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Bahn Frei, at last...
Nov. 25th, 2000 10:54 pmThe "signature" theme of the Jean Shepherd radio program was a lively, polka-sounding melody that I always associated with horse racing, primarily because of the opening trumpet flourish, and a tempo that made it easy to imagine galloping horses.
Well, soon after learning of Shepherd's death, I got curious about the music - who wrote it, who performed it...that kind of thing - so I dropped an e-mail to WOR-AM, the station that used to broadcast Shepherd's show way back when. After a few weeks, I got a response from some guy telling me he was still trying to find the answer to my question.
This by itself impressed me, as virtually all other mail - electronic or otherwise - that I've directed at media outlets gets an automated response (to the effect that they're really happy to hear from me and take my opinions seriously, etc.). A couple of weeks after that, I get another e-mail detailing exactly what cut on what CD contained the music I was interested in.
The piece is the "Bahnfrei" Polka, by Eduard Strauss, as performed by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. Curious to see whether it was available on Napster, I entered the appropriate query. No Fiedler, but a number of copies of the Bahnfrei done by Andre Rieu with the added note "(Jean Shepherd theme)." I downloaded one and was surprised to find that my horse-racing polka, played another way, made you feel more at home at a railroad station. Indeed, the term "bahnfrei," says my Cassel's dictionary, means "free on board" and has strong railroading connotations.
In place of the attention-getting flourish at the start of Shep's show, there was a sluggish series of chords that did a passable imitation of a train straining to get under way. As nice as the Rieu piece is, in its own way, it's not what I am looking for. The Fiedler performance is not on Napster. I'm not even sure it's the right performance.
In the end, I look around for the disk at several stores, with no luck. And of course I find it on Amazon, but as I once noted (in my post on What're the odds?), I can't bring myself to buy CDs from them.
At any rate, during my latest foray into Napster (which has grown to over 7,000 gigs in - and I happened to notice this number because it's unusual - 12,345 libraries), I find the Fiedler cut. And it's the right one! And it sounds beautiful!
Particularly in light of my having listened, for the first time, consciously, to the downward spiral album by Nine Inch Nails earlier today. I'll have to give that another listen, I think.
Work went swimmingly today. Too bad it was on a Saturday, but work is work, and invoices do not lie.
Cheers...
Well, soon after learning of Shepherd's death, I got curious about the music - who wrote it, who performed it...that kind of thing - so I dropped an e-mail to WOR-AM, the station that used to broadcast Shepherd's show way back when. After a few weeks, I got a response from some guy telling me he was still trying to find the answer to my question.
This by itself impressed me, as virtually all other mail - electronic or otherwise - that I've directed at media outlets gets an automated response (to the effect that they're really happy to hear from me and take my opinions seriously, etc.). A couple of weeks after that, I get another e-mail detailing exactly what cut on what CD contained the music I was interested in.
The piece is the "Bahnfrei" Polka, by Eduard Strauss, as performed by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. Curious to see whether it was available on Napster, I entered the appropriate query. No Fiedler, but a number of copies of the Bahnfrei done by Andre Rieu with the added note "(Jean Shepherd theme)." I downloaded one and was surprised to find that my horse-racing polka, played another way, made you feel more at home at a railroad station. Indeed, the term "bahnfrei," says my Cassel's dictionary, means "free on board" and has strong railroading connotations.
In place of the attention-getting flourish at the start of Shep's show, there was a sluggish series of chords that did a passable imitation of a train straining to get under way. As nice as the Rieu piece is, in its own way, it's not what I am looking for. The Fiedler performance is not on Napster. I'm not even sure it's the right performance.
In the end, I look around for the disk at several stores, with no luck. And of course I find it on Amazon, but as I once noted (in my post on What're the odds?), I can't bring myself to buy CDs from them.
At any rate, during my latest foray into Napster (which has grown to over 7,000 gigs in - and I happened to notice this number because it's unusual - 12,345 libraries), I find the Fiedler cut. And it's the right one! And it sounds beautiful!
Particularly in light of my having listened, for the first time, consciously, to the downward spiral album by Nine Inch Nails earlier today. I'll have to give that another listen, I think.
Work went swimmingly today. Too bad it was on a Saturday, but work is work, and invoices do not lie.
Cheers...
