A Song Is Born Page #5

and please try not to be late.

Give me a little help with the suitcase,

and I won't be.

- Glad to.

- See you later, kids.

Well!

Excuse me.

Please continue without me

for a while, gentlemen.

Now, to get back to

the subject under discussion.

If we can classify the various forms of jazz

along with a series of cross references

and make a record of the history

of this type of music,

I believe the work will be

invaluable to the foundation.

- Now, don't you agree, gentlemen?

Yes, sure.

That's good.

And now that we're all agreed,

in the vernacular I heard last night,

let's start on the down beat and take off.

He's got it already.

- Is that the correct way of phrasing it?

- That's a good deal.

Yes. Well, I believe in order to start...

Gentlemen, we have accomplished a lot

in the last three days,

and we have many valuable records.

Now, before we start

on the history of jazz,

someone mentioned yesterday

a small combo doing jump

with a head arrangement.

I believe it was mister...

- Tommy Dorsey.

- Jimmy's brother.

Yes. I'm sorry. You spoke of...

It wasn't me, Professor.

That's not my type.

It could have been Mel Powell or Hamp.

Yeah, they're experts at that jive.

Well, then perhaps

you gentlemen could help me.

Sure. Mel and I used to play

a lot of that stuff with Benny Goodman.

Is that so?

Well, could you play an example

of the type of music?

We'd be glad to.

But Joe, our clarinetist, couldn't come.

- That's too bad.

- Can anyone here blow a clarinet?

That's quite simple. Our Professor

Magenbruch plays the clarinet.

- Well, does he, Professor? I hardly think...

- He's apt to be a little too square.

He's quite proficient. I assure you.

If you'll just get ready,

I'll go and fetch him.

Gentlemen. Gentlemen.

I don't wish to interrupt,

but we seem to need a clarinet

to illustrate a new form of music.

- Why, certainly, here you go.

- Thank you very much.

No, Magenbruch, we need you with it.

You mean to play jazz?

Yes, it's very likely you might

be able to play your Umpateedle.

Then, I better take my book

along with me.

- Yes.

- Good, then we'll all go along.

- Yeah, sure.

- I think not, gentlemen.

Perhaps you'd better continue

with your work.

I wish we could go, too.

This is our Professor Magenbruch,

gentlemen.

- Hello.

- Hello.

- I see you have everything ready.

- Is this the music here?

Oh, no. We don't use any music.

We haven't got anything written down,

Professor.

Well, we can't play without music.

- Well, Benny Goodman used to.

- Benny Goodman? I never...

- Frisbee, did you ever hear of him?

- No, no, I haven't.

Perhaps there is something in this book

that might help you, Magenbruch.

- Yes. Yes.

- Just sit down, Professor,

and if you feel like it, you can join in.

- Thank you.

- Mel, let's steal some apples.

That's fine, Professor.

Now anything we do, just follow us.

Young lady, young lady, come here.

Come with me, please.

Young lady, there are a couple

of gentlemen, I use the word loosely,

who would like to see you.

They're in the garden

right through that door.

Thanks, cookie.

Well, it's about time.

I thought you two had amnesia

and forgot where you parked me.

- We had trouble getting here.

- The DA has got 100 men looking for you.

- You're hotter than a firecracker.

- Squeezing this town through a sieve.

Well, okay. You wait here.

I'll get my things.

- Now, wait a minute.

- You're not leaving. Not now.

- Where's Tony?

- Well, he's on his way to Jersey.

- He'll call you from there.

- That's part of the big surprise.

- I don't like surprises.

- You'll like this one.

- Flash it on her. Go on.

- Put on your sunglasses.

- Oh, boy.

- Seven grand boiled into that one.

Well, Tony doesn't have to bribe me

just because I do him a little favor.

I'd like to see him try and get it back.

- Hey, it's a little big.

- Third finger, left hand.

Say, who do you think you're kidding?

- The future Mrs. Tony Crow.

- What?

Tony's finally decided to use

that license you took out last June.

Well, it's about time.

It was his mouthpiece's idea.

A wife can't testify

against her husband, see?

Don't put it that way, you dope.

Say, he's been crazy about you

since you met.

Yeah, but it took the DA

to make him pop the question.

He's really got a big crush on you.

Sure. Only the other day he said to me,

"I get a bigger bang out of that Honey

than any dame I ever knew. "

- Yeah?

- You don't know how lucky you are.

Oh, don't I though? Mrs. Tony Crow.

Diamonds, and ermine

and a house in Westchester.

The wedding's gotta be a fast one.

Now, lay low and stick close by the phone.

- We'll call you tomorrow morning.

- Yeah. The bride will be waiting.

Hey, here's a paper

that's got the whole story.

Read it in your room, Mrs. Crow.

Oh, fine!

Gentlemen, if I may have

just one moment.

Gentlemen, if you please.

I think we are just about ready to record.

"The Totten Musical Encyclopedia,

recording number 684J,

"illustrating chapters 22 to 29

in Volume 11, The History of Jazz.

"From Africa came the first

musical instrument, a drum.

"The hollow trunk of a tree

or a taut animal hide

"supplied the rhythm or beat.

"To the basic rhythm

was added the human voice.

"Next, the first wind instrument,

the shepherd's flute.

"The basic beat of the tom-tom

and the same thematic strain

"of the chant that was carried

across oceans

"and contained in early Spanish music

after the invention of the guitar.

"It spread to countries

which share the Spanish language.

"Cuba, West Indies, and South America

"where the rhythm or beat

assumed a new form of expression.

"The ever-widening cycle finally reached

the shores of the southern United States

"where the beat was momentarily lost,

"but the melody was woven

into pure Negro spiritual. "

- Mockingbird

- Mockingbird

- Sang at morn

- Sang at morn

- And a song was born

- And a song was born

- Mockingbird

- Mockingbird

- Sang at morn

- Sang at morn

- And a song was born

- And a song was born

Then, the beat returned.

Well, the mockingbird

- Mockingbird

- Mockingbird

Oh, mockingbird

- Well, Lord looked down

- Well, Lord looked down

- And he gave the word

- And he gave the word

- And the angels put a song

- And the angels put a song

- In the mockingbird

- In the mockingbird

- When man was born

- When man was born

- He liked what he heard

- He liked what he heard

- And sang to the Lord

- And sang to the Lord

- With the mockingbird

- With the mockingbird

Singing, Lord, hear me

Well, he sang to the Lord

With the mockingbird

Praise be

- And the good Lord

- And the good Lord

- Liked everything he heard

- Liked everything he heard

They took the tune and the words

Right from the mockingbirds

That's how a song was born

And then a soft evening breeze

Hummed through the willow trees

That's how a song was born

The tinkling rain from the sky

became a lullaby

And the blues must have come from a sigh

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