Comb and paper is a rudimentary
musical instrument which consists of a
comb
A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...
with a piece of paper pressed to it. To play it, one has to press their lips to the paper pressed to the comb and sing or vocalize into it. The voice makes the paper vibrate and changes the voice quality. The
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica refers to it as "the comb-music of the
nursery". "Comb and paper" belongs to the category of "singing
membranophone
A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification.
...
s", sometimes called "mirlitons" after "mirliton", another name for the
eunuch flute.
Playing comb and paper is sometimes called "blue-blowing", possibly in reference to
Mound City Blue Blowers.
Comb and paper used to be one of many improvised musical instruments to accompany
country–western dance
Country–western dance encompasses any of the dance forms or styles which are typically danced to country-western music, and which are stylistically associated with American country and/or western traditions. Many are descended from dances brou ...
s.
Notable uses
The 1923-1936 jazz band
Mound City Blue Blowers had
Red McKenzie
William 'Red' McKenzie (October 14, 1899 – February 7, 1948) was an American jazz vocalist and musician who played a comb as an instrument. He played the comb-and-paper by placing paper, sometimes strips from the ''Evening World'', over the ti ...
playing comb and
tissue paper
Tissue paper or simply tissue is a lightweight paper or, light crêpe paper. Tissue can be made from recycled paper pulp on a paper machine.
Tissue paper is very versatile, and different kinds of tissue are made to best serve these purposes, w ...
.
The unusual noises heard in the
Beatles song "
Lovely Rita
"Lovely Rita" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It is about a meter maid and the narrat ...
" after the lines "and the bag across her shoulder / made her look a little like a military man" were made with a comb and paper.
Jimi Hendrix played comb and paper on his 1968
single recording of "
Crosstown Traffic".
Lyricist
Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904 – March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her best-known pieces include "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936), "A Fine Romance" (1936), " On t ...
wrote the line ‘''I’m tissue paper on a comb''’ in the song ‘''I’m A Brass Band''’ sung by
Shirley MacLaine in the movie ''Sweet Charity''.
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...
played comb and paper on "Sleep Song" from his 1971 album, ''
Songs for Beginners
''Songs for Beginners'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. Released in May 1971, it was one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash ...
''.
In 2015, IT consultant Narinder Dhani performed "
Eye of the Tiger
"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by American rock band Survivor. It was released as a single from their third album of the same name and was also the theme song for the 1982 film ''Rocky III'', which was released a day before the single. The son ...
" and "
The Final Countdown" on a comb-and-paper as a contestant on ''
Britain's Got Talent (series 9)
The ninth series of British talent competition programme ''Britain's Got Talent'' was broadcast on ITV, from 11 April to 31 May 2015. The series saw the "Wildcard" format introduced in the sixth series being modified in this series to include a ...
''.
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Song titles
*1950: "The Comb and Paper Polka",
by Doris Day
*1955: "Comb and Paper Blues", from a single by
Ivor Kirchin
*1967: "Camp", by
Sir Henry and his Butlers
*1971: "My Lady (Nana)" / "Tissue Paper & Comb", a single by
Clive Dunn
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn (9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom ' ...
See also
*
Kazoo
The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifie ...
References
*
{{Membranophones
Continuous pitch instruments
Singing membranophones