:43:190:43:23

to get the best sound.

0:43:230:43:25

It wasn't long before they started using more than one microphone

0:43:250:43:28

and alternating between mics to get different takes of the same song.

0:43:280:43:33

The studio became a far more sophisticated place,

0:43:330:43:36

with much greater experimentation with sound.

0:43:360:43:40

But with these new skills

0:43:400:43:41

and rising expectations about the quality of recorded sound

0:43:410:43:46

came new demands on musicians and recordists.

0:43:460:43:50

Everybody had to raise their game.

0:43:500:43:52

One of the first to record electrically

0:43:540:43:56

was singer Bessie Smith,

0:43:560:43:58

on this recording of Yellowdog Blues.

0:43:580:44:00

MUSIC: Yellowdog Blues by Bessie Smith

0:44:000:44:03

Played back on this, the first record player

0:44:060:44:08

to be compatible with electrical recordings,

0:44:080:44:11

it's the sheer power of her voice that grabs your attention.

0:44:110:44:14

And it gave something extra to the listening experience.

0:44:150:44:20

# Ever since Miss Susie Johnson

0:44:200:44:23

# Lost her jockey Lee

0:44:230:44:25

# There's been much excitement

0:44:250:44:28

# And more to be... #

0:44:280:44:30

Well, the first thing you notice is the new loudness -

0:44:300:44:33

this is really pumping out some volume.

0:44:330:44:36

You could fill a room with this sound

0:44:360:44:38

and, indeed, annoy the neighbours simply by opening the windows.

0:44:380:44:41

But more than that, you like a bit of bass with your music,

0:44:410:44:45

you've got it here.

0:44:450:44:46

A machine like this actually broadened the frequencies

0:44:460:44:50

of the music that the listener could hear.

0:44:500:44:52

# Cablegram goes off in inquiry

0:44:520:44:57

# Telegram goes off... #

0:44:570:44:59

What the microphone also encouraged was a new style of singing -

0:44:590:45:03

first dismissed as a soft and over-emotional warbling,

0:45:030:45:07

it was given the name crooning.

0:45:070:45:09

To understand this, I've come here

0:45:110:45:13

to the gorgeous Art Deco Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House

0:45:130:45:17

to hear the classic Ray Noble number

0:45:170:45:20

The Very Thought Of You.

0:45:200:45:21

Now, before he had a microphone,

0:45:210:45:23

the only way a singer could expect to get their voice up there

0:45:230:45:26

into the cheap seats behind the balcony

0:45:260:45:28

was with a megaphone,

0:45:280:45:30

which meant that he had to sing something like this.

0:45:300:45:33

Let me introduce to you our singer, Matt Ford.

0:45:330:45:35

# The very thought of you

0:45:350:45:38

# And I forget to do

0:45:380:45:40

# The little ordinary things

0:45:400:45:42

# That everyone ought to do

0:45:420:45:45

# I'm living in a kind... #

0:45:450:45:46

Now let's use the mic.

0:45:460:45:48

And, as ever, we're true to the times -

0:45:480:45:50

this is a Coles 4038 ribbon mic from the 1930s.

0:45:500:45:54

Prepare yourself for proper crooning.

0:45:540:45:57

# The very thought of you

0:46:000:46:04

# And I forget to do

0:46:060:46:10

# The little ordinary things

0:46:120:46:17

# That everyone ought to do... #

0:46:170:46:20

With the microphone, the middle, mezzo range of the baritones

0:46:200:46:24

worked wonderfully.

0:46:240:46:26

Rich and mellow.

0:46:260:46:28

And the crooner's voice seemed to float

0:46:280:46:31

over the lush orchestration.

0:46:310:46:33

# And foolish though it may seem

0:46:350:46:40

# To me... #

0:46:400:46:41

The microphone allowed every nuance of the crooner's voice

0:46:410:46:45

to be picked up,

0:46:450:46:46

but it demanded impeccable intonation in return.

0:46:460:46:50

Every word had to be clear, every phrase delicately put across.

0:46:500:46:55

# You'll never know how slow the moments go

0:46:550:47:02

# Till I'm near to you... #

0:47:020:47:05

And with this kind of clarity, the words could be heard,

0:47:050:47:09

and therefore became more meaningful.

0:47:090:47:12

They now had equal weight with the music.

0:47:120:47:14

# ..in stars above

0:47:140:47:18

# It's just the thought of you... #

0:47:180:47:20

What's emerging is something quieter,

0:47:200:47:23

softer, more intimate -

0:47:230:47:25

a whispering jive, they called it.

0:47:250:47:28

# The mere idea of you

0:47:290:47:34

# The longing here... #

0:47:340:47:36

Crooning was also a kind of love-making -

0:47:360:47:39

using voice and eyes to seduce.

0:47:390:47:42

So crooners like Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby

0:47:420:47:45

would use the microphone as a theatrical prop

0:47:450:47:47

to excite the audience,

0:47:470:47:49

playing to it as a great movie actor would do to camera.

0:47:490:47:53

# Your eyes in stars above

0:47:540:47:58

# It's just the thought of you... #

0:47:590:48:03

All this was wildly popular, but also pretty scandalous.

0:48:030:48:08

# My love. #

0:48:080:48:14

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

0:48:170:48:20

Crooning, as it was called -

0:48:210:48:23

the soft kind of singing where you are suddenly conscious

0:48:230:48:26

of the lyrics and of the melody

0:48:260:48:29

in the way that the shouters did not quite let you -

0:48:290:48:33

is more than a little erotic.

0:48:330:48:36

It's very personal, it personalises the whole idea of popular song

0:48:360:48:39

in a way that it had never been before.

0:48:390:48:42

The archdiocese in Boston famously - I think it was Cardinal Cushing -

0:48:420:48:48

preached against Crosby, in particular, but all the crooners

0:48:480:48:52

as being degenerates and bringing a degeneracy

0:48:520:48:56

to American culture.

0:48:560:48:58

There were hilarious stories in the newspapers

0:48:580:49:01

of men suing their wives for divorce

0:49:010:49:04

and naming Crosby for alienating their affections

0:49:040:49:08

because they could not get their wives

0:49:080:49:10

to stop listening to him on the air, that kind of thing.

0:49:100:49:12

To begin with, the arousing Bing Crosby

0:49:130:49:15

was the coolest of the cool -

0:49:150:49:17

certainly not the old guy in the cardigan

0:49:170:49:19

singing White Christmas that I grew up with.

0:49:190:49:22

# Come let us stroll down Lovers' Lane

0:49:230:49:28

# Once more to sing... #

0:49:280:49:31

Crosby always sang with such poise,

0:49:310:49:34

but also with such emotion.

0:49:340:49:36

# ..we must say auf Wiedersehen

0:49:360:49:41

# Auf Wiedersehen, my dear... #

0:49:410:49:45

So when he crooned Auf Wiedersehen My Dear,

0:49:460:49:49

his version of the 1932 song was peerless.

0:49:490:49:52

# So let me kiss you once again

0:49:530:49:59

# Soon we must say... #

0:49:590:50:02

Louis Armstrong, no less, said the voice of Crosby

0:50:020:50:05

was like gold being poured out of a cup.

0:50:050:50:08

# My dear... #

0:50:080:50:12

And Bing returned the complement -

0:50:120:50:14

for him, the Reverend Satchelmouth, as he nicknamed Armstrong,

0:50:140:50:17

was the beginning and the end of music in America.

0:50:170:50:21

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

0:50:210:50:23

I'm Mr Armstrong

0:50:230:50:26

and we're going to swing one of the good ones for you -

0:50:260:50:30

a beautiful number, I Cover The Waterfront.

0:50:300:50:33

I Cover The Waterfront - I like it.

0:50:330:50:35

Look out now, fellas, look out, there. One, two...

0:50:350:50:39

In this precious piece of concert footage from 1931,

0:50:420:50:45

Satchmo is singing I Cover The Waterfront

0:50:450:50:48

by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman.

0:50:480:50:50

# I cover the waterfront

0:50:530:50:56

# I'm watching the sea

0:50:560:50:58

# Cos the one I love

0:50:580:51:01

# Will soon come back to me... #

0:51:010:51:03

The microphone allowed Louis Armstrong

0:51:030:51:06

to develop a new vocal style -

0:51:060:51:08

what you might you call a kind of jazzy blues crooning.

0:51:080:51:12

The result was this very distinctive interpretation

0:51:120:51:15

of a '30s standard.

0:51:150:51:17

# Oh, baby, here am I

0:51:170:51:19

# Patiently waiting

0:51:190:51:22

# Hoping and longing, yearning

0:51:220:51:24

# Where are you?

0:51:240:51:26

# Are you forgetting?

0:51:260:51:28

# Will you remember?

0:51:280:51:29

# Will you return? #

0:51:290:51:31

Now there is the smooth transition from music to words to scat.

0:51:310:51:36

The vibe is informal, almost conversational.

0:51:360:51:39

The band's playing at a moderate tempo

0:51:390:51:42

and Louis Armstrong's doing what jazz musicians call

0:51:420:51:45

"ragging the tune" - picking it apart, embellishing it,

0:51:450:51:49

extending it, putting it back together again.

0:51:490:51:51

He's playing around with the lyrics.

0:51:510:51:54

I think it's magical.

0:51:540:51:55

# Shake with fright, oh

0:51:550:51:57

# Cos my Dinah might change her mind... #

0:51:570:51:59

So let's have one more moment of Armstrong magic.

0:51:590:52:03

The song's Dinah, much loved by jazz vocalists

0:52:030:52:05

because of the potential for verbal gymnastics.

0:52:050:52:08

# Dinah, Dinah

0:52:080:52:11

# Oh, Dinah, oh, baby

0:52:110:52:13

# Dinah Lee

0:52:130:52:14

# Dinah, Dinah, Dinah, Dinah...

0:52:140:52:17

HE SCATS

0:52:170:52:21

# Oh, baby

0:52:210:52:22

# Every night, before your eyes

0:52:220:52:23

# Oh

0:52:230:52:25

# Cos my Dinah might...

0:52:250:52:27

HE SCATS

0:52:270:52:29

# If you wandered to China, baby

0:52:290:52:31

# I'd hop on an ocean liner

0:52:310:52:33

# Yeah... #

0:52:330:52:35

Soon Louis, like everybody else, would be lured West,

0:52:370:52:41

by the promise of fame and fortune in Tinsel Town - Los Angeles.

0:52:410:52:45

By the early '30s, when talkies became established,

0:52:470:52:50

Hollywood went musicals crazy.

0:52:500:52:53

Studios were in a hurry to buy up songs.

0:52:530:52:56

And if you had a knack for writing a song

0:52:560:52:58

with a melody that simply wouldn't go away,

0:52:580:53:00

those moguls wanted you.

0:53:000:53:02

Of course, there was one songwriter the big studios desired

0:53:030:53:07

above all others - Irving Berlin.

0:53:070:53:09

But it would be with a smaller outfit, RKO,

0:53:120:53:15

that he would mine movie gold.

0:53:150:53:17

In 1935, RKO contracted the recently established duo

0:53:220:53:26

of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to make a musical comedy -

0:53:260:53:29

Top Hat.

0:53:290:53:30

Given star billing with Fred and Ginger,

0:53:340:53:36

Berlin wrote all the songs for the film.

0:53:360:53:38

One was a perfect fit of sound and vision -

0:53:380:53:42

the truly wondrous Cheek To Cheek.

0:53:420:53:46

HE PLAYS "CHEEK TO CHEEK" ON PIANO

0:53:460:53:51

In writing for Fred Astaire,

0:53:570:53:59

Irving Berlin is writing for a very particular voice -

0:53:590:54:02

very laid-back, relaxed,

0:54:020:54:04

actually a voice that's benefitting from the craze for crooning.

0:54:040:54:07

But at the same time, he's got to write a number

0:54:070:54:10

that would showcase the greatest dance partnership in the movies

0:54:100:54:14

and so Cheek To Cheek, a masterpiece,

0:54:140:54:17

has specific sections that fit that.

0:54:170:54:20

Nice, relaxed opening with that melody.

0:54:200:54:22

HE PLAYS OPENING BARS OF SONG

0:54:220:54:26

# Heaven, I'm in heaven... #

0:54:260:54:28

Nice little repeat motif,

0:54:280:54:30

it's going to go straight in and you'll remember it for good and all.

0:54:300:54:32

# Heaven

0:54:320:54:35

# I'm in heaven

0:54:350:54:38

# And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak

0:54:380:54:44

# And I seem to find the happiness I seek

0:54:440:54:50

# When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek... #

0:54:500:54:55

There's a nice little section that's kind of going back to his syncopation days.

0:54:550:54:59

HE PLAYS AN UPBEAT SECTION OF SONG

0:54:590:55:04

Very much the old style Berlin.

0:55:080:55:10

# Oh, I love to climb a mountain

0:55:100:55:13

# And to reach the highest peak

0:55:130:55:16

# But it doesn't thrill me half as much

0:55:160:55:20

# As dancing cheek to cheek... #

0:55:200:55:22

And then we have the massive new Berlin -

0:55:220:55:24

it's almost like Rachmaninoff has broken into his world.

0:55:240:55:28

HE PLAYS DRAMATIC PHRASE OF MUSIC

0:55:280:55:33

And of course, it gives us the most orgasmic moment in the whole film.

0:55:390:55:43

# Dance with me

0:55:430:55:45

# I want my arm about you

0:55:450:55:48

# That charm about you

0:55:480:55:52

# Will carry me through to

0:55:520:55:56

# Heaven... #

0:55:560:55:58

To film lovers, Top Hat looked a million dollars

0:55:580:56:01

but sounded just as good.

0:56:010:56:03

And I'll explain why.

0:56:030:56:05

On set, Astaire was miming

0:56:050:56:07

to a perfect, orchestrated version of Cheek To Cheek

0:56:070:56:10

that was recorded before action was called.

0:56:100:56:14

# When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek... #

0:56:140:56:18

This allowed Fred to concentrate on acting out the song

0:56:180:56:22

and dancing with Ginger.

0:56:220:56:24

Technical progress had allowed popular song and movie magic

0:56:280:56:32

to come together in a completely unforgettable way.

0:56:320:56:37

It had taken barely 50 years

0:56:550:56:57

since Edison's invention of the phonograph

0:56:570:56:59

to reach this point.

0:56:590:57:00

Years that saw the genius of Irving Berlin,

0:57:030:57:05

and witnessed the magic of Bessie Smith,

0:57:050:57:07

Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby,

0:57:070:57:09

when there were new ways to record songs

0:57:090:57:12

and new ways to listen to them.

0:57:120:57:14

But if the sound of song changed so dramatically

0:57:190:57:21

during the first part of the 20th century,

0:57:210:57:24

that was nothing compared to what was to come.

0:57:240:57:27

Next time - rocking the joint where Elvis first recorded.

0:57:360:57:40

Building Phil Spector's Wall of Sound -

0:57:460:57:48

how did he do it?

0:57:480:57:49

And with the Beatles at Abbey Road - experimenting with magnetic tape,

0:57:510:57:55

the invention that made all this great music possible.

0:57:550:57:58

# Now its gone, gone, gone

0:57:580:58:02

# No, no, no

0:58:020:58:04

# There's no welcome look

0:58:080:58:11

# In your eyes when I reach for you

0:58:110:58:16

# Now you've started to criticize

0:58:190:58:23

# The things I do. #

0:58:230:58:25

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