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Decent Quality Since 1847

Lost Music Man -- Found

3/9/2013

28 Comments

 
Meredith Willson wrote a wonderful memoir, But He Doesn't Know the Territory, about the lengthy (lennnngthy) trials he went through writing The Music Man and trying to get it made.  It was his first attempt at writing a musical, though he'd had a long career in music up to that point.  (Little known, remarkable fact:  he received an Oscar nomination for composing the score to Charlie Chaplin's film, The Great Dictator.)  He wrote over 30 drafts of the script, and with his wife, Rini, the two of them would go from backers audition to backers audition in a relentless number of living rooms performing the score together.  The backers audition tales are among the highlights in the book.

Two years after The Music Man finally made it to Broadway in 1957 and became the huge hit (when Willson was 55 -- ah, perseverance when you have something that good you believe in ...), the husband and wife recorded an album that sort-of duplicated their backers auditions.  The album, ...And then I wrote The Music Man, is just Meredith Willson telling the story of the show, interspersed with them singing most of the songs, and him performing at the piano.

I happen to be the kind of lunkhead who likes to go on treasure hunts in used record shops, and found the album several years ago.  Not surprisingly, it was a bit scratchy, but quite a discovery for a whopping three bucks.  It's goofy and utterly charming and great fun.  And using some audio software I have, I was able to get many of the scratches and pops out, when I converted it to digital. 

Though most people know the score so well they can sing it in their sleep (even those who hate musicals), this particular number is one you likely have never heard.  At least, in the form it's done here.

You probably do know the show's great counter-point number, "Lida Rose" and "Will I Ever Tell You."  (And to a lesser extent, "Pick-a-Little" and "Goodnight, Ladies.")  But Willson had the idea for another such number, with two songs overlapping one another.  But it didn't quite work in the show, and so it was cut.

But let him tell you all about it.  And with his wife, Rini (who's still alive and living in Los Angeles, and was even somewhat involved with the recent Broadway revival of The Music Man that starred Craig Bierko), let the two of them sing it.  (So that his opening line makes sense, just know that this cut immediately follows him singing  "The Sadder But Wiser Girl for Me") --

28 Comments
Paul Kelly link
2/16/2014 01:09:06 am

Hi Robert,
I'm going to be performing the role of Harold Hill here in England (!) in April and I've been trying in vain to find a copy of this LP to listen to. Would there be a chance you'd be willing to share an MP3 of the whole LP?
Many thanks in advance for your help!
Paul

Reply
Robert Elisberg
2/17/2014 05:28:51 am

Dear Paul, That's great -- congrats for you. Where will you be performing "The Music Man". For reasons far too convoluted, it's difficult to send a copy of the CD right now and for a while. But what I did was upload five of Harold Hill's songs to the free "We Transfer" service. The songs will be there for seven days from today -- Feb. 17. I'll post the link below, and you just click the download button on the website.

https://www.wetransfer.com/downloads/11aefc358ceccd212b45fcf3f518817120140217212123/96c7cd8fd94f35d2dcd0039710b74c5720140217212123/453a36

Reply
Paul Kelly link
2/17/2014 03:40:21 pm

Hi Robert,
Many thanks for the Harold tracks! This is a local production here in Lewes, East Sussex with a very good amateur company called the Lewes Operatic Society. I've known the score to The Music Man since I was a little kid, having grown up with the soundtrack album, so Harold's music is very close to me. I still think it's the all-time great Americana musical.

By the way––having left the opera business behind I spend a good deal of time composing and recording music for film. Maybe we have a collaboration in our future.
All best,
Paul

Reply
Paul Kelly link
2/17/2014 03:40:50 pm

Hi Robert,
Many thanks for the Harold tracks! This is a local production here in Lewes, East Sussex with a very good amateur company called the Lewes Operatic Society. I've known the score to The Music Man since I was a little kid, having grown up with the soundtrack album. I still think it's the all-time great Americana musical.

By the way––having left the opera business behind I spend a good deal of time composing and recording music for film. Maybe we have a collaboration in our future.
All best,
Paul

Reply
Paul Kelly link
2/17/2014 03:41:16 pm

Hi Robert,
Many thanks for the Harold tracks! This is a local production here in Lewes, East Sussex with a very good amateur company called the Lewes Operatic Society. I've known the score to The Music Man since I was a little kid, having grown up with the soundtrack album. I still think it's the all-time great Americana musical.

BTW––having left the opera business behind I spend a good deal of time composing and recording music for film. Maybe we have a collaboration in our future. ;-)
All best,
Paul

Reply
Robert Elisberg
2/17/2014 11:22:26 pm

Good luck with the production. That's terrific that your company is doing it. Oddly, last night here on the Turner Classic Movie channel, they ran "The Music Man." Wonderful as the soundtrack album is, I find the original Broadcast cast album even more vibrant. Fortunately, many people from Broadway were in the movie. (Notably, Robert Preston, of course -- who the studio didn't want to use at first! -- as well as Pert Kelton, the Buffalo Bills, and Harry Hickox.)

Mr. Klapper
10/14/2014 11:35:03 am

Hello!

The music man is my all time favorite show, and I just discovered this album recently. I've looked all over, and I can't find it for sale in any of the vintage record stores around, nor can I find it online on eBay, Google, etc. this post is the closest I've come, and the post with my white knight combined with sadder but wiser girl was so amazing! I'm not normally a fan of the song (I prefer faster songs to the slower love ballads) but the mix makes me wish he had kept it that way in the final draft of the show.

If at all possible, would you be willing to post the album one more time, so that I would be able to hear the rest? The link has obviously expired since you posted it originally.

Either way, thank you so much for sharing this track alone, and it's always nice to meet fellow music man fans. Thanks!

Reply
Robert Elisberg
10/14/2014 03:36:21 pm

Mr. Klapper, thanks for your note. Yes, that album is hard to find, but hopefully at some point it will turn up for you.

As for posting things, what I think I might do is try to post a few tracks from the album here from time to time. That would be more convenient, and more people would likely hear them that way.

Paul link
2/18/2014 06:28:11 pm

Hi Robert,
I just had a chance to listen to the Meredith Willson songs and they are absolutely wonderful and very insightful! I've had Preston in my ears for as long as I can remember and it's great being able to hear what he originally had in mind, especially in "Trouble" and "Marian the Librarian." Will be on the lookout now for the whole album. Many thanks!

Reply
Robert Elisberg
2/18/2014 10:12:54 pm

Paul, Thanks for your note. Yes, Meredith Willson does perform the songs with such enthusiasm and his own sense of slyness. What you might try to track down (if you haven't already) is a book he wrote about his experiences creating "The Music Man" and trying to get it made. "But He Doesn't Know the Territory." It's very entertaining -- and alas hard to find. But some used book sites might have it, like Alibris.com or Half.com.

Reply
Paul
2/18/2014 11:24:20 pm

Actually I've read both that and the previous one called "And there I Stood With My Piccolo." Both very entertaining and enlightening and available now pretty readily though the Amazon Marketplace!

Robert Elisberg
2/18/2014 11:37:45 pm

You're right, both are good (though I prefer "Territory..."). Glad you found both. And good that you even made the effort to track them down.

Reply
Pam Gansch-Boythe
9/6/2014 10:29:45 am

Hi Robert! I just finished reading "...Territory" and have been searching for this album. Any chance you'll be selling copies of the CD you made? I would love to purchase a copy. Thanks!

Reply
Robert Elisberg
9/7/2014 12:52:10 pm

Dear Pam, thanks for your note. I'm not sure of the logistics of this, and I just got in from 21 hours of traveling back from Berlin, and have a lot of things to catch up on, so I'm not focusing on anything other than sanity at the moment. Feel free to follow-up. (You'll note from an earlier reply that I uploaded a bunch of songs from the album previously...)

Reply
Paul Kelly link
9/7/2014 04:56:39 pm

Hi Robert,
It's very interesting to hear that Sadder and My White Knight were also written as a harmonic pairing. Too bad My White Knight wasn't a better song. Being in Love from the film version I think is a much superior one. I love the fact that two such brilliant songs as 76 Trombones and Goodnight My Someone are also nearly identical melodies.

Reply
Robert Elisberg
9/8/2014 12:10:58 am

Dear Paul, Thanks for your note. I trust by now that you've had your performance of the show -- I hope it went wonderfully. I can see anyone preferring "Being in Love," since it's such a lively, tuneful song -- but I think "My White Knight" stands on its own impressively without needing to be better. I'm wondering if you saw the movie first before seeing the stage play and therefore have "Being in Love" more established in your mind as what the number should be. I find "My White Knight" quite a terrific and moving song, and arguably in its poetic sentiment more appropriate for the character and moment.

Reply
Paul Kelly link
9/9/2014 05:00:01 pm

Hi Robert,
I see you point regarding White Knight––could be partly what I grew up with. Here's a link to my own Ya Got Trouble that we did here locally, in case anyone is interested.
http://youtu.be/Y9ln90ZPwsA
All best,
Paul

Reply
Vikki
11/15/2014 03:57:23 am

This was just a wonderful item upon which to stumble! Loved it!

Reply
Robert Elisberg
11/15/2014 04:39:07 am

Vikki, thanks for your note. I agree. Imagine my pleasure when I stumbled on the entire album...

Reply
Paul Kelly
11/15/2014 04:45:54 am

Reply
Jeff Kinzler
11/11/2015 11:46:55 am

Hi Robert,
Thank you for posting this magnificent piece.

Once upon a time I heard Robert Sherman of WQXR here in NYC play this album on his "In the Listening Room" program in the 1970's when in college. As the Music Man was my all time favorite, I went on a search for it in the old record shops to no avail. Eventually I was able to go on line and obtain a copy. I have never opened it or recorded it. However, I am about to get a connection to my computer and record it. Do you have any suggestions on how to best do this?
Best regards,
Jeff Kinzler

Reply
Robert Elisberg
11/11/2015 01:45:07 pm

Jeff, thanks for your note. There are a number of turntables that are made for connecting to computers. I've found that Audio-Technica makes a good, reasonably-priced one. You'll also need software for recording, cleaning scratches and putting in selection breaks. Audacity is popular and (I think) free, and perhaps worth trying out first. But I liked Acoustica's Spin It Again which I found very easy and reasonably priced.

If you want a MUCH easier set-up, though with limitations, there are a lot of turntables on the market now that rip and record digitally all-in-one. Basically, start the record and hit record. BUT -- I don't think you can clean the LP sound very easily, if all all. And it's harder to enter selection breaks. But if you just want to create a single file with the album on it, this can be a good way to go.

Reply
Galen Fott
8/8/2016 07:25:37 pm

Hi Robert — I see that back in 2014 you uploaded some songs from this album to www.wetransfer.com, a link that has of course long since expired. Any chance you'd be willing to upload the whole album that way? The album is truly impossible to find, and I'd love to hear it!

Reply
Robert Elisberg
8/8/2016 09:18:46 pm

Galen, thanks for your note. It's a very hectic time, but I did just upload about 5-6 songs. Here's the link --

https://we.tl/rIFtQiSsaX

Robert

Reply
hello
1/7/2019 09:15:38 am

oh my god i have been trying to find a recording of my white knight and sadder but wiser in counterpoint ever since i read about that on a musicals.net forum post and i finally found it four/five years later thank you for posting this

Reply
Robert Elisberg
1/7/2019 09:37:20 am

Dear "Hello" -- hello, back. And we aims to please. Glad I was able to help end the five year quest. I hope it was worth the journey...

Reply
Brandon
7/16/2019 11:46:52 am

I've also been trying to track down this recording for a while. Could you share the link again? I see the previous shares are expired.

I will playing Harold in a couple weeks, and would love to have this for reference after reading the books. Thank you!

Reply
Robert Elisberg
7/16/2019 01:37:57 pm

Brandon, thanks for your note. Yes, the WeTransfer links only last for a week. Unfortunately, it's a bit time-consuming to keep uploading all the music files, but I did upload three of Harold Hill's songs for you. They'll be online for a week at the link below. Best wishes.

https://we.tl/t-uwlfu8cVrk

Reply



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    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.

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