Leroy Anderson – Syncopated clock
An evening pause: A very well known piece of music from one of the most popular composers of the post-World War II era that you’ve probably never heard of, Leroy Anderson.
Any New Yorker who grew up in the 1960s will immediately recognize it as the theme music used for CBS’s afternoon and late night movie presentations, where they would squeeze two hour movies into 90 minutes slots that were really only about 60 minutes after commercials. (My first impressions as a child of many of Hollywood’s great movies was noticeably distorted because of this.)
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Jools Holland and the Playboys (2001)
‘Highwire’ Edwin Astley (1922-1998)
(->2nd theme to Danger Man TV series)
https://youtu.be/76Z88GDsV3g
2:41
“…….A messy job? Well that’s when they usually call on me or someone like me. Oh yes, my name is Drake, John Drake.”)
Leroy Anderson is well known in the Boston music scene, and of course to anyone who follows the Boston Pops. Yes, ok, a bit provincial we are; and outside of Boston, the Pops is mostly seen on PBS. On the other hand this is the second Leroy Anderson piece posted recently on Behindtheblack. Next time post the more jazzy Pops players doing Leroy.
I’ve lived in flyover country my whole life, but I’ve heard this piece many times and in many different contexts. To me, it’s in the same category as the tune on Jeopardy! that they play while the contestants fill out their answers (questions?) for the final round. Fun to see a live performance of it!
“I’ve lived in flyover country my whole life. . .”
When someone asks if I’ve lived here my whole life, I answer ‘Not yet!’.