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The first global "hit" song?


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What was the first global "hit" song? I think it may be the most recorded song also.

 

Your vote, and if you are feeling nostalgic, your thoughts on what made the song so popular...

 

Have you played it?

 

Extra points: what inspired the "story"?

 

I discovered the song for practice only a few years ago, and it's become like the House of the Rising Sun, or The Saint James Infirmary, to me. It still sounds good when you come back to it, yet simple enough to be a good song to learn on unfamilar instruments. Last nite I found a very nice arrangement in a pre-war collection with a provocative description of the tempo ;)

 

How I missed it in my earlier keyboard days, I don't know. But I learned some really interesting stuff last night about the song.

RT-3/U-121/Leslie 21H and 760/Saltarelle Nuage/MOXF6/MIDIhub, 

SL-880/Nektar T4/Numa Cx2/Deepmind12/Virus TI 61/SL61 mk2

Stylophone R8/Behringer RD-8/Proteus 1/MP-7/Zynthian 4

MPC1k/JV1010/Unitor 8/Model D & 2600/WX-5&7/VL70m/DMP-18 Pedals

Natal drums/congas etc & misc bowed/plucked/blown instruments. 

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I think White Christmas is still the biggest worldwide selling single ever and Yesterday is the most covered. (Haven't ever played either one.)

 

Very good candidates, and close in terms of popularity. I like to play both of those, especially "White Christmas" which is really a gorgeous song at any time of the year. The older arrangements for piano are really nice. Another great one like White Christmas, for me, is "Slow boat to China" :)

 

"Leave all your lovers weeping on the far away shore"

"Out on the briney, with a moon big and shiney"

"Melting your heart of stone"

 

Oh yes :)

 

But not the song, which has it over all these in that it actually had a big effect on western european music and introduced something new.

RT-3/U-121/Leslie 21H and 760/Saltarelle Nuage/MOXF6/MIDIhub, 

SL-880/Nektar T4/Numa Cx2/Deepmind12/Virus TI 61/SL61 mk2

Stylophone R8/Behringer RD-8/Proteus 1/MP-7/Zynthian 4

MPC1k/JV1010/Unitor 8/Model D & 2600/WX-5&7/VL70m/DMP-18 Pedals

Natal drums/congas etc & misc bowed/plucked/blown instruments. 

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Lily Marlene? Popular with civilians and combatants on both sides of World War Twoârecorded in several languages by some star singers.

“True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

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it's become like the House of the Rising Sun, or The Saint James Infirmary, to me.

I had never heard of Saint James Infirmary, so I googled it, figuring I'd recognize the song if I heard it. Nope, I've never heard it before!

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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To me the Global hit, in terms of views is probably.

 

 

A bit of genius Coca Cola marketing from 1971.

 

And Coke is everywhere, language no bar to getting the corporate message through to the masses.

 

Re-recorded so many times by local artists.

Col

 

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These are all fantastic suggestions, but not yet :)

 

How do you know your song has REALLY hit?

 

Famous musicians hear it sung locally in isolated locations and make their own versions, sure they are original adaptions of indigenous folk music.....

 

This songwriter, who died penniless of course, had this happen many times to this song, but in a spectacular fashion to another song he wrote...

 

Concerning "Saint James Infirmary" It apparently goes back to the plague of the 1680s in London, but really took on a persona in the Jazz age. Here is a website devoted to the song:

Great History

 

You will see there are a thousand versions on youtube, here a few:

Cab Calloway

[video:youtube]

 

Clapton/Dr John

[video:youtube]

 

Jon Batiste

[video:youtube]

 

The first I ever heard was a spectacular Artie Shaw arrangement, his band played the song alot: check out this up tempo intstrumental version, which I have not heard before. It shows you how far those bands took Swing, my favorite Jazz.

 

[video:youtube]

 

My first instrument was a clarinet, bought not long after I heard one played like this.

RT-3/U-121/Leslie 21H and 760/Saltarelle Nuage/MOXF6/MIDIhub, 

SL-880/Nektar T4/Numa Cx2/Deepmind12/Virus TI 61/SL61 mk2

Stylophone R8/Behringer RD-8/Proteus 1/MP-7/Zynthian 4

MPC1k/JV1010/Unitor 8/Model D & 2600/WX-5&7/VL70m/DMP-18 Pedals

Natal drums/congas etc & misc bowed/plucked/blown instruments. 

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That Cab Calloway was probably the first version of St Jame Infirmary I ever heard and was hooked on it instantly and Betty Boop. A lot of cool music in the old Betty Boop cartoons. Here since we were praising Allen Toussaint in another thread here he's doing St James Infirmary.

 

 

[video:youtube]

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Stephen Foster was the first popular songwriter and died poor. I think his first internationally known song was "Oh! Susannah".
C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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Stephen Foster was the first popular songwriter and died poor. I think his first internationally known song was "Oh! Susannah".

 

I racked my brain, took a poke around the web and nada.

 

I vote for this one too, great choice.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Stephen Foster was the first popular songwriter and died poor. I think his first internationally known song was "Oh! Susannah".

 

I racked my brain, took a poke around the web and nada.

 

I vote for this one too, great choice.

 

 

I was friend and roadie for Jesse Ed Davis and love his version of Oh Susannah.

 

[video:youtube]

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Your GLOBAL hit title limits certain hits like White Christmas, large sections of this planet are not Christian and hence this song will have no interest of any significant kind across most of the globe.

 

Just because something was a hit in the USA does not mean it was a hit globally.

 

St James Infirmary Infirmary is a great jazz classic but was/is it well known in India or Iran or Japan, hey it was not known of in Australia and my Grandkids have never heard of it.

 

The most well known and by association a hit has to be from marketing or an internet sensation, or something from a global event like Band Aid, crazy frog ringtone, the Macarena, Nesun Dorma, Gangnam Style.

 

If you want a Global response think outside the USA.

 

Think â¦â¦.. Happy Birthday to youâ¦.

Col

 

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Is it Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band"?

Speaking of ragtime, and thinking pre-war, I had a thought that it could be Maple Leaf Rag, or some other classic that could be distributed via piano roll, the first "mass distribution media" of recorded work. But besides not knowing whether that would have been a popular choice outside the U.S., uhoh7 also talked about it being sung, and being "simple enough to be a good song to learn on unfamilar instruments". So, nope. After that, I also had the Stephen Foster thought, could be. There's very widely known even earlier folk... Freres Jacques is a classic, but I don't think it's what he's after. I also thought, maybe something that would have been found in a church songbook, which would have been another way for a song to reach a wide audience in earlier days while continuing to reach generation after generation, e.g. Amazing Grace. A lot depend on what you think of as a "hit," I think!

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Your GLOBAL hit title limits certain hits like White Christmas, large sections of this planet are not Christian and hence this song will have no interest of any significant kind across most of the globe.

 

Just because something was a hit in the USA does not mean it was a hit globally.

 

St James Infirmary Infirmary is a great jazz classic but was/is it well known in India or Iran or Japan, hey it was not known of in Australia and my Grandkids have never heard of it.

 

The most well known and by association a hit has to be from marketing or an internet sensation, or something from a global event like Band Aid, crazy frog ringtone, the Macarena, Nesun Dorma, Gangnam Style.

 

If you want a Global response think outside the USA.

 

Think â¦â¦.. Happy Birthday to youâ¦.

 

When Randy Newman was asked in an interview what song he wished he had written, his answer was "Happy Birthday" and the "Tonight Show Theme"!

 

-dj

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When Randy Newman was asked in an interview what song he wished he had written, his answer was "Happy Birthday" and the "Tonight Show Theme"!

 

-dj

 

Too late on Happy Birthday, Randy. The song is now considered in the public domain, though that surprisingly only happened a few years ago.

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/happy-birthday-song-officially-recognized-in-public-domain/

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A pre-war (like WW2?) standard that's a hit in China, India, Egypt, everywhere? There are modern equivalents like K-pop BTS Butter, but that's not where uhoh 7 is going with this. I'm stumped... interested in what the song is.
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When Randy Newman was asked in an interview what song he wished he had written, his answer was "Happy Birthday" and the "Tonight Show Theme"!

 

-dj

 

The story I heard back in the jurassic days was two old ladies who didn't write the song discovered it wasn't copyrighted and copyrighted it themselves. Then they went to town going after TV shows and similar places suing them for copyright and offering to sell yearly licensing fee. They were not very well liked in the entertainment industry.

 

Tonight Show theme was written by Paul Anka and he got nice yearly check from the show for blanket use of it.

 

John Denver underwrote his own career selling the rights to Leaving On A Jet Plane to an airline who wanted to use it on all their commercials.

 

Barry Manilow sold his right to "You Deserve a Break Today" to McDonalds for a million dollar, back when a million was a lot of money.

 

Last one supposedly like the two old ladies some guy discover the safety pin was never patented so he patented it himself and make a fortune.

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If you want to get nit picky, then I'll guess WAP by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion. Here's the proof.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Global_200

 

[font:Book Antiqua]"The Billboard Global 200 is a weekly record chart published by Billboard magazine. The chart ranks the top songs globally and is based on digital sales and online streaming from over 200 territories worldwide. It officially launched in September 2020, although the chart was first announced in mid-2019.

 

The first number-one song for the chart dated September 19, 2020, was "WAP" by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion.[1] The current number-one as of the chart dated January 15, 2022, is "ABCDEFU" by Gayle.[2]"[/font]

Some music I've recorded and played over the years with a few different bands

Tommy Rude Soundcloud

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Haha, OK here is tonite's hint. Just to be clear 3 years ago I had never seen the song, though it is a familar melody and rhythm, even if you never heard it, or heard the name. Most of us have heard it at some point, and I bet not a few have played it.

 

So this is not the song, but it's close. These pieces had some serious legs. This is the less famous sister LOL

 

[video:youtube]

 

just to cool down a little:

 

[video:youtube]

RT-3/U-121/Leslie 21H and 760/Saltarelle Nuage/MOXF6/MIDIhub, 

SL-880/Nektar T4/Numa Cx2/Deepmind12/Virus TI 61/SL61 mk2

Stylophone R8/Behringer RD-8/Proteus 1/MP-7/Zynthian 4

MPC1k/JV1010/Unitor 8/Model D & 2600/WX-5&7/VL70m/DMP-18 Pedals

Natal drums/congas etc & misc bowed/plucked/blown instruments. 

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