William Tell Overture (Spike Jones song)

Spike Jones and his City Slickers recorded a cover of Gioachino Rossini's "William Tell Overture". This version reproduces the original with significant modification of style and replaces the conclusion with the imitated horse race calls of the famous announcer Clem McCarthy.

Jones released his version as a single in 1948 and it peaked at #6 on the charts. [ [http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1948/june_12_1948_109297.html "William Tell Overture" by Spike Jones peaks at #6 June 12 in History ] ] The song was on the album "Spike Jones is Murdering The Classics" in 1971 and has frequently been included in various "Greatest Hits" compilations.

The recording begins with the "Storm" portion of the overture, played frenetically, with the band accompanied by barking dogs and clanging objects of various kinds. The progression is brought to a sudden end with the "Bang!" of one of the famous guns in Jones's unique percussion section.

The "Call to the Cows" begins with normal instruments and artificial bird chirps. The next part is played on pots and pans and bicycle horns, each one in perfect tune, followed by a crash. Finally, the melody is rendered by gargling, concluding with a "gulp".

The "Finale", a.k.a. the "Cavalry Charge", is played on the normal instruments of a big band, mostly as an underscore to the commentary of Doodles Weaver, who is describing a horse race. Weaver introduces the race horses, some of them bearing a name similar to a real horse (Stoogehand for Stagehand, Dogbiscuit for Seabiscuit, and Assault for Assault). He introduces Feitlebaum last with a distant 20 to 1 odds.

The official name of the horse is "Feitlebaum", after Weaver's character "Professor Feitlebaum", but many have heard it as "Beetlebaum" or "Feeblebaum". The horse's name is always said with a deep monotone; during the race, it keeps falling farther and farther behind the field.

As the race nears its finish, the announcer goes on a tangent, impersonating broadcaster Clem McCarthy, who had called the famous Seabiscuit-War Admiral match race in 1938 and also the famous Louis-Schmeling boxing rematch of that same year. In this case, Weaver's now gravelly-voiced track announcer begins describing a boxing match.

The song concludes with Weaver pronouncing the winner as... Feitlebaum.

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