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At The Sign Of The Swingin' Cymbal
"At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal" (alternatively titled "At the Sign of the Swinging Cymbal") is an instrumental piece written by Brian Fahey. The piece was first released in September 1960 under the name Brian Fahey and His Orchestra. It is best known as Alan Freeman's signature song, having been used as the theme tune to his BBC Light Programme ''Pick of the Pops'' from 1961 to 1966. The original version was proposed to Alan by the BBC producer Derek Chinnery. By April 1966 it was replaced as the main theme by "Quite Beside the Point" by the Harry Roberts Sound and written by Cliff Adams. But bits of the original "Swinging Cymbal" theme were used occasionally by Alan as jingles in the show. From 5 April 1970, the show used a new version of "At The Sign of the Swinging Cymbal" arranged by former Ladybirds singer Barbara Moore and recorded by Brass Incorporated. This version is still used by the BBC today. The Propellerheads modernised the song in their 1998 re-imagining "Cra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instrumentals. The music is primarily or exclusively produced using musical instruments. An instrumental can exist in music notation, after it is written by a composer; in the mind of the composer (especially in cases where the composer themselves will perform the piece, as in the case of a blues solo guitarist or a folk music fiddle player); as a piece that is performed live by a single instrumentalist or a musical ensemble, which could range in components from a duo or trio to a large big band, concert band or orchestra. In a song that is otherwise sung, a section that is not sung but which is played by instruments can be called an instrumental interlude, or, if it occurs at the beginning of the song, before the singer starts to sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Fahey (composer)
Brian Michael Fahey (25 April 1919 – 4 April 2007) was a British musical director, composer and arranger, best known for composing "At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal", the signature tune to BBC Radio's long running programme ''Pick of the Pops''. From 1972 he was principal conductor of the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra, until it was disbanded in 1981. Biography Fahey was born in Margate, Kent, England, and educated at Colfe's Grammar School. He learned piano and cello from his father, and became interested in big band arranging and composing. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Artillery; he was wounded in the leg during the Dunkirk retreat, and was taken prisoner. He was shot during the Wormhoudt massacre on 28 May 1940. After recovering from his wounds and the removal of a lung, he spent five years in prisoner-of-war camps, during which time he worked on his musical skills. After the war, Fahey became a pianist with the Rudy Starita Band which, supported by En ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Freeman
Alan Leslie Freeman, MBE (6 July 1927 – 27 November 2006), nicknamed "Fluff", was an Australian-born British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years, best known for presenting ''Pick of the Pops'' from 1961 to 2000. Early life Born and educated in Melbourne, Australia, Freeman worked as an assistant paymaster/accountant for one of Australia's largest timber companies after leaving school. He wanted to be an opera singer, but decided his voice was not strong enough. Career Radio and television Freeman was invited to audition as a radio announcer in 1952, and began work for 7LA in Tasmania, known as the teenager's station. Freeman's duties included continuity announcer, presenter of musical programmes incorporating opera, ballet and classical music, DJ for the top 100, news reader, quiz master and commercials reader. After moving to radio station 3KZ in Melbourne, he took a nine-month trip around the world in 1957, with the promise to return ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signature Song
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory or signer. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying its creator. A signature may be confused with an autograph, which is chiefly an artistic signature. This can lead to confusion when people have both an autograph and signature and as such some people in the public eye keep their signatures private whilst fully publishing their autograph. Function and types The traditional function of a signature is to permanently affix to a document a person's uniquely personal, undeniable self-identification as physical evidence of that person's personal witness and certification of the content of all, or a specified part, of the document. For examp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Light Programme
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the long wave frequency which had earlier been used – prior to the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939 – by the National Programme. The service was intended as a domestic replacement for the wartime General Forces Programme which had gained many civilian listeners in Britain as well as members of the British Armed Forces. History The long wave signal on 200 kHz/1500 metres was transmitted from Droitwich in the English Midlands (as it still is today for BBC Radio 4, although adjusted slightly to 198 kHz/1515 metres from 1 February 1988) and gave fairly good coverage of most of the United Kingdom, although a number of low-power medium wave transmitters (using 1214 kHz/247 metres) were added later to fill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pick Of The Pops
''Pick of the Pops'' is a long-running BBC Radio programme originally based on the Top 20 from the UK Singles Chart and first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 4 October 1955. It transferred to BBC Radio 1 (simulcast on BBC Radio 2) from 1967 to 1972. The show was revived for six years in 1989 and its current production run started on BBC Radio 2 in 1997. It is currently hosted by Paul Gambaccini. Original format (1955–72) Initially the show did not feature chart music, but in September 1957 Alan Dell introduced the format of running through the charts of the week, playing the top 10s from various music papers, plus entries to the top 20s. David Jacobs broadcast the first averaged BBC Top 20 to the helm on Saturday 29 March 1958. Alan Freeman took over in September 1961, taking the show to a regular Sunday slot in January 1962. The programme ended in September 1972, while the Top 20 continued as part of "Solid Gold Sixty". Freeman, who became the show's longest-serving ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Moore (composer)
Barbara Moore (7 March 1932 – 26 August 2021) was an English composer, arranger and vocalist for film, television and commercials. She was a member of the musical trios the Ladybirds and the Breakaways and a backing vocalist for Dusty Springfield. She coordinated the vocals on the New Seekers' single "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" and was the voice behind the 1960s TV adventure series ''The Saint''. She also rearranged "At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal", an instrumental composition that served as the theme tune for Alan Freeman's ''Pick of the Pops''. Early life and education Moore was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, on 7 March 1932. She was the only child of musician parents, Arthur Birkby and Clare Birkby, who later separated. She was raised in London and attended St Paul's Girls' School to study jazz piano. Career 1950s Her parents' divorce impeded Moore's ambitions to attend Oxford University. Instead, she travelled to India, at the age of 19, and began ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syd Dale
Syd Dale (20 May 1924 – 15 August 1994) was an English self-taught composer and arranger of funk, easy listening and library music. His music played an important role on television, radio and advertising media of the 1960s and 1970s and is still in use today. Biography Dale was born in York, and started as an apprentice technician at Rowntree's chocolate factory at 16. Soon big band music became his passion. He spent as much time as possible listening to bands and studying the arrangements. Three years later, in 1945, he left the factory and joined several local bands as pianist and arranger. In 1952 he was recruited as a pianist with The Squadronaires, the dance orchestra of the Royal Air Force, where he worked with the conductor Ronnie Aldrich. The band toured extensively. In February 1953 they recorded Dale's arrangement of "Jeepers Creepers," his first recording session. He also played in several London hotels, and later joined the Cyril Stapleton Show Band. Dale married h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Propellerheads
Propellerheads were an English electronic music duo, formed in 1995 in Bath and consisting of Will White and Alex Gifford. History Their first release was an EP named ''Dive!'', released in 1996 through the independent label Wall of Sound. They gained fame the next year by providing a remix for James Bond movie composer David Arnold's Bond tribute album '' Shaken & Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project'' covering John Barry's " On Her Majesty's Secret Service", the theme song to the sixth James Bond film, re-orchestrated by Arnold. They also collaborated with Arnold on the track "Backseat Driver" for the soundtrack of the Bond film ''Tomorrow Never Dies''. The single " History Repeating" followed, a collaboration with Shirley Bassey (also well known for her James Bond music), fusing big beat with jazz. "History Repeating" was used as the theme for ''So Graham Norton'' and was also featured in the Farrelly Brothers' film ''There's Something About Mary''. The Propel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Spy Who Shagged Me
''Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' is a 1999 American spy comedy film directed by Jay Roach. It is the second installment in the ''Austin Powers'' film series, after '' International Man of Mystery''. It stars franchise co-producer and writer Mike Myers as Austin Powers, Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard. The film also stars Heather Graham, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, and Elizabeth Hurley. The film's title is a play on the James Bond film '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977). The film centers on Dr. Evil returning again from cryostasis to strike at Powers from the past, using a time machine to remove Powers' charisma ("mojo") and deprive him of whatever qualities made him an effective secret agent so he can no longer interfere with Evil's plans. The most commercially successful movie in the Austin Powers series, the film grossed around $312 million in worldwide ticket sales, taking more money during its opening weekend than the entire box office proceeds of its prede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earliest commercial radio stations broadcasting to the UK and Ireland. The station provided a way to circumvent British legislation which until 1973 gave the BBC a monopoly of radio broadcasting on UK territory and prohibited all forms of advertising over the domestic radio spectrum. It boasted the most powerful privately owned transmitter in Europe (200 kW, broadcasting on medium wave). In the late 1930s, and again in the 1950s and 1960s, it had large audiences in Britain and Ireland with its programmes of popular entertainment, and was an important forerunner of pirate radio and modern commercial radio in the United Kingdom. Radio Luxembourg's parent company, RTL Group, continued its involvement in broadcasts to a UK audience with the Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Records Around Five
A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, record used to start an operating system ** Storage record, a basic input/output structure Documents * Record, a document ** Business record, of economic transactions ** Criminal record, a list of a person's criminal convictions ** Docket (court), the summary of proceedings in a court (US) ** Medical record, of a person's medical history and treatments ** Minutes, a summary of the proceedings at a meeting ** Public records, information that has been filed or recorded by public agencies ** Recording (real estate), the act of documenting real estate transactions ** Service record, usually associated with military service ** Transcript (law), a verbatim ''record'' of some proceedings, in particular a court transcript is a record of a law court ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
