1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,700 The time is 11 o'clock. Shickley Mix is next. Well, are you ready, Mr. Shickley? What difference does it make? Here's the theme. 2 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:39,380 Hello there, I'm Peter Shickley, and this is Shickley Mix, a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal. Or as Duke Ellington put it, if it sounds good, it is good. 3 00:00:40,060 --> 00:00:52,220 And goodness gracious, how good it is to be able to say that our bills are paid by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, by the National Endowment for the Arts, and by this peachy keen radio station, 4 00:00:52,420 --> 00:01:05,239 which provides me with the wherewithalial infrastructure necessary to produce these supersaturated clusters of musicological ontology, which clusters are then thrown to the winds and wolves 5 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:17,380 by PRI, Public Radio International. You know, for the sake of mental health, it's a good idea to be careful and consciously aware of your successes, 6 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:28,040 your talents and accomplishments, as well as your failings. Sometimes I get to feeling pretty low. I start thinking about how, as a composer, 7 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:40,740 I don't have any students to carry on the tradition. And, well, here I am over 60 years old, and my music is not recorded in its entirety like Mozart's and Webern's. And even as a comedian, 8 00:01:40,940 --> 00:01:50,340 I don't have a whole book devoted to my witticisms, the way Richard Nixon did, but when I'm feeling down like that, all I have to do is remind myself 9 00:01:50,340 --> 00:02:02,280 that there is one thing that I'm very, very good at. I can call cows. I'm not kidding. I can come upon a field with cows in it, pull the car over to the side of the road, 10 00:02:02,420 --> 00:02:15,340 walk over to the fence and start mooing. And nine times out of ten, the cows will look up, listen for 10 or 15 seconds, and then start walking over towards me. Back in the early 50s, 11 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:28,000 my brother and our friend Ernie and I, right around the time, as a matter of fact, that the three of us recorded the Sanka Cantata, which was the beginning of the great P.D. Kubach revival, David and Ernie and I made an eight-millimeter movie 12 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:40,760 called How High Brows Thou, Brown Cow. The title line came from a poem in the comic strip Pogo. The film was shot on location north of Fargo, and the plot was my brother played an artist 13 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:52,500 who sets up his easel at the edge of a bovine-filled field and starts mooing. Painting the bucolic scene. I played a guy who, for no apparent reason, pulls up about 50 yards down the road, 14 00:02:52,640 --> 00:03:04,280 gets out of his car and starts mooing to the cows. It was a silent movie, by the way, except for an independently recorded musical score, but the idea came across. It was pretty obvious what I was doing. 15 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:14,860 Before long, the cows start moving over towards me, and the artist is infuriated by this disruption of the visual composition of the scene he was painting. 16 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:27,840 One shot shows the cows running towards me. It takes a lot to make a cow run. Now, let me tell you this, folks, that the reason, the only reason, that How High Brows Thou, Brown Cow 17 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:40,140 was never up for an Oscar in the special effects category is because there were no special effects. The only thing that caused those cows to walk and then run was my mooing. 18 00:03:40,860 --> 00:03:53,520 Fortunately, there was a fence between me and them. I say fortunately because, you know, I'm a cow, and, you know, I'm a cow. There were a lot of disappointed cows on the other side of that fence. So anyway, then the enraged painter starts running after the cow caller, 19 00:03:53,660 --> 00:04:05,140 and from then on, it's a typical Hollywood action flick, One Big Chase. Although, I don't think there is a fraction small enough to represent the budget of our film 20 00:04:05,140 --> 00:04:17,540 as compared to that of a Hollywood action flick. Let's see, eight millimeter film was about maybe 10 bucks a pop at most, and that movie was a single reeler, I think. And our parents were paying for the gas. 21 00:04:18,220 --> 00:04:30,620 My character did end up sitting in about a foot and a half of water in a muddy ditch beside the road, but I doubt if I had to throw those clothes away. I don't know, maybe the shoes. You know, with my brother and friends, 22 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:41,240 and later my wife and other friends, I was involved in a lot of eight and 16 millimeter movies between the ages of 12 and 31. I should get those things transferred to video. 23 00:04:42,020 --> 00:04:50,640 Although, I'm very old fashioned about that. The movie image is so much more beautiful than the video. Even those home movies, some of them look gorgeous. 24 00:04:50,960 --> 00:05:02,780 I can remember in 1964, we made one in Berkeley called Yo Jumbo, and the... Okay, okay, okay. It's hard to argue with the old irrelevancy alarm this time. 25 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:14,420 But I did have a reason for stepping into this cow business. I just wanted to point out that throughout history, various human beings have gotten very good at imitating various other animals. 26 00:05:14,980 --> 00:05:25,400 Now, of course, I'm sure that one of the oldest uses of that talent was to improve the supper menu. But it's also often an expression of admiration for the animal. 27 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:36,300 And I'll bet that the practice of adapting animal sounds to human music is at least as old as the line about how courtship is when a man chases a woman until she catches him. 28 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:49,360 We're talking about cave persons here. But what we're interested in on today's show is not simple imitations of animals and other things, on the one hand, or songs about animals and other things, on the other hand, 29 00:05:49,400 --> 00:06:00,220 but rather a combination of those two things. Songs in which the human voice actually imitates animals and other things. We'll start with the avian sweetlet, 30 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,540 whose two numbers last about seven and a half minutes. See you then. 31 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:27,260 Clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo La compré por la mañana y a la tarde se perdió 32 00:06:27,260 --> 00:06:31,880 Clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo 33 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,300 Co-ó-ocinos lá, mis vecinos, los que estáis alrededor 34 00:06:35,300 --> 00:06:39,500 Clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo 35 00:06:40,420 --> 00:06:44,080 ¿Habéis visto una gallina que ayer tarde se perdió? 36 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,480 Clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo 37 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:52,600 Yo no siento la gallina, ni el dinero que costó 38 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,280 Clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo-clo 39 00:10:33,930 --> 00:10:34,390 Thank you. 40 00:11:20,290 --> 00:11:21,670 Thank you. 41 00:12:49,890 --> 00:12:52,690 Thank you. 42 00:13:52,470 --> 00:13:53,010 Thank you. 43 00:14:22,470 --> 00:14:31,240 If they would only let me disconnect this phone during the show. Hello? Well, who is this? 44 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:41,760 Look, it's very rude to start a conversation with who is this. You tell me who you are and I'll tell you who I am. Okay, how do you do? 45 00:14:42,140 --> 00:14:53,660 I'm Peter Shickley, the host of Shickley Mix from PRI, Public Radio International. Well, look... Okay, that's very interesting, but now that you've got me on the phone, what do you want? 46 00:14:55,540 --> 00:15:05,700 Oh, no, I'm sorry. Well, it's just... It's not the place, you know. It's sorry, but I really ought to get on with the show. Goodbye. 47 00:15:06,860 --> 00:15:18,580 I was afraid that would happen. I suppose now everybody wants to hear me call cows. Listen, folks, it's one thing out there in the middle of the country, but... It's sitting in a radio studio. 48 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:29,780 You know, you can't help but feel self-conscious. By the way, I should probably mention... that I've tried it in Switzerland and Sweden, and those European cows don't seem to understand my accent. 49 00:15:30,420 --> 00:15:41,120 And, you know, I'm not even saying that what I do sounds exactly like a cow. I'm just saying that it has a demonstrable effect on cows, even though I'm not going to demonstrate it. 50 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:53,300 Today's show is called Vox Omnia, and we're talking about how the human voice can, or at least tries to, imitate almost anything, and often does so in a musical context. 51 00:15:54,160 --> 00:16:06,180 I'm not going to tell you what animals are going to be imitated next, but I call this pair of pieces the Philino-Simeon Sweetlet. Oh, yeah, and that's right. 52 00:16:06,260 --> 00:16:15,480 We do have a very old recording alert here. The second one is a very old recording. V-O-R. I'll be back in about nine minutes. 53 00:17:04,869 --> 00:17:09,040 Meow. Meow. 54 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:21,079 Meow. 55 00:17:31,070 --> 00:17:31,630 Meow. 56 00:17:32,150 --> 00:17:34,730 Meow. Meow. 57 00:17:48,620 --> 00:17:53,910 Meow. Meow. 58 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:03,040 Meow. 59 00:18:19,020 --> 00:18:21,860 Meow. Meow. 60 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:42,350 Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. 61 00:18:47,450 --> 00:18:48,390 Meow. 62 00:19:12,740 --> 00:19:25,560 Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. 63 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:26,400 Meow. 64 00:24:49,810 --> 00:24:55,270 Okay, the Filaino Simeon Sweetlet. I bet I gave it away there, didn't I? 65 00:24:55,670 --> 00:25:07,150 It began with the cat's duet, the Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti by Rossini. At least it's always been said to be by Rossini. 66 00:25:07,290 --> 00:25:14,310 Now, according to the liner notes on this album, On Wings of Song, it's duets with Felicity Lott and Anne Murray. 67 00:25:14,310 --> 00:25:24,110 According to these liner notes, it is now ascribed to a certain Robert Lucas Pearsall. So maybe it isn't by Rossini after all. 68 00:25:24,230 --> 00:25:35,850 Anyway, it's an often performed fun piece for classical singers. And then we had from Bali, the Ketyak, the Monkey Dance. 69 00:25:36,770 --> 00:25:47,670 And this is the Gamelan Orchestra and Singers of Pliatan, Indonesia. And this is the Gamelan Orchestra and Singers of Pliatan, Indonesia. And imitation certainly doesn't get much more literal than that. 70 00:25:49,270 --> 00:26:01,930 Okay, and now it's tidbit time here in the peaceable kingdom. Like everything else, the art of imitating animals has been taken over by technology. A hunter can buy a duck call in a sporting goods store. 71 00:26:02,030 --> 00:26:14,270 He doesn't have to learn how to do it with his mouth. But that ten buck duck call is... Hey, I wonder if you can get a ten duck buck call. I doubt it. Anyway, that ten buck duck call... 72 00:26:14,290 --> 00:26:24,330 ...is small potatoes compared to a sampler. With digital sampling technology, you can record any sound at all, including any animal sound, 73 00:26:24,610 --> 00:26:36,650 and play it back at any pitch you want. This kind of thing is done all the time now. The world has truly become sampler's planet. We've all heard humans imitate animals. 74 00:26:36,790 --> 00:26:47,130 But these days, perhaps for the first time in history, we can hear animals imitating humans. This seal, for instance, feels good. 75 00:29:31,650 --> 00:29:42,190 James Brown's I Got You, also known as I Feel Good, performed by Sealy Dan. From an album called Barnyard Beat on Kid Rhino, appropriately enough. 76 00:29:42,730 --> 00:29:50,430 Although, actually, the rhinoceros is one of the few animals that is not, as far as I can recall, represented on the album. 77 00:29:51,830 --> 00:29:56,330 Well, to be truthful, there are a lot of animals not represented. 78 00:29:56,910 --> 00:30:06,930 Such as the alpaca, the bush baby, the crayfish, the dingo, the emu, the ferret, the gecko, the hellbender, the ibis. 79 00:30:07,270 --> 00:30:18,810 The jaguar, the kangaroo, the lemmink, the marmot, the nyala, the octopus, the panda, the quagga, the rabbit and Peter Schiekely, the host of Schiekely Mix. 80 00:30:19,050 --> 00:30:31,270 From PRI Public Radio International. Vox omnia. Humans are not content to imitate other animals. They'll use their voices to imitate other instruments. 81 00:30:31,630 --> 00:30:42,150 What if, for instance, you are some Russian peasants, and you want to dance, but there are no instruments handy. Well, you set up a soloist in a vocal group and the vocal group 82 00:30:42,150 --> 00:30:44,650 imitates a balalaika with their voices. 83 00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:08,660 Podyazyk, performed by an amateur vocal group in the Volgogod district of Russia. Apparently, they call it a dance to the tongue when singers imitate instruments for dancing. But you know, 84 00:32:08,740 --> 00:32:18,160 they're really imitating the instrument in a very general way. Here are some humans really imitating instruments. I guess I'll call it the instrumental soloist. 85 00:32:18,180 --> 00:32:28,800 Sweet. And before I start it rolling, I want to point out that the first number is completely a cappella. No instruments at all. Now, the upper voices, although they're singing instrumental 86 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:38,260 lines, are not even trying to imitate instruments. But I want to make sure you know that there is nobody playing bass or drums on the first cut. See you in ten. 87 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:30,120 Hold the tiger, hold the tiger, hold the tiger, hold the tiger, hold the tiger, hold the tiger. 88 00:35:30,140 --> 00:35:40,960 Where's that tiger? Where's that tiger? Is that tiger? Where's that tiger? Is that tiger? Where's that tiger? Is that tiger? 89 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:17,120 Thank you. 90 00:36:33,890 --> 00:36:35,930 Thank you. 91 00:37:18,330 --> 00:37:21,130 Thank you. 92 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,400 Thank you. 93 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,640 Thank you. 94 00:39:12,170 --> 00:41:43,430 Thank you. 95 00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:44,100 Thank you. 96 00:42:54,580 --> 00:42:56,580 Thank you. 97 00:43:24,580 --> 00:43:25,600 Thank you. 98 00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:57,380 Thank you. 99 00:44:24,580 --> 00:44:26,260 Thank you. 100 00:44:55,340 --> 00:44:55,900 Thank you. 101 00:45:38,580 --> 00:45:41,380 Thank you. 102 00:46:23,390 --> 00:46:23,830 Thank you. 103 00:46:58,020 --> 00:47:26,190 Thank you. 104 00:47:55,670 --> 00:47:57,810 Thank you. Thank you. 105 00:47:58,270 --> 00:48:18,130 Thank you. 106 00:48:49,520 --> 00:49:02,780 well even if you don't know french some of the words are pretty recognizable there especially 107 00:49:02,780 --> 00:49:09,820 towards the end but various parts of it sound to me as if they could be a horse race and the 108 00:49:09,820 --> 00:49:17,880 birdhouse at the zoo and some of those Balinese monkeys and that phone phone phone could have been 109 00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:29,200 somebody imitating Charlie Mingus or some other heavy-duty bass player but of course it's called the war I'm sure you heard victoire at the end there I'm gonna play it again but first here are 110 00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:37,520 the lyrics first we start with fun fire with fun fun that's all right I'm gonna play it again but it's all just translated as noises of battle here this is by the way the king singer singing 111 00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:43,000 and then to the standard straightway advanced spur on your mounts ye cavalry and then more 112 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:50,800 battle noises blast and boom bombards and cannons thunder great curtals and falcons to help our 113 00:49:50,800 --> 00:50:02,580 countrymen more noises of battle that's the phone phone phone part courage courage strike your blows pilfer plunder dub and Lear I must say I don't know what dubbing means I'm sure 114 00:50:02,580 --> 00:50:09,860 they don't mean overdubbing kill to the death take courage strike kill gentle gallants be valiant 115 00:50:09,860 --> 00:50:17,140 strike on press on grind your steel gobble them up alarm alarm they are in confusion they are lost 116 00:50:17,140 --> 00:50:23,480 they are showing their heels pursue the cowards the jangling rabble they are defeated victory to 117 00:50:23,480 --> 00:50:31,060 noble King Francis pursue all is lost by God this is to commemorate an actual battle that took place 118 00:50:32,580 --> 00:50:38,780 in I guess dub is like I hear by W Knight of the Realm or something anyway so the end is victory 119 00:50:38,780 --> 00:50:45,940 to noble King Francis pursue all is lost by God and if you're wondering about that sudden change 120 00:50:45,940 --> 00:50:57,360 of mood all is lost by God the last few words are in German in the original so I suppose that they are being spoken by the vanquished foreign 121 00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:54,560 let's get back to the 122 00:51:54,700 --> 00:52:13,660 Donne prie, donne gros portes aux consulats, aux sublèges compagnon, les compagnon, les compagnon, les compagnon, les compagnon, les compagnon, les consulat. 123 00:52:48,430 --> 00:52:51,230 Thank you. 124 00:53:21,170 --> 00:53:23,970 Thank you. 125 00:53:54,730 --> 00:53:55,870 Thank you. 126 00:54:26,210 --> 00:54:27,170 Thank you. 127 00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:54,000 The King's Singers, performing La Guerre by Jeannequin, who wrote it as a four-voice piece, and then another composer named Verdelot came along and added a fifth voice. They used to do that kind of thing. 128 00:54:54,320 --> 00:55:05,560 Well, let's go out with another little bit from that. Let's go out with that Barnyard Beat album. Let's see. Maybe The Lion Sleeps Tonight, performed by Lion L. Ritchie, 129 00:55:05,680 --> 00:55:17,500 which actually features a lot of birds who are actually playing the melody. Hello? Hello, sir. All right. I have to. 130 00:55:17,520 --> 00:55:22,340 I don't have much time left, okay? I will. Okay. All right. It was like this. It goes. 131 00:55:23,500 --> 00:55:23,980 Okay. 132 00:55:31,840 --> 00:55:37,160 That little crack in the voice, I think, is what really got the cows running. Me. 133 00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:40,700 Me. 134 00:55:45,580 --> 00:55:50,440 Me. Me. 135 00:55:51,220 --> 00:56:00,300 Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. 136 00:56:22,530 --> 00:56:23,050 Me. 137 00:56:23,870 --> 00:56:24,890 Me. Me. 138 00:56:24,890 --> 00:56:25,050 Me. 139 00:56:25,250 --> 00:56:25,770 Me. 140 00:56:28,620 --> 00:56:40,840 Me. Me. And that's Sickly Mix for this week. Our program is made possible with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, by the National Endowment for the Arts, and by this radio station and its members. 141 00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:53,280 Thank you, members. And not only that, our program is distributed by PRI, Public Radio International. We'll tell you in a moment how you can get an official playlist of all the music on today's program. 142 00:56:53,440 --> 00:57:05,300 with album numbers and everything. Just refer to the program number. This is program number 118. And this is Peter Shikley saying goodbye and reminding you that it don't mean a thing 143 00:57:05,300 --> 00:57:10,520 if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi. You're looking good. See you next week. 144 00:57:56,190 --> 00:58:08,690 If you'd like a copy of that playlist I mentioned, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Shikley Mix. That's S-C-H-I-C-K-E-L-E, Shikley Mix. Care of Public Radio International, 145 00:58:09,170 --> 00:58:16,550 100 North 6th Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55403. 146 00:58:17,930 --> 00:58:21,170 PRI, Public Radio International.