The Recording Revolution

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0:00:02 > 0:00:05MUSIC: My Favourite Things from The Sound Of Music

0:00:09 > 0:00:14Songs - some my favourite things. I bet they're some of yours too.

0:00:14 > 0:00:15How about this one?

0:00:15 > 0:00:22MUSIC: You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers

0:00:22 > 0:00:26You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers.

0:00:26 > 0:00:28Or how about a bit of Springsteen?

0:00:28 > 0:00:32MUSIC: Born In The USA by Bruce Springsteen

0:00:37 > 0:00:40Born In The USA, that iconic opening riff.

0:00:40 > 0:00:44Now, there's genius in the writing of all these songs,

0:00:44 > 0:00:46but, for me, that's not the whole story.

0:00:46 > 0:00:48To really understand songs like this,

0:00:48 > 0:00:51I think we need to know a whole lot more.

0:00:53 > 0:00:56We must examine every stage in the life cycle of songs

0:00:56 > 0:00:59to appreciate why they mean so much to us.

0:00:59 > 0:01:02Not only how they're written, but also performed, recorded

0:01:02 > 0:01:04and how we listen to them.

0:01:04 > 0:01:08MUSIC: Da Doo Ron Ron by The Crystals

0:01:08 > 0:01:10This is the magical alchemy

0:01:10 > 0:01:13through which songs become the soundtrack of our lives

0:01:13 > 0:01:15and how Da Doo Ron Ron by The Crystals

0:01:15 > 0:01:17became the ultimate teen anthem.

0:01:21 > 0:01:25I'll investigate how new ways emerged to record music

0:01:25 > 0:01:27and how this helped musicians like The Beatles

0:01:27 > 0:01:30to entirely reimagine what songs could be.

0:01:30 > 0:01:33MUSIC: Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles

0:01:33 > 0:01:35I'll meet pop genius Brian Wilson,

0:01:35 > 0:01:39in whose hands songs became three-minute symphonies.

0:01:39 > 0:01:42MUSIC: Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys

0:01:44 > 0:01:47And join me to experience the different ways that songs

0:01:47 > 0:01:49have been consumed by us as listeners,

0:01:49 > 0:01:54including the futuristic world of the silent disco.

0:01:55 > 0:01:57But, in this first episode, I'm going to begin

0:01:57 > 0:02:01when everything changed in our relationship with music -

0:02:01 > 0:02:03when songs were recorded for the first time,

0:02:03 > 0:02:07giving them a new presence, availability and global reach.

0:02:07 > 0:02:09When newfangled machines called record players

0:02:09 > 0:02:11began a listening revolution.

0:02:15 > 0:02:19I'll explain why the songs of writer Irving Berlin appealed then,

0:02:19 > 0:02:20and still do now.

0:02:21 > 0:02:23We'll hear the hits of the day

0:02:23 > 0:02:27and the glorious way a singer like Louis Armstrong interpreted them.

0:02:27 > 0:02:29MUSIC: I Cover The Waterfront by Louis Armstrong

0:02:31 > 0:02:35How the microphone brought a new kind of singing called crooning.

0:02:35 > 0:02:39MUSIC: The Very Thought of You by Nat King Cole

0:02:39 > 0:02:44And how all of this together began our modern love affair with songs.

0:02:55 > 0:02:59MUSIC: Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who

0:03:03 > 0:03:06Now I'm listening to MY all-time favourite thing.

0:03:06 > 0:03:09It's Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who.

0:03:09 > 0:03:12When I was 16, I heard this song for the first time.

0:03:12 > 0:03:16I loved it then, and I still do now.

0:03:16 > 0:03:17What an opening.

0:03:17 > 0:03:19A completely new-sounding use of organ,

0:03:19 > 0:03:21Townshend's crashing guitar,

0:03:21 > 0:03:25then the driving beat of The Who at the top of their game.

0:03:40 > 0:03:44So try and conjure up a world without this pleasure.

0:03:44 > 0:03:48A time when any kind of recording simply didn't exist.

0:03:48 > 0:03:50When, apart from occasional musicmaking,

0:03:50 > 0:03:53there was a strange silence in the home.

0:03:54 > 0:03:55Imagine.

0:03:59 > 0:04:00Imagine.

0:04:00 > 0:04:03And let's go back to New York, September 1893,

0:04:03 > 0:04:05when a group of poor immigrants

0:04:05 > 0:04:08arrived off a transatlantic passenger ship from Europe.

0:04:10 > 0:04:13Making this journey was a five-year-old Jewish boy,

0:04:13 > 0:04:17his family refugees from pogroms in Eastern Europe.

0:04:17 > 0:04:19He was Irving Berlin.

0:04:19 > 0:04:22Destined to become one of the greatest songwriters

0:04:22 > 0:04:23of the 20th century

0:04:23 > 0:04:27and a witness to this early story of the sound of song.

0:04:30 > 0:04:35Berlin grew up on New York's Lower East Side, Jewtown it was called,

0:04:35 > 0:04:37living in a typical tenement block.

0:04:37 > 0:04:41Irving left home at 14 for a life of sleeping rough, eating scraps

0:04:41 > 0:04:44and wearing hand-me-down clothes, later remarking that

0:04:44 > 0:04:49everybody should have a Lower East Side in their lives.

0:04:49 > 0:04:52It was in downtown saloon bars that the teenage Berlin

0:04:52 > 0:04:54began singing and playing piano,

0:04:54 > 0:04:57where he came under the influence of ragtime music

0:04:57 > 0:04:59and began writing songs.

0:05:02 > 0:05:05In 1909, Irving got his first break

0:05:05 > 0:05:09when he began working for a music publisher on Tin Pan Alley.

0:05:10 > 0:05:12Tin Pan Alley, so-called because,

0:05:12 > 0:05:14after walking the bustling, hustling streets

0:05:14 > 0:05:16that housed New York's music business,

0:05:16 > 0:05:21journalist Monroe Rosenfeld wrote that the cacophony of upright pianos

0:05:21 > 0:05:24sounded like tin pans clashing in a busy kitchen.

0:05:28 > 0:05:30Throughout his Tin Pan Alley days,

0:05:30 > 0:05:33Berlin would never learn to read or write music

0:05:33 > 0:05:37and, at the keyboard, ignorant of key signatures and harmonic theory,

0:05:37 > 0:05:39he kept it simple.

0:05:39 > 0:05:42HE PLAYS RAGTIME

0:05:42 > 0:05:47And he was always happiest with the black notes on the keyboard.

0:05:47 > 0:05:48Now, the thing about those notes

0:05:48 > 0:05:51is that they're proud of the white notes. They're slightly higher.

0:05:51 > 0:05:53It makes it much easier

0:05:53 > 0:05:55to get from one note to another

0:05:55 > 0:05:59and it falls naturally under the hand shape as well, so that...

0:05:59 > 0:06:01HE PLAYS RAGTIME

0:06:01 > 0:06:05For a lad like him, was not only a great way into playing the piano,

0:06:05 > 0:06:08it really influenced the first songs that he wrote.

0:06:10 > 0:06:13From the beginning, Berlin wrote the music and the lyrics

0:06:13 > 0:06:18and expressed a determination that both should be easy on the ear.

0:06:18 > 0:06:22"My songs aim to be a conversation set to music," he said.

0:06:24 > 0:06:26But, perhaps more importantly,

0:06:26 > 0:06:29he wanted to create a sound to his songs that captured the energy

0:06:29 > 0:06:32and excitement of the world around him in New York.

0:06:32 > 0:06:36As he also observed, "All the old rhythm was gone

0:06:36 > 0:06:39"and, in its place, was heard the hum of an engine.

0:06:39 > 0:06:42"The new age demanded new music for new action."

0:06:44 > 0:06:47In 1911, when Irving Berlin was only 23,

0:06:47 > 0:06:53he first realised this ambition by writing Alexander's Ragtime Band.

0:06:53 > 0:06:57Berlin was always searching for that memorable melodic phrase

0:06:57 > 0:06:59which, as he put it, he would keep at

0:06:59 > 0:07:02until he could hum it out into something definite.

0:07:02 > 0:07:04In the case of Alexander's Ragtime Band...

0:07:04 > 0:07:05HE HUMS THE TUNE

0:07:08 > 0:07:09Now, that...

0:07:13 > 0:07:16That sticks in the mind. But then you put under it...

0:07:16 > 0:07:20that fantastic syncopation, the sound of modern America,

0:07:20 > 0:07:22a sort of sophistication.

0:07:22 > 0:07:25But it's about the tension between the left hand and the right.

0:07:28 > 0:07:31There's two different rhythms going on at once there -

0:07:31 > 0:07:36syncopation is that rhythm between the left hand and the right.

0:07:39 > 0:07:42And in the middle, a little bit of humour.

0:07:42 > 0:07:44Those black notes...

0:07:44 > 0:07:46sound just like a bugle call.

0:07:46 > 0:07:48HE PLAYS BUGLE CALL MELODY

0:07:52 > 0:07:54Alexander's Ragtime Band

0:07:54 > 0:07:56was a song that Berlin would be asked to sit down and play

0:07:56 > 0:07:59again and again throughout his long life.

0:08:00 > 0:08:03# Up to the man, up to the man

0:08:03 > 0:08:06# Who's the leader of the band... #

0:08:06 > 0:08:07And no wonder.

0:08:07 > 0:08:10The song has such appeal that it's become a standard -

0:08:10 > 0:08:15immortal even - still regularly performed and recorded today.

0:08:15 > 0:08:19# Alexander's Ragtime Band. #

0:08:21 > 0:08:23# Come on along, come on along... #

0:08:23 > 0:08:27Nearly two million sheet music copies of Alexander's Ragtime Band

0:08:27 > 0:08:32were sold worldwide, making it an international hit.

0:08:32 > 0:08:36That had always been the traditional measure of a song's success -

0:08:36 > 0:08:40but by now it was also available through recordings of the song.

0:08:40 > 0:08:43And three of these recordings were made by

0:08:43 > 0:08:45the company of Thomas Edison,

0:08:45 > 0:08:48who, in 1877, began the revolution in recording

0:08:48 > 0:08:52that would give us the 20th-century sound of song.

0:08:53 > 0:08:55This revolution happened here,

0:08:55 > 0:08:59at Thomas Edison's Invention Factory in West Orange, New Jersey.

0:09:00 > 0:09:03Every kind of scientific investigation took place

0:09:03 > 0:09:04in these labs -

0:09:04 > 0:09:07one of the most urgent was into sound reproduction.

0:09:09 > 0:09:11In the last quarter of the 19th century a race was on

0:09:11 > 0:09:13between Edison and his rivals

0:09:13 > 0:09:16to capture this hitherto elusive phenomenon.

0:09:19 > 0:09:22The big bang moment when Edison became the very first

0:09:22 > 0:09:24to record and play back sound

0:09:24 > 0:09:27was explained to me by Professor Paul Israel.

0:09:27 > 0:09:32This is the first machine. It was made in December of 1877...

0:09:32 > 0:09:34- Wow!- ..and astounded people,

0:09:34 > 0:09:37because the simple device suddenly could not just record

0:09:37 > 0:09:40but play back sound - something that nobody had ever done before.

0:09:40 > 0:09:42Nobody had ever heard recorded sound.

0:09:42 > 0:09:45Now we can't think about life without it, and yet there it was.

0:09:45 > 0:09:49These first ever recorders captured sound onto tinfoil -

0:09:49 > 0:09:52and the words of Edison speaking into the mouthpiece

0:09:52 > 0:09:54of what he called a phonograph

0:09:54 > 0:09:57were the first sounds ever to be recorded.

0:09:57 > 0:09:59EDISON: The first words I spoke

0:09:59 > 0:10:01in the original phonograph -

0:10:01 > 0:10:05"Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

0:10:05 > 0:10:09"And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go."

0:10:09 > 0:10:12By 1888, Edison had developed a more elaborate machine

0:10:12 > 0:10:16that recorded onto wax cylinders rather than tinfoil

0:10:16 > 0:10:18to get a better sound quality to the human voice.

0:10:20 > 0:10:23The real business, they thought, would be dictating. Right?

0:10:23 > 0:10:25These would be dictating machines, office machines,

0:10:25 > 0:10:29so that's how this was originally sort of conceived as a business.

0:10:29 > 0:10:32The company developed this "talking machine"

0:10:32 > 0:10:34as a useful product for the office,

0:10:34 > 0:10:37and these Edison Dictaphones used the first ever headphones -

0:10:37 > 0:10:39but Edison realised that the real money

0:10:39 > 0:10:43lay not in words, but recorded music.

0:10:43 > 0:10:44So, beginning in '87,

0:10:44 > 0:10:47he actually thinks that the biggest part of the business

0:10:47 > 0:10:50- might be selling recordings.- Ah!

0:10:50 > 0:10:55And, by the spring of 1889, Edison is producing commercial recordings.

0:10:55 > 0:10:58When he sends out phonographs to his friends,

0:10:58 > 0:11:00he sends out musical records as well.

0:11:00 > 0:11:03Shared domestic enjoyment of the first recordings

0:11:03 > 0:11:07was followed by a more public and commercial outlet for music.

0:11:07 > 0:11:09Another fantastical device was invented -

0:11:09 > 0:11:11the jukebox.

0:11:11 > 0:11:15Over time, What begins to happen is these phonograph parlours are set up.

0:11:15 > 0:11:20- Mm.- Where you could go and listen to a number of different recordings.

0:11:20 > 0:11:23- Yeah.- And these machines are also put up in railway stations

0:11:23 > 0:11:27and other places where people are moving about and waiting for

0:11:27 > 0:11:31something to happen - like a train - and they could listen to a recording.

0:11:31 > 0:11:34For the first few years of recorded music,

0:11:34 > 0:11:37- this is how most people heard music. - Yeah. So, in a way,

0:11:37 > 0:11:41a machine like this is actually DEFINING popular music, isn't it?

0:11:41 > 0:11:44This is where popular music was first being heard

0:11:44 > 0:11:46- outside of live performances.- Yeah.

0:11:46 > 0:11:47MUSIC: By The Light Of The Silvery Moon

0:11:47 > 0:11:49Just to look at this photograph

0:11:49 > 0:11:53is to understand the sheer novelty and surprise of recorded sound.

0:11:54 > 0:11:57These people had simply heard nothing like this

0:11:57 > 0:11:58before in their lives.

0:12:01 > 0:12:03Look at this woman's face,

0:12:03 > 0:12:07and see the sheer joy and wonder of listening to her favourite thing.

0:12:11 > 0:12:15With a demand for new songs, recording took off.

0:12:15 > 0:12:17- HE GASPS - Beautiful room.- Right!

0:12:17 > 0:12:19So, this is the music room.

0:12:19 > 0:12:22This is where the earliest recordings were made,

0:12:22 > 0:12:26where Edison and people working with him were selecting out

0:12:26 > 0:12:29who was going to be recorded, and what music was going to be recorded.

0:12:29 > 0:12:31Wow!

0:12:31 > 0:12:35# Beautiful dreamer

0:12:35 > 0:12:39# Wake unto me

0:12:39 > 0:12:43# Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee... #

0:12:43 > 0:12:46What was Edison's view of popular song?

0:12:46 > 0:12:49What was his take on what would sell to an audience?

0:12:49 > 0:12:53For Edison, the popular music that he was recording

0:12:53 > 0:12:56was the most sentimental kind -

0:12:56 > 0:12:59a ballad, looking to the past, to the country, um...

0:12:59 > 0:13:02A lot of the people who came from the country to the city

0:13:02 > 0:13:05- longed for that life back home. - Of course.

0:13:05 > 0:13:07- Small-town America was really his market.- Yeah.

0:13:07 > 0:13:10And he was recording the more old-fashioned song.

0:13:10 > 0:13:13# List while I woo thee... #

0:13:13 > 0:13:15The music recorded by the Edison Company

0:13:15 > 0:13:17could be bought as wax cylinders

0:13:17 > 0:13:20that played on the first machines to enter the home.

0:13:21 > 0:13:24And it was the singing voice which was, from the beginning,

0:13:24 > 0:13:28so appealing - able to provide the warm and sentimental sound

0:13:28 > 0:13:31that made the parlour songs of the day so popular.

0:13:32 > 0:13:35# How'd you like to spoon with me...? #

0:13:35 > 0:13:39But how were these songs of the late 19th and early 20th century

0:13:39 > 0:13:41actually recorded?

0:13:41 > 0:13:44# Call me little tootsy-wootsy baby... #

0:13:44 > 0:13:48To find out, I got a trio together to record a hit

0:13:48 > 0:13:52from the 1906 West End Musical The Earl And The Girl.

0:13:53 > 0:13:57It's the mildly risque How'd You Like To Spoon With Me? -

0:13:57 > 0:14:00words by Edward Laska and music by Jerome Kern.

0:14:00 > 0:14:02That's fine - nothing...

0:14:02 > 0:14:04You can't do anything wrong at this point,

0:14:04 > 0:14:07this is just to give us an idea we've got everybody on at about the right level.

0:14:07 > 0:14:10Patricia Hammond is our singer,

0:14:10 > 0:14:14playing this strange-looking violin is Aleks Kolkowski...

0:14:14 > 0:14:16and there's me on upright piano.

0:14:16 > 0:14:19We could try another quick test with a slightly different horn...

0:14:19 > 0:14:21which might pick up more piano,

0:14:21 > 0:14:24and slightly change the way that your voice is appreciated.

0:14:24 > 0:14:28Our ringmaster is early recording expert Duncan Miller.

0:14:28 > 0:14:30Get you a little bit higher on that.

0:14:30 > 0:14:34A session like this had to be tightly controlled by a recordist -

0:14:34 > 0:14:36where to place the musicians

0:14:36 > 0:14:39and how they should play to the recording horn were crucial.

0:14:39 > 0:14:41No wonder the first record producers

0:14:41 > 0:14:44were so coveted by the original record companies.

0:14:44 > 0:14:47It does really nice things

0:14:47 > 0:14:50- when you do a really, really straight tone, I noticed.- Yeah.

0:14:50 > 0:14:52It does... It sounds really nice that way.

0:14:57 > 0:15:01Miss Patricia Hammond sings her popular success,

0:15:01 > 0:15:04How'd You Like To Spoon With Me? Vulcan record.

0:15:12 > 0:15:15# I don't know why I am so very shy

0:15:15 > 0:15:16# I always was demure... #

0:15:16 > 0:15:20The technology here dictates how the song is sung.

0:15:20 > 0:15:21# I never knew what silly lovers do

0:15:21 > 0:15:22# No flirting... #

0:15:22 > 0:15:26Patricia shouldn't sing too softly, as the recorder won't pick up her voice.

0:15:26 > 0:15:28# In all my life I've never kissed a man... #

0:15:28 > 0:15:29But not too loudly, either,

0:15:29 > 0:15:32as that makes the recording stylus jump out of its groove.

0:15:32 > 0:15:34# But now at last I'm going to break the ice

0:15:34 > 0:15:37# So how'd you like to try? #

0:15:37 > 0:15:39Some instruments work much better than others -

0:15:39 > 0:15:42drums and double basses are too loud.

0:15:43 > 0:15:45Violins can be a problem,

0:15:45 > 0:15:47because their thin sound struggles to record -

0:15:47 > 0:15:52so Aleks is playing this specially adapted violin - called a Stroh -

0:15:52 > 0:15:53that has its own horn

0:15:53 > 0:15:56to better project sound towards the recording machine.

0:15:56 > 0:15:59And my piano is raised up to get the maximum volume out of it.

0:15:59 > 0:16:02# How'd you like to be my lovey-dovey...? #

0:16:02 > 0:16:04Now here's the science.

0:16:04 > 0:16:07Sound through the horn creates vibrations,

0:16:07 > 0:16:11which, via a diaphragm, activates the recording stylus

0:16:11 > 0:16:14that in turn engraves the sound onto a wax cylinder.

0:16:14 > 0:16:16# ..large and shady

0:16:16 > 0:16:18# Call me little tootsy-wootsy baby... #

0:16:18 > 0:16:21To get a good recording, you needed to keep the wax soft,

0:16:21 > 0:16:26so early recording studios were like a sauna.

0:16:26 > 0:16:29Plus the first wax cylinders only lasted two minutes -

0:16:29 > 0:16:31so songs had to be short and sweet.

0:16:40 > 0:16:42Bags of room on there.

0:16:42 > 0:16:44It looks so simple -

0:16:44 > 0:16:47but there's a great skill in singing well into the horn,

0:16:47 > 0:16:48as Patricia is finding out.

0:16:48 > 0:16:52Without anybody playing anything else, just sing through that little bit.

0:16:52 > 0:16:55# How'd you like to be my lovey-dove...? #

0:16:55 > 0:16:57- Oh, yes...- Yeah? - I really detect how it really...

0:16:57 > 0:17:01- Yeah.- You almost feel the danger as it comes back at you.

0:17:01 > 0:17:04- Yes, you'll know either to moderate it or to draw back slightly...- Yes.

0:17:04 > 0:17:05..or to turn slightly.

0:17:05 > 0:17:08- Yeah, and you can also get more intimate, as well.- Yes.

0:17:08 > 0:17:10That was the art, because you're getting closer -

0:17:10 > 0:17:13cos when we play it back you'll see there was a lot more presence...

0:17:13 > 0:17:16- Yes!- ..in the one you just did than the one we did before.- Yeah.

0:17:18 > 0:17:20And whether it is 1906 or today,

0:17:20 > 0:17:23nothing beats the magical moment of instant playback.

0:17:25 > 0:17:29'Miss Patricia Hammond sings her popular success,

0:17:29 > 0:17:33'How'd You Like To Spoon With Me? Vulcan record.'

0:17:40 > 0:17:43# I don't know why I am so very shy

0:17:43 > 0:17:46# I always was demure... #

0:17:46 > 0:17:48From the very beginning,

0:17:48 > 0:17:52it seems technology was shaping the sounds of the songs we heard.

0:17:54 > 0:17:58That's like listening to the great-great-great-grandmother

0:17:58 > 0:18:00you never had. Who was a singer.

0:18:00 > 0:18:03- Well, you have now! - That's extraordinary.

0:18:03 > 0:18:06We'd have sold a million of those in the Edwardian period.

0:18:07 > 0:18:09# How'd you like to spoon with me...? #

0:18:09 > 0:18:12The recording machine now went out into the world

0:18:12 > 0:18:14to capture sound wherever it could.

0:18:14 > 0:18:15For the first time,

0:18:15 > 0:18:18an address of the President of the United States...

0:18:18 > 0:18:20a Navajo Indian...

0:18:20 > 0:18:23a school in the Midwest...

0:18:23 > 0:18:26# I don't know why I am so very shy... #

0:18:26 > 0:18:28There were not only sentimental ballads,

0:18:28 > 0:18:30but also music hall and vaudeville hits,

0:18:30 > 0:18:32comic songs and opera.

0:18:32 > 0:18:35All these recordings were now being bought in their thousands.

0:18:41 > 0:18:45There is a treasure trove of these songs right in the heart of London.

0:18:45 > 0:18:49# I never winked my eye... #

0:18:49 > 0:18:51In the basement of the British Library

0:18:51 > 0:18:54are 7,000 precious and valuable wax cylinders,

0:18:54 > 0:18:57acquired and preserved for the nation.

0:18:57 > 0:18:59Here you can find the top ten

0:18:59 > 0:19:01that entertained the Edwardian public.

0:19:03 > 0:19:07And, voila - here's a box of delights

0:19:07 > 0:19:09that the curators at the Library's Sound Archives

0:19:09 > 0:19:12have kindly selected for us.

0:19:12 > 0:19:13Wow.

0:19:13 > 0:19:14Look at this!

0:19:14 > 0:19:16Treasure indeed.

0:19:16 > 0:19:21This is an Edison cylinder known as a Blue Amberol.

0:19:21 > 0:19:23Absolutely beautiful.

0:19:23 > 0:19:25But, of course, it was pop songs of the day

0:19:25 > 0:19:27that people wanted to hear in their homes.

0:19:27 > 0:19:30It was the music hall artists, particularly.

0:19:30 > 0:19:32Billy Williams, for instance,

0:19:32 > 0:19:35singing When Father Papered The Parlour.

0:19:35 > 0:19:37# When Father papered the parlour

0:19:37 > 0:19:38# You couldn't see Pa for paste

0:19:38 > 0:19:40# Dabbing it here and dabbing it there

0:19:40 > 0:19:42# There was paste and paper everywhere

0:19:42 > 0:19:45# Mother was stuck to the ceiling

0:19:45 > 0:19:47# And the kids were stuck to the floor

0:19:47 > 0:19:50# You never saw such a blooming family so stuck up before. #

0:19:50 > 0:19:53Florrie Forde, one of the greatest of the music hall artistes,

0:19:53 > 0:19:56singing Down At The Old Bull And Bush -

0:19:56 > 0:19:59and that's actually celebrating a pub in North London,

0:19:59 > 0:20:03but it's to a kind of German beat - that oompah-pah beat.

0:20:03 > 0:20:04# Come and make eyes at me

0:20:04 > 0:20:06# Down at the Old Bull and Bush... #

0:20:08 > 0:20:11# Come, come, drink some port wine with me

0:20:11 > 0:20:15# Down at the Old Bull and Bush... #

0:20:15 > 0:20:17These cylinders were the way that the song

0:20:17 > 0:20:21and the sound of song found its way into people's homes.

0:20:21 > 0:20:24# Just let me hold your hand, dear

0:20:24 > 0:20:26# Do, do... #

0:20:26 > 0:20:28But in the first decade of the 20th century

0:20:28 > 0:20:31there emerged a rival to the cylinder

0:20:31 > 0:20:33in the affections of the new listening public.

0:20:33 > 0:20:38And there are over 250,000 examples of this competing medium

0:20:38 > 0:20:40in the vaults of the Library.

0:20:42 > 0:20:43And here it is.

0:20:43 > 0:20:45Much more recognisable.

0:20:45 > 0:20:49The rival format to the Edison cylinder -

0:20:49 > 0:20:51the Gramophone disc.

0:20:51 > 0:20:53Now, this is the same number, by Billy Williams,

0:20:53 > 0:20:55When Father Papered The Parlour -

0:20:55 > 0:20:57equally precious recording, it has to be said.

0:20:57 > 0:21:02And these discs were made out of a natural resin called shellac.

0:21:02 > 0:21:06And they span at 78rpm - 78 revolutions per minute.

0:21:06 > 0:21:09So, the early 78s were often known as shellacs.

0:21:09 > 0:21:14Much cheaper and easier to produce than the cylinder was,

0:21:14 > 0:21:16and much more durable.

0:21:16 > 0:21:18MUSIC: When Father Papered The Parlour

0:21:18 > 0:21:21The disc was pioneered by a German emigre

0:21:21 > 0:21:24to the United States, Emile Berliner,

0:21:24 > 0:21:26who, in partnership with businessman Eldridge Johnson,

0:21:26 > 0:21:30founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901.

0:21:30 > 0:21:33In their factory in Camden, New Jersey,

0:21:33 > 0:21:36Victor mass-produced discs and the record players they played on,

0:21:36 > 0:21:39which they called gramophones.

0:21:39 > 0:21:42The company bought up the top singers of the day

0:21:42 > 0:21:44and brilliantly marketed their products using

0:21:44 > 0:21:48the image of Nipper the Dog and the slogan "His Master's Voice" -

0:21:48 > 0:21:49HMV.

0:21:54 > 0:21:57# ..Paddy Leary from a spot in Tipperary

0:21:57 > 0:21:58# The hearts of all the girls I am a thorn... #

0:21:58 > 0:22:02Records spinning on gramophones at 78 revolutions per minute

0:22:02 > 0:22:05now competed with cylinders playing on phonographs

0:22:05 > 0:22:09in a format war like that later between vinyl and CD.

0:22:09 > 0:22:11# ..in the morning... #

0:22:11 > 0:22:14Now music lasted longer on disc - with songs on both sides -

0:22:14 > 0:22:18and the gramophone was just so much easier to operate.

0:22:18 > 0:22:21So, eventually, the disc won out.

0:22:24 > 0:22:27In 1912, Thomas Edison bowed to the inevitable.

0:22:27 > 0:22:30He signalled the beginning of the end of his beloved cylinder player

0:22:30 > 0:22:35by announcing the Edison Company's first machine to spin 78rpm discs.

0:22:37 > 0:22:40To sell this, the Edison Company embarked upon a celebrated

0:22:40 > 0:22:43sound experiment, and it gives us a fascinating

0:22:43 > 0:22:47insight into the collisions of old and new at this time.

0:22:47 > 0:22:50Audiences were invited, and came in their thousands,

0:22:50 > 0:22:54to witness the Test Of Tone Re-creation

0:22:54 > 0:22:57which was being staged in venues large

0:22:57 > 0:22:59and small right across America.

0:22:59 > 0:23:02On one of these evenings, a curious audience waited expectantly.

0:23:02 > 0:23:04APPLAUSE

0:23:04 > 0:23:08Onto the stage came the celebrated soprano Maggie Teyte.

0:23:09 > 0:23:12# Believe me

0:23:12 > 0:23:15# If all those endearing young charms... #

0:23:15 > 0:23:18She began singing a famous melody

0:23:18 > 0:23:20that you might also recognise as the fiddle intro

0:23:20 > 0:23:23to Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners.

0:23:23 > 0:23:30# Were to change by tomorrow and flee in my arms

0:23:30 > 0:23:31# Like... #

0:23:31 > 0:23:33This song was the popular folk tune

0:23:33 > 0:23:36Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms.

0:23:38 > 0:23:40# Thou wouldst still... #

0:23:40 > 0:23:43Then, suddenly, the lights went down.

0:23:43 > 0:23:45# ..this moment thou art... #

0:23:45 > 0:23:47Just as quickly, the lights went up again

0:23:47 > 0:23:49as the song continued to ring out.

0:23:49 > 0:23:51# ..fade as it will... #

0:23:51 > 0:23:54But now on stage with Miss Teyte was this -

0:23:54 > 0:23:56the new Edison disc phonograph.

0:23:56 > 0:24:00# ..ruin each wish of my heart... #

0:24:00 > 0:24:02But the sublime Ms Teyte was mute -

0:24:02 > 0:24:05no words came from those melodious lips.

0:24:05 > 0:24:08So where was this music coming from?

0:24:08 > 0:24:11A record on the turntable was playing -

0:24:11 > 0:24:15the state-of-the-art diamond stylus reading the disc.

0:24:15 > 0:24:18Who in the audience could tell the difference

0:24:18 > 0:24:21between the real thing and the recording?

0:24:21 > 0:24:24At first there was stunned silence,

0:24:24 > 0:24:27and then, when they realised the trick that had been played on them,

0:24:27 > 0:24:31they burst into spontaneous and generous applause.

0:24:31 > 0:24:35APPLAUSE # ..and flee in my arms... #

0:24:35 > 0:24:39The Tone Test proved just how far the quality of sound recording

0:24:39 > 0:24:42had advanced by the eve of the First World War.

0:24:42 > 0:24:44Recorded music was now so good

0:24:44 > 0:24:47that Edison could with some justification claim

0:24:47 > 0:24:51that the quality of the living voice and the re-created voice

0:24:51 > 0:24:52were identical.

0:24:52 > 0:24:55But I think the Tone Tests went deeper.

0:24:55 > 0:24:59Before recorded sound, all music was live.

0:24:59 > 0:25:04The important rituals of our lives happened with music there -

0:25:04 > 0:25:06births, marriages, funerals.

0:25:06 > 0:25:10We laboured to working songs, our entertainment was live,

0:25:10 > 0:25:13be it in the bandstand or the music hall,

0:25:13 > 0:25:15the parlour or the concert hall.

0:25:16 > 0:25:20But these experiences were fleeting,

0:25:20 > 0:25:23lingering only in the memory, no matter how sweetly.

0:25:23 > 0:25:26# I had a lovely lady friend who lived next door to me... #

0:25:26 > 0:25:31Music now had a new kind of presence and permanence in our lives,

0:25:31 > 0:25:34that writer and critic Greg Milner considers profound.

0:25:35 > 0:25:40What it was telling people was that recordings had reached this point,

0:25:40 > 0:25:45very quickly, that a record wasn't a recording of music, necessarily -

0:25:45 > 0:25:46it WAS music, you know?

0:25:46 > 0:25:49It wasn't that this was something that you took music

0:25:49 > 0:25:51and put it on - this was music itself,

0:25:51 > 0:25:54which is a very powerful message, I mean, it's almost like...

0:25:54 > 0:25:56You know, it's...

0:25:56 > 0:25:58Recordings weren't going to sound like life, necessarily,

0:25:58 > 0:26:00life was going to sound like recording.

0:26:04 > 0:26:07Imagine you're sitting alone in your typical Edwardian parlour.

0:26:07 > 0:26:09- It's evening. - SOPRANO SINGS

0:26:09 > 0:26:13You might be having a nice leisurely read before bedtime -

0:26:13 > 0:26:16reaching out for one last sip of one last gin and tonic.

0:26:18 > 0:26:20But now you had company,

0:26:20 > 0:26:23in the shape of the machine that was leading the listening revolution

0:26:23 > 0:26:26that was transforming your home life.

0:26:29 > 0:26:33This is the wonderfully titled G&T Bijou Grand -

0:26:33 > 0:26:36G&T for Gramophone & Typewriter company.

0:26:36 > 0:26:40And the horn is actually inside.

0:26:40 > 0:26:41VOLUME INCREASES

0:26:41 > 0:26:45So it's disguised as a rather beautiful piece of furniture.

0:26:45 > 0:26:49No enormous horns erupting out the top to frighten the ladies.

0:26:49 > 0:26:53You can actually invite people round, now, for musical evenings.

0:26:53 > 0:26:56This would be the centre of attention.

0:26:56 > 0:27:00Or you could just sit and listen again and again

0:27:00 > 0:27:02to your own favourite tunes.

0:27:02 > 0:27:05MUSIC: The Liberty Bell March by John Philip Sousa

0:27:05 > 0:27:07All this pleasure from a rotating turntable

0:27:07 > 0:27:09WAS the shock of the new -

0:27:09 > 0:27:12and seen as a threat to live performance.

0:27:14 > 0:27:18The celebrated composer of American marching music John Philip Sousa

0:27:18 > 0:27:22wrote passionately about what he saw as "the menace of mechanical music".

0:27:24 > 0:27:29And, in 1913, French composer Claude Debussy worriedly asked,

0:27:29 > 0:27:31"Should we fear this domestication of sound,

0:27:31 > 0:27:35"this magic preserved in a disc that anyone can awaken at will?"

0:27:37 > 0:27:39But, despite these concerns,

0:27:39 > 0:27:42the record player instantly had enormous appeal.

0:27:42 > 0:27:44MUSIC: Sweet Georgia Brown

0:27:44 > 0:27:48You could gather around for an indoor campfire moment...

0:27:50 > 0:27:52..or take a portable gramophone to war,

0:27:52 > 0:27:55to help bear the unbearable.

0:27:55 > 0:28:00And live music did endure - helped by recording.

0:28:00 > 0:28:02Look at this snapshot from rural America -

0:28:02 > 0:28:06in the foreground is a phonograph, cylinders on the ground.

0:28:06 > 0:28:09But, behind it, see the man with the fiddle

0:28:09 > 0:28:11looking defiantly at the camera -

0:28:11 > 0:28:13proud of his playing, I think.

0:28:13 > 0:28:16A recording engineer in the field, or the studio,

0:28:16 > 0:28:19could capture his music and make it more widely available -

0:28:19 > 0:28:23and that would shape the history of music itself.

0:28:24 > 0:28:26Now, people who weren't hearing music as much because, let's say,

0:28:26 > 0:28:29they couldn't afford it, who all of a sudden had access to it,

0:28:29 > 0:28:31different types of traditions could be spread around,

0:28:31 > 0:28:33and all of a sudden music was something...

0:28:33 > 0:28:35it's almost like it added another dimension,

0:28:35 > 0:28:39music was in 2-D before, now it's like in three dimensions.

0:28:39 > 0:28:41That's the way I like to think of it.

0:28:41 > 0:28:43# Born up on the mountain... #

0:28:44 > 0:28:47One kind of music in this new 3-D of sound

0:28:47 > 0:28:49emerged here on Beale Street in Memphis

0:28:49 > 0:28:52in the first decades of the 20th century.

0:28:52 > 0:28:55From plantations and cotton fields, evolving out of spirituals,

0:28:55 > 0:28:58work songs and field hollers, this was the blues.

0:28:59 > 0:29:01Really just three chords -

0:29:01 > 0:29:03this one...

0:29:03 > 0:29:05this one...

0:29:06 > 0:29:07..and that one.

0:29:07 > 0:29:09And the effect you get is this...

0:29:09 > 0:29:11HE PLAYS BLUES PROGRESSION

0:29:14 > 0:29:17It was here in Memphis where the classic 12-bar blues

0:29:17 > 0:29:19was devised by the composer WC Handy.

0:29:20 > 0:29:23And Handy was the first person to write the blues down -

0:29:23 > 0:29:25notate them on the page.

0:29:27 > 0:29:32But it was the recording of his songs, like Memphis Blues,

0:29:32 > 0:29:34that allowed the music to thrive by making it available

0:29:34 > 0:29:38to those who could neither afford nor read sheet music.

0:29:41 > 0:29:45Everything about blues had to be heard in order to be copied.

0:29:45 > 0:29:47If you wanted to be a blues player,

0:29:47 > 0:29:49you had to be able to hear other people playing it,

0:29:49 > 0:29:51understand how the thing worked.

0:29:51 > 0:29:54That is where recording became so crucial -

0:29:54 > 0:29:57because people now could hear the blues

0:29:57 > 0:29:58and do their own thing with it.

0:29:58 > 0:30:02Recording companies knew this - they had a massive new market,

0:30:02 > 0:30:04and so, before very long,

0:30:04 > 0:30:07they started creating their own blues recording greats.

0:30:07 > 0:30:10MUSIC: Crazy Blues by Mamie Smith

0:30:10 > 0:30:14In 1920, what's considered the first blues record was recorded -

0:30:14 > 0:30:17Crazy Blues by Mamie Smith.

0:30:17 > 0:30:22# I can't sleep at night

0:30:22 > 0:30:26# I can't eat a bite... #

0:30:26 > 0:30:30It was released by OKeh, who made what were called "race records",

0:30:30 > 0:30:32targeted at African-American consumers.

0:30:34 > 0:30:38Selling for only 20 cents, Crazy Blues was a million seller -

0:30:38 > 0:30:43proving that disc buying wasn't just for the white and well-heeled.

0:30:43 > 0:30:45# I hate to see... #

0:30:45 > 0:30:49Then in 1923 the singer who would be crowned Empress of the Blues

0:30:49 > 0:30:52signed to Columbia Records in New York.

0:30:54 > 0:30:57She was the extraordinary Bessie Smith,

0:30:57 > 0:31:00and her recordings would make the blues an American -

0:31:00 > 0:31:04indeed, a global - phenomenon, and an art form to be cherished.

0:31:04 > 0:31:06# ..sun go down. #

0:31:07 > 0:31:10On the 14th of January 1925

0:31:10 > 0:31:13she went into Columbia Studios on Columbus Circle

0:31:13 > 0:31:17and recorded another WC Handy classic, St Louis Blues,

0:31:17 > 0:31:21accompanied by a young cornet player called Louis Armstrong.

0:31:21 > 0:31:23LILTING CORNET PROGRESSION

0:31:26 > 0:31:29A performance of the song was captured on film in 1929

0:31:29 > 0:31:32at the height of Bessie's fame.

0:31:32 > 0:31:35# ..like I feel today... #

0:31:35 > 0:31:37Just listen to the sound of her song.

0:31:40 > 0:31:42# Feelin' tomorrow... #

0:31:42 > 0:31:46She sang what's called gut-bucket blues -

0:31:46 > 0:31:47with a powerful and strong delivery

0:31:47 > 0:31:51shaped by years of performing in huge halls without amplification.

0:31:51 > 0:31:55# I'll pack my trunk and make my get away... #

0:31:55 > 0:31:58The slow tempo with that preaching sound to her voice

0:31:58 > 0:32:02suggests the call and response of gospel music.

0:32:02 > 0:32:04Here, the celestial choir of backing singers

0:32:04 > 0:32:07take the place of Armstrong's cornet.

0:32:07 > 0:32:10# ..rock in the sea

0:32:10 > 0:32:13# Oh, sister... #

0:32:13 > 0:32:18We're in a nightclub, but we could so easily be in church.

0:32:18 > 0:32:20# ..rock in the sea

0:32:20 > 0:32:24# Yes, my sister... #

0:32:24 > 0:32:28Bessie bends and stretches each note for maximum effect.

0:32:28 > 0:32:35# Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me. #

0:32:35 > 0:32:41The genius of her performance was inspiration for other new music.

0:32:41 > 0:32:45If, as the song goes, blues had a baby and called it rock'n'roll,

0:32:45 > 0:32:49then its big brother was surely jazz.

0:32:49 > 0:32:53And it was Bessie's playing partner who was jazz's greatest innovator

0:32:53 > 0:32:57at this time - earning the accolade Master of Modernism

0:32:57 > 0:33:00and creator of his own song style.

0:33:00 > 0:33:02MUSIC: Heebie Jeebies by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five

0:33:02 > 0:33:06Louis Armstrong first began singing in church and barbershop quartets -

0:33:06 > 0:33:09later vaudeville and cabaret halls.

0:33:09 > 0:33:11In 1926 he recorded a song that,

0:33:11 > 0:33:14due to the disciplines of time in the studio,

0:33:14 > 0:33:16had to be just right on the night.

0:33:17 > 0:33:19# Say, I've got the heebies

0:33:19 > 0:33:20# I mean the jeebies

0:33:20 > 0:33:22# Talking about... #

0:33:22 > 0:33:25In fact Heebie Jeebies turned out to be jazz perfection,

0:33:25 > 0:33:27and what's said to have happened during the recording

0:33:27 > 0:33:31has passed into popular music legend.

0:33:31 > 0:33:35Armstrong began singing his vocal section, but then accidentally

0:33:35 > 0:33:38dropped the paper that his lyrics were written on.

0:33:38 > 0:33:43But, not wanting to ruin the wax recording, he soldiered on.

0:33:43 > 0:33:46He sang without words.

0:33:46 > 0:33:50That African-American tradition of scat singing

0:33:50 > 0:33:54that uses the human voice as an instrument.

0:33:54 > 0:33:57A chance accident in the studio had led to an innovation

0:33:57 > 0:33:59that made his name as a singer -

0:33:59 > 0:34:03brought a lot of humour to the song, too, and made it a smash hit.

0:34:03 > 0:34:07HE SCATS

0:34:07 > 0:34:13This was the essence of jazz - improvisation and spontaneity -

0:34:13 > 0:34:17caught on record at the very moment that it happened.

0:34:17 > 0:34:20Gary Giddins is Armstrong's biographer.

0:34:20 > 0:34:23It's not just that he is using nonsense syllables -

0:34:23 > 0:34:25it's that he is improvising a solo,

0:34:25 > 0:34:27that if you transcribed it for his trumpet

0:34:27 > 0:34:30- would be just as brilliant as anything else he recorded.- Yeah.

0:34:30 > 0:34:34- That is his solo, that is his improvisation.- Yeah.

0:34:34 > 0:34:36And part of... The gravel in his voice

0:34:36 > 0:34:39is one of the things that puts it over.

0:34:39 > 0:34:41I think it was Earl Hinds

0:34:41 > 0:34:44who said that for months after that record came out

0:34:44 > 0:34:47musicians were sticking their heads out the window every time it rained

0:34:47 > 0:34:50trying to get a cold so they could sound like Louis Armstrong.

0:34:50 > 0:34:53HORN SOLO

0:34:57 > 0:35:00By the time that Armstrong recorded Heebie Jeebies,

0:35:00 > 0:35:02you didn't have to buy his records

0:35:02 > 0:35:05to sit at home late at night enjoying his music.

0:35:06 > 0:35:09JAZZ CORNET PLAYS

0:35:09 > 0:35:12Louis was all over the airwaves, from New York to Los Angeles,

0:35:12 > 0:35:14spreading the gospel of jazz.

0:35:14 > 0:35:17And all this live and free in your front room.

0:35:21 > 0:35:25An entirely new way of listening had come along - radio -

0:35:25 > 0:35:28the next important stage in the sonic revolution

0:35:28 > 0:35:30that was shaping the sound of song.

0:35:33 > 0:35:37Imagine having this magnificent machine in your front room

0:35:37 > 0:35:39for the first time.

0:35:39 > 0:35:42And this radio music box came to rival and, indeed,

0:35:42 > 0:35:46threaten the gramophone as the medium for enjoying popular song -

0:35:46 > 0:35:49for the simple reason that you could go round that dial

0:35:49 > 0:35:52and choose exactly the music to fit your mood.

0:35:56 > 0:36:00Radio at first was a novel and exotic experience -

0:36:00 > 0:36:03the early sets fantastic-looking creations.

0:36:05 > 0:36:08Following radio's introduction after the First World War

0:36:08 > 0:36:10there was a broadcasting boom.

0:36:10 > 0:36:12On both sides of the Atlantic,

0:36:12 > 0:36:14millions were buying these wirelesses.

0:36:14 > 0:36:18And what they really wanted to hear were songs.

0:36:18 > 0:36:21Just as songs were the lifeblood of the recording industry,

0:36:21 > 0:36:25so they were of those running radio during its golden age.

0:36:25 > 0:36:28And this was just more business, and very welcome business,

0:36:28 > 0:36:31for the habitues of Tin Pan Alley.

0:36:32 > 0:36:36Which is where Irving Berlin re-enters our story.

0:36:36 > 0:36:38By the coming of radio's golden age,

0:36:38 > 0:36:41the songwriter from downtown New York had moved up in the world.

0:36:41 > 0:36:44Irving Berlin was running his own publishing company,

0:36:44 > 0:36:48writing for Broadway musicals and revues like the Ziegfeld Follies.

0:36:48 > 0:36:52'Music man Irving Berlin assists at the piano.'

0:36:52 > 0:36:54But as well as all the high jinks,

0:36:54 > 0:36:57he was writing songs full of sadness.

0:36:57 > 0:37:00The death of his wife after only five months of marriage

0:37:00 > 0:37:02left Berlin a long time alone.

0:37:02 > 0:37:05So, real heartache poured out of him at the keyboard.

0:37:07 > 0:37:10Take, for instance, the beautiful ballad All Alone.

0:37:10 > 0:37:13Now, there's a nice, simple melody to the hook -

0:37:13 > 0:37:16the bit you're going to really remember, which is just...

0:37:16 > 0:37:18HE PLAYS MELODY FROM "ALL ALONE"

0:37:20 > 0:37:24But when you put the lyrics with it, it goes like this...

0:37:24 > 0:37:28# Wondering how you are

0:37:28 > 0:37:30# And where you are

0:37:30 > 0:37:32# And if you are

0:37:32 > 0:37:36# All alone. #

0:37:36 > 0:37:38The sting's in the tail.

0:37:38 > 0:37:42"Are you all alone, or have you found somebody else?"

0:37:42 > 0:37:46It's almost like he's inventing the idea of the torch song

0:37:46 > 0:37:48for a keening male singer.

0:37:48 > 0:37:52# Just for a moment you were mine

0:37:52 > 0:37:54# And then... #

0:37:54 > 0:37:57The powerful Irish tenor John McCormack

0:37:57 > 0:37:59made the best-loved version of All Alone.

0:37:59 > 0:38:03# I long to hold you in my arms again... #

0:38:03 > 0:38:06Thanks to radio technology that widened sonic frequencies

0:38:06 > 0:38:07and allowed extra amplification,

0:38:07 > 0:38:11listeners could hear the great man with a better sound quality

0:38:11 > 0:38:13that was loud and clear.

0:38:13 > 0:38:16Indeed, they came to expect it.

0:38:16 > 0:38:20# There is no-one else but you... #

0:38:20 > 0:38:23And this was a challenge to other entertainment industries -

0:38:23 > 0:38:25either embrace the sonic possibilities,

0:38:25 > 0:38:28or suffer the consequences.

0:38:28 > 0:38:32And silent film, for one, got the message.

0:38:32 > 0:38:33In September 1928,

0:38:33 > 0:38:36movie fans gathered here at the Piccadilly Theatre in London -

0:38:36 > 0:38:39then a West End cinema - for the premiere of a film

0:38:39 > 0:38:42that had already caused a sensation in New York.

0:38:42 > 0:38:46They were eyewitnesses to cinema being the next entertainment medium

0:38:46 > 0:38:49to be revolutionised by recorded sound,

0:38:49 > 0:38:51with songs as the agents of change.

0:38:59 > 0:39:02The film was The Jazz Singer, a version of a Broadway show

0:39:02 > 0:39:05made by Warner Brothers in Hollywood.

0:39:05 > 0:39:08It featured the biggest vaudeville star of the 1920s -

0:39:08 > 0:39:09Al Jolson.

0:39:09 > 0:39:12And what delighted and enchanted cinemagoers that evening

0:39:12 > 0:39:14was Jolson singing this.

0:39:14 > 0:39:16# Blue skies

0:39:16 > 0:39:19# Smiling at me

0:39:19 > 0:39:22# Nothing but blue skies

0:39:22 > 0:39:23# Do I see

0:39:23 > 0:39:25# Ho-toh-toh

0:39:25 > 0:39:26# Bluebirds... #

0:39:26 > 0:39:30The song was Blue Skies, written by Irving Berlin.

0:39:30 > 0:39:32# Nothing but little bluebirds

0:39:32 > 0:39:34# All day long... #

0:39:35 > 0:39:37After his own blue period,

0:39:37 > 0:39:40Berlin's mood in Blue Skies is jubilant.

0:39:40 > 0:39:43Perhaps little wonder, given that he had just fallen in love

0:39:43 > 0:39:45with the woman who would become his second wife.

0:39:45 > 0:39:47# Blue days, days, days

0:39:47 > 0:39:49# All of them gone... #

0:39:49 > 0:39:51And this happiness expressed in song

0:39:51 > 0:39:54seemed to reflect the optimism of an entire nation.

0:39:54 > 0:39:57Blue Skies is another one of those songs -

0:39:57 > 0:40:00it's almost a more sophisticated version of Alexander

0:40:00 > 0:40:03in that it's very optimistic.

0:40:03 > 0:40:08It totally captures the period when Americans think

0:40:08 > 0:40:13that...the world is changing and it's all for the good.

0:40:13 > 0:40:18Because this is still two years before the Depression,

0:40:18 > 0:40:21before the stock market crashes, and what's going on in the world?

0:40:21 > 0:40:25Lindbergh flies the Atlantic.

0:40:25 > 0:40:27Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs.

0:40:27 > 0:40:29Uh...Mickey Mouse.

0:40:29 > 0:40:32# Bluebirds, singing a song

0:40:32 > 0:40:35# Nothing but little bluebirds all day long... #

0:40:35 > 0:40:40To see Al Jolson, but to actually hear him sing,

0:40:40 > 0:40:42that was an extraordinary experience

0:40:42 > 0:40:44for audiences that had grown up with silent film.

0:40:44 > 0:40:46It was a kind of magic.

0:40:46 > 0:40:51Never before had picture and sound synchronised so perfectly together.

0:40:51 > 0:40:53Eyewitnesses reported that at the end,

0:40:53 > 0:40:57the enchanted audiences were on their feet cheering.

0:40:57 > 0:40:59And it was the half-dozen songs

0:40:59 > 0:41:01that made The Jazz Singer such a hit.

0:41:01 > 0:41:03To quote Harry Warner of Warner Brothers,

0:41:03 > 0:41:06"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?

0:41:06 > 0:41:09"The music - that's the big thing about this."

0:41:10 > 0:41:11And Harry had a point.

0:41:11 > 0:41:14Warner Brothers made millions at the box office

0:41:14 > 0:41:17from their gamble on sound and changed cinema forever.

0:41:17 > 0:41:19Soon, the rest of Hollywood entered the race

0:41:19 > 0:41:22to make more of these talkies with songs.

0:41:22 > 0:41:24Everybody quiet, please...

0:41:24 > 0:41:28Now behind the film camera was a sound recordist.

0:41:28 > 0:41:31This sonic revolution on set came from American Western Electric,

0:41:31 > 0:41:35developing a 33rpm disc that could synchronise with a reel of film.

0:41:37 > 0:41:40This sound on disc format was given the name Vitaphone.

0:41:42 > 0:41:43# So I made up my mind

0:41:43 > 0:41:45# That I wouldn't find

0:41:45 > 0:41:47# The only girl that I adore... #

0:41:47 > 0:41:50At the same time, Western Electric developed a new way

0:41:50 > 0:41:52to capture music in the recording studio.

0:41:52 > 0:41:54# She'll be a lady... #

0:41:54 > 0:41:56HE SCATS

0:41:59 > 0:42:02It was this technology that Abbey Road Studios

0:42:02 > 0:42:04would benefit from when they opened in 1931

0:42:04 > 0:42:08as the first purpose-built recording complex in the world.

0:42:15 > 0:42:19The key to what was a new way to record music here in Studio 2

0:42:19 > 0:42:21were these beautiful objects.

0:42:25 > 0:42:28Their first inventor thought they were like little voices,

0:42:28 > 0:42:31so gave them the name "microphones".

0:42:35 > 0:42:38Mics combined with other aids for recording and playback

0:42:38 > 0:42:41that made radio sound so good.

0:42:41 > 0:42:43There was the valve amplifier to expand the sound

0:42:43 > 0:42:46and new loudspeakers to transmit it.

0:42:47 > 0:42:50Together, they created a very different feel to songs,

0:42:50 > 0:42:53and allowed the studio to innovate and experiment.

0:42:55 > 0:42:58The Phonograph Monthly Review pronounced the last rites

0:42:58 > 0:43:00over old mechanical recording

0:43:00 > 0:43:02by enthusing about the new electrical way.

0:43:19 > 0:43:23Recordists could now place their musicians anywhere around the studio

0:43:23 > 0:43:25to get the best sound.

0:43:25 > 0:43:28It wasn't long before they started using more than one microphone

0:43:28 > 0:43:33and alternating between mics to get different takes of the same song.

0:43:33 > 0:43:36The studio became a far more sophisticated place,

0:43:36 > 0:43:40with much greater experimentation with sound.

0:43:40 > 0:43:41But with these new skills

0:43:41 > 0:43:46and rising expectations about the quality of recorded sound

0:43:46 > 0:43:50came new demands on musicians and recordists.

0:43:50 > 0:43:52Everybody had to raise their game.

0:43:54 > 0:43:56One of the first to record electrically

0:43:56 > 0:43:58was singer Bessie Smith,

0:43:58 > 0:44:00on this recording of Yellowdog Blues.

0:44:00 > 0:44:03MUSIC: Yellowdog Blues by Bessie Smith

0:44:06 > 0:44:08Played back on this, the first record player

0:44:08 > 0:44:11to be compatible with electrical recordings,

0:44:11 > 0:44:14it's the sheer power of her voice that grabs your attention.

0:44:15 > 0:44:20And it gave something extra to the listening experience.

0:44:20 > 0:44:23# Ever since Miss Susie Johnson

0:44:23 > 0:44:25# Lost her jockey Lee

0:44:25 > 0:44:28# There's been much excitement

0:44:28 > 0:44:30# And more to be... #

0:44:30 > 0:44:33Well, the first thing you notice is the new loudness -

0:44:33 > 0:44:36this is really pumping out some volume.

0:44:36 > 0:44:38You could fill a room with this sound

0:44:38 > 0:44:41and, indeed, annoy the neighbours simply by opening the windows.

0:44:41 > 0:44:45But more than that, you like a bit of bass with your music,

0:44:45 > 0:44:46you've got it here.

0:44:46 > 0:44:50A machine like this actually broadened the frequencies

0:44:50 > 0:44:52of the music that the listener could hear.

0:44:52 > 0:44:57# Cablegram goes off in inquiry

0:44:57 > 0:44:59# Telegram goes off... #

0:44:59 > 0:45:03What the microphone also encouraged was a new style of singing -

0:45:03 > 0:45:07first dismissed as a soft and over-emotional warbling,

0:45:07 > 0:45:09it was given the name crooning.

0:45:11 > 0:45:13To understand this, I've come here

0:45:13 > 0:45:17to the gorgeous Art Deco Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House

0:45:17 > 0:45:20to hear the classic Ray Noble number

0:45:20 > 0:45:21The Very Thought Of You.

0:45:21 > 0:45:23Now, before he had a microphone,

0:45:23 > 0:45:26the only way a singer could expect to get their voice up there

0:45:26 > 0:45:28into the cheap seats behind the balcony

0:45:28 > 0:45:30was with a megaphone,

0:45:30 > 0:45:33which meant that he had to sing something like this.

0:45:33 > 0:45:35Let me introduce to you our singer, Matt Ford.

0:45:35 > 0:45:38# The very thought of you

0:45:38 > 0:45:40# And I forget to do

0:45:40 > 0:45:42# The little ordinary things

0:45:42 > 0:45:45# That everyone ought to do

0:45:45 > 0:45:46# I'm living in a kind... #

0:45:46 > 0:45:48Now let's use the mic.

0:45:48 > 0:45:50And, as ever, we're true to the times -

0:45:50 > 0:45:54this is a Coles 4038 ribbon mic from the 1930s.

0:45:54 > 0:45:57Prepare yourself for proper crooning.

0:46:00 > 0:46:04# The very thought of you

0:46:06 > 0:46:10# And I forget to do

0:46:12 > 0:46:17# The little ordinary things

0:46:17 > 0:46:20# That everyone ought to do... #

0:46:20 > 0:46:24With the microphone, the middle, mezzo range of the baritones

0:46:24 > 0:46:26worked wonderfully.

0:46:26 > 0:46:28Rich and mellow.

0:46:28 > 0:46:31And the crooner's voice seemed to float

0:46:31 > 0:46:33over the lush orchestration.

0:46:35 > 0:46:40# And foolish though it may seem

0:46:40 > 0:46:41# To me... #

0:46:41 > 0:46:45The microphone allowed every nuance of the crooner's voice

0:46:45 > 0:46:46to be picked up,

0:46:46 > 0:46:50but it demanded impeccable intonation in return.

0:46:50 > 0:46:55Every word had to be clear, every phrase delicately put across.

0:46:55 > 0:47:02# You'll never know how slow the moments go

0:47:02 > 0:47:05# Till I'm near to you... #

0:47:05 > 0:47:09And with this kind of clarity, the words could be heard,

0:47:09 > 0:47:12and therefore became more meaningful.

0:47:12 > 0:47:14They now had equal weight with the music.

0:47:14 > 0:47:18# ..in stars above

0:47:18 > 0:47:20# It's just the thought of you... #

0:47:20 > 0:47:23What's emerging is something quieter,

0:47:23 > 0:47:25softer, more intimate -

0:47:25 > 0:47:28a whispering jive, they called it.

0:47:29 > 0:47:34# The mere idea of you

0:47:34 > 0:47:36# The longing here... #

0:47:36 > 0:47:39Crooning was also a kind of love-making -

0:47:39 > 0:47:42using voice and eyes to seduce.

0:47:42 > 0:47:45So crooners like Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby

0:47:45 > 0:47:47would use the microphone as a theatrical prop

0:47:47 > 0:47:49to excite the audience,

0:47:49 > 0:47:53playing to it as a great movie actor would do to camera.

0:47:54 > 0:47:58# Your eyes in stars above

0:47:59 > 0:48:03# It's just the thought of you... #

0:48:03 > 0:48:08All this was wildly popular, but also pretty scandalous.

0:48:08 > 0:48:14# My love. #

0:48:17 > 0:48:20APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

0:48:21 > 0:48:23Crooning, as it was called -

0:48:23 > 0:48:26the soft kind of singing where you are suddenly conscious

0:48:26 > 0:48:29of the lyrics and of the melody

0:48:29 > 0:48:33in the way that the shouters did not quite let you -

0:48:33 > 0:48:36is more than a little erotic.

0:48:36 > 0:48:39It's very personal, it personalises the whole idea of popular song

0:48:39 > 0:48:42in a way that it had never been before.

0:48:42 > 0:48:48The archdiocese in Boston famously - I think it was Cardinal Cushing -

0:48:48 > 0:48:52preached against Crosby, in particular, but all the crooners

0:48:52 > 0:48:56as being degenerates and bringing a degeneracy

0:48:56 > 0:48:58to American culture.

0:48:58 > 0:49:01There were hilarious stories in the newspapers

0:49:01 > 0:49:04of men suing their wives for divorce

0:49:04 > 0:49:08and naming Crosby for alienating their affections

0:49:08 > 0:49:10because they could not get their wives

0:49:10 > 0:49:12to stop listening to him on the air, that kind of thing.

0:49:13 > 0:49:15To begin with, the arousing Bing Crosby

0:49:15 > 0:49:17was the coolest of the cool -

0:49:17 > 0:49:19certainly not the old guy in the cardigan

0:49:19 > 0:49:22singing White Christmas that I grew up with.

0:49:23 > 0:49:28# Come let us stroll down Lovers' Lane

0:49:28 > 0:49:31# Once more to sing... #

0:49:31 > 0:49:34Crosby always sang with such poise,

0:49:34 > 0:49:36but also with such emotion.

0:49:36 > 0:49:41# ..we must say auf Wiedersehen

0:49:41 > 0:49:45# Auf Wiedersehen, my dear... #

0:49:46 > 0:49:49So when he crooned Auf Wiedersehen My Dear,

0:49:49 > 0:49:52his version of the 1932 song was peerless.

0:49:53 > 0:49:59# So let me kiss you once again

0:49:59 > 0:50:02# Soon we must say... #

0:50:02 > 0:50:05Louis Armstrong, no less, said the voice of Crosby

0:50:05 > 0:50:08was like gold being poured out of a cup.

0:50:08 > 0:50:12# My dear... #

0:50:12 > 0:50:14And Bing returned the complement -

0:50:14 > 0:50:17for him, the Reverend Satchelmouth, as he nicknamed Armstrong,

0:50:17 > 0:50:21was the beginning and the end of music in America.

0:50:21 > 0:50:23Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

0:50:23 > 0:50:26I'm Mr Armstrong

0:50:26 > 0:50:30and we're going to swing one of the good ones for you -

0:50:30 > 0:50:33a beautiful number, I Cover The Waterfront.

0:50:33 > 0:50:35I Cover The Waterfront - I like it.

0:50:35 > 0:50:39Look out now, fellas, look out, there. One, two...

0:50:42 > 0:50:45In this precious piece of concert footage from 1931,

0:50:45 > 0:50:48Satchmo is singing I Cover The Waterfront

0:50:48 > 0:50:50by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman.

0:50:53 > 0:50:56# I cover the waterfront

0:50:56 > 0:50:58# I'm watching the sea

0:50:58 > 0:51:01# Cos the one I love

0:51:01 > 0:51:03# Will soon come back to me... #

0:51:03 > 0:51:06The microphone allowed Louis Armstrong

0:51:06 > 0:51:08to develop a new vocal style -

0:51:08 > 0:51:12what you might you call a kind of jazzy blues crooning.

0:51:12 > 0:51:15The result was this very distinctive interpretation

0:51:15 > 0:51:17of a '30s standard.

0:51:17 > 0:51:19# Oh, baby, here am I

0:51:19 > 0:51:22# Patiently waiting

0:51:22 > 0:51:24# Hoping and longing, yearning

0:51:24 > 0:51:26# Where are you?

0:51:26 > 0:51:28# Are you forgetting?

0:51:28 > 0:51:29# Will you remember?

0:51:29 > 0:51:31# Will you return? #

0:51:31 > 0:51:36Now there is the smooth transition from music to words to scat.

0:51:36 > 0:51:39The vibe is informal, almost conversational.

0:51:39 > 0:51:42The band's playing at a moderate tempo

0:51:42 > 0:51:45and Louis Armstrong's doing what jazz musicians call

0:51:45 > 0:51:49"ragging the tune" - picking it apart, embellishing it,

0:51:49 > 0:51:51extending it, putting it back together again.

0:51:51 > 0:51:54He's playing around with the lyrics.

0:51:54 > 0:51:55I think it's magical.

0:51:55 > 0:51:57# Shake with fright, oh

0:51:57 > 0:51:59# Cos my Dinah might change her mind... #

0:51:59 > 0:52:03So let's have one more moment of Armstrong magic.

0:52:03 > 0:52:05The song's Dinah, much loved by jazz vocalists

0:52:05 > 0:52:08because of the potential for verbal gymnastics.

0:52:08 > 0:52:11# Dinah, Dinah

0:52:11 > 0:52:13# Oh, Dinah, oh, baby

0:52:13 > 0:52:14# Dinah Lee

0:52:14 > 0:52:17# Dinah, Dinah, Dinah, Dinah...

0:52:17 > 0:52:21HE SCATS

0:52:21 > 0:52:22# Oh, baby

0:52:22 > 0:52:23# Every night, before your eyes

0:52:23 > 0:52:25# Oh

0:52:25 > 0:52:27# Cos my Dinah might...

0:52:27 > 0:52:29HE SCATS

0:52:29 > 0:52:31# If you wandered to China, baby

0:52:31 > 0:52:33# I'd hop on an ocean liner

0:52:33 > 0:52:35# Yeah... #

0:52:37 > 0:52:41Soon Louis, like everybody else, would be lured West,

0:52:41 > 0:52:45by the promise of fame and fortune in Tinsel Town - Los Angeles.

0:52:47 > 0:52:50By the early '30s, when talkies became established,

0:52:50 > 0:52:53Hollywood went musicals crazy.

0:52:53 > 0:52:56Studios were in a hurry to buy up songs.

0:52:56 > 0:52:58And if you had a knack for writing a song

0:52:58 > 0:53:00with a melody that simply wouldn't go away,

0:53:00 > 0:53:02those moguls wanted you.

0:53:03 > 0:53:07Of course, there was one songwriter the big studios desired

0:53:07 > 0:53:09above all others - Irving Berlin.

0:53:12 > 0:53:15But it would be with a smaller outfit, RKO,

0:53:15 > 0:53:17that he would mine movie gold.

0:53:22 > 0:53:26In 1935, RKO contracted the recently established duo

0:53:26 > 0:53:29of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to make a musical comedy -

0:53:29 > 0:53:30Top Hat.

0:53:34 > 0:53:36Given star billing with Fred and Ginger,

0:53:36 > 0:53:38Berlin wrote all the songs for the film.

0:53:38 > 0:53:42One was a perfect fit of sound and vision -

0:53:42 > 0:53:46the truly wondrous Cheek To Cheek.

0:53:46 > 0:53:51HE PLAYS "CHEEK TO CHEEK" ON PIANO

0:53:57 > 0:53:59In writing for Fred Astaire,

0:53:59 > 0:54:02Irving Berlin is writing for a very particular voice -

0:54:02 > 0:54:04very laid-back, relaxed,

0:54:04 > 0:54:07actually a voice that's benefitting from the craze for crooning.

0:54:07 > 0:54:10But at the same time, he's got to write a number

0:54:10 > 0:54:14that would showcase the greatest dance partnership in the movies

0:54:14 > 0:54:17and so Cheek To Cheek, a masterpiece,

0:54:17 > 0:54:20has specific sections that fit that.

0:54:20 > 0:54:22Nice, relaxed opening with that melody.

0:54:22 > 0:54:26HE PLAYS OPENING BARS OF SONG

0:54:26 > 0:54:28# Heaven, I'm in heaven... #

0:54:28 > 0:54:30Nice little repeat motif,

0:54:30 > 0:54:32it's going to go straight in and you'll remember it for good and all.

0:54:32 > 0:54:35# Heaven

0:54:35 > 0:54:38# I'm in heaven

0:54:38 > 0:54:44# And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak

0:54:44 > 0:54:50# And I seem to find the happiness I seek

0:54:50 > 0:54:55# When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek... #

0:54:55 > 0:54:59There's a nice little section that's kind of going back to his syncopation days.

0:54:59 > 0:55:04HE PLAYS AN UPBEAT SECTION OF SONG

0:55:08 > 0:55:10Very much the old style Berlin.

0:55:10 > 0:55:13# Oh, I love to climb a mountain

0:55:13 > 0:55:16# And to reach the highest peak

0:55:16 > 0:55:20# But it doesn't thrill me half as much

0:55:20 > 0:55:22# As dancing cheek to cheek... #

0:55:22 > 0:55:24And then we have the massive new Berlin -

0:55:24 > 0:55:28it's almost like Rachmaninoff has broken into his world.

0:55:28 > 0:55:33HE PLAYS DRAMATIC PHRASE OF MUSIC

0:55:39 > 0:55:43And of course, it gives us the most orgasmic moment in the whole film.

0:55:43 > 0:55:45# Dance with me

0:55:45 > 0:55:48# I want my arm about you

0:55:48 > 0:55:52# That charm about you

0:55:52 > 0:55:56# Will carry me through to

0:55:56 > 0:55:58# Heaven... #

0:55:58 > 0:56:01To film lovers, Top Hat looked a million dollars

0:56:01 > 0:56:03but sounded just as good.

0:56:03 > 0:56:05And I'll explain why.

0:56:05 > 0:56:07On set, Astaire was miming

0:56:07 > 0:56:10to a perfect, orchestrated version of Cheek To Cheek

0:56:10 > 0:56:14that was recorded before action was called.

0:56:14 > 0:56:18# When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek... #

0:56:18 > 0:56:22This allowed Fred to concentrate on acting out the song

0:56:22 > 0:56:24and dancing with Ginger.

0:56:28 > 0:56:32Technical progress had allowed popular song and movie magic

0:56:32 > 0:56:37to come together in a completely unforgettable way.

0:56:55 > 0:56:57It had taken barely 50 years

0:56:57 > 0:56:59since Edison's invention of the phonograph

0:56:59 > 0:57:00to reach this point.

0:57:03 > 0:57:05Years that saw the genius of Irving Berlin,

0:57:05 > 0:57:07and witnessed the magic of Bessie Smith,

0:57:07 > 0:57:09Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby,

0:57:09 > 0:57:12when there were new ways to record songs

0:57:12 > 0:57:14and new ways to listen to them.

0:57:19 > 0:57:21But if the sound of song changed so dramatically

0:57:21 > 0:57:24during the first part of the 20th century,

0:57:24 > 0:57:27that was nothing compared to what was to come.

0:57:36 > 0:57:40Next time - rocking the joint where Elvis first recorded.

0:57:46 > 0:57:48Building Phil Spector's Wall of Sound -

0:57:48 > 0:57:49how did he do it?

0:57:51 > 0:57:55And with the Beatles at Abbey Road - experimenting with magnetic tape,

0:57:55 > 0:57:58the invention that made all this great music possible.

0:57:58 > 0:58:02# Now its gone, gone, gone

0:58:02 > 0:58:04# No, no, no

0:58:08 > 0:58:11# There's no welcome look

0:58:11 > 0:58:16# In your eyes when I reach for you

0:58:19 > 0:58:23# Now you've started to criticize

0:58:23 > 0:58:25# The things I do. #