Tunes For 24th Annual National Carry A Tune Week
October 6-12, 2024

 


 

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary
of the birth of Henry Mancini, 1924-1994

 

 

 

 

 



Mancini Memories

 

 

 

List of Tunes for 2024

I. Patriotic Music

II. Folk Music

III. Religious Music

IV. Popular Music

V. Classical Music

VI. Film Music

 

 

 

 

 

 

This free online event is sponsored each year
by The American Tune Lovers Society

 

Mark your calendar for the special 25th anniversary National Carry A Tune Week

to be held on October 5-October 11, 2025

If you would like to be reminded of this anniversary event,
send your email address (no advertisers please!) -- here

 

The tunes below have links to other web pages.

Some of them have links to YouTube.

Here are the 18 tunes chosen for 24th National Carry A Tune Week with links to YouTube for listening...

 

 

 

Patriotic Music

 

From Gail:

"America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song.

Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates 
and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward 
at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey.[1] 
The two never met.[2]

Ray Charles singing America The Beautiful Lyrics - YouTube

 

 

From Jim:

“The Battle Cry of Freedom” was written by George F. Root in support of the Union during the Civil War. 
It is a rousing march with exhortations to “rally ‘round the flag” and to cheer “the Union forever!  Hurrah, boys, hurrah!” 
No doubt it has been sung in later American wars without consciousness of its original divisive intent.

 

"The Battle Cry of Freedom" on YouTube

 

 

 

 

From Roger:

I remember marching to this great march tune while a cadet at Eastern Military Academy way back in 1954.
It is a wonderful tune to march to and always made me perk up while marching in a parade.

You Tube - NATIONAL EMBLEM MARCH by Edwin Eugene Bagley (1906)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Folk Music

From Gail:

"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a folk song written by American singer-songwriter Pete Seeger in 1955.
Inspired lyrically by the traditional Cossack folk song "Koloda-Duda,"
Seeger borrowed an Irish melody for the music,[1] and published the first three verses in Sing Out! magazine.[2] 
Additional verses were added in May 1960 by Joe Hickerson, who turned it into a circular song.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone (youtube.com) – Peter, Paul and Mary

Marlene Dietrich: Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (Live TV, 1963) (youtube.com) – Marlene Dietrich

Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (youtube.com) - Pete Seeger

 

 

 

From Jim:

“Rank Stranger,” written by Albert E. Brumley.  The Stanley Brothers made this song a Bluegrass music classic, recorded by dozens of bands.  The word “rank” is used in the old-fashioned sense to mean “total” or “complete.  The singer returns to his old “home in the mountain” and does not know any of the current residents.  “Everybody I met seemed to be a rank stranger.”

Rank Stranger by The Stanley Brothers on You Tube

 

 

 

 

From Roger:

I remember first hearing this protest song on the radio in the 1960s
and then going to a local store to buy the Columbia LP record
with that Bob Dylan song. The words have just as much meaning in our country today.

The Times They Are A Changin' - Bob Dylan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Religious Music

From Gail:

"In the Garden" (1912 song), a 1912 gospel song by Charles Austin Miles

Elvis Presley - In the Garden (Official Audio) (youtube.com) – Elvis Presley

 

 

 

From Jim:

“I Was There To Hear Your Borning Cry,” words and music by John C. Yivisaker (1985)
is a modern hymn that quickly became popular.  Often sung at Christian Services, from Baptism to Funerals. 
The CD I listen to is “Immanuel Sings” by the choir of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Attleboro, Mass.

The St. Olof Choir on YouTube

 

 

From Roger:

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the
major American composer, Charles Edward Ives (1874-1954),
I have chosen one of his early religious tunes,
as edited by John Kirkpatrick
which I remember being impressed with
when singing it in a concert with
The Old Stoughton Musical Society -
America's oldest choral society, founded in 1786.
Though it is rich in Victorian harmonies
it still maintains a deeply expressive feeling.

Here is the performance by Old Stoughton Musical Society Chorus, Earl Eyrich, conductor:

"Turn Ye, Turn Ye" (1890) - Charles Ives
words by Rev. Josiah Hopkins

 

 


 

 

 

Popular Songs

 

From Gail:

 

"When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)" is a popular song written,
both words and music, by Harry Woods in 1926.

When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob. Bob. Bobbin' Along (youtube.com) – Doris Day

When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along (youtube.com) - Bing Crosby

 

 

From Jim:

 

“A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody,” music & lyrics by Irving Berlin. 
In sort of a reversal of the song’s title, I find the melody itself is so pretty that it “haunts me night and day.” 
My favorite recording is sung by Pat Boone on a DOT LP  from the late 1950s.

"A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" by Pat Boone on You Tube

 

 

From Roger:

My early pop song began with just lyrics I wrote in 1963 after a visit to London
where I first heard a Beatles record and visited the Soho district.

In 1964 I wrote the music and had it copyrighted.
It was recorded the following year at a recording studio in Bloomfield, NJ.

Here is my song as sung by Ethel Regan on YouTube -

To play it click this picture:

I wrote about this song in my book:

"Gentle Peace" - Songs For Survival

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Classical Music

From Gail:

This year I’m choosing songs about birds and gardens.  While I don’t have a garden of my own, I do feed birds and love watching them.  I saw the original 1956 version of Candide in Boston as a tryout for Broadway when I was just 16.  Feed the Birds is from that performance.  We went because Robert Roundsville is from our hometown and it was our annual summer trip to the big city.

Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics primarily by the poet Richard Wilbur,
based on the 1759 novella of the same name by Voltaire.
The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman

Candide, Act II: Finale - Make Our Garden Grow (youtube.com) – Robert Rounsville, Barbara Cook – Finale

 

 

From Jim:

 “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber (1936).  This beautiful, melancholy composition only 10 minutes long
is so well loved that it is perhaps overused in concerts, recordings and film music, notably in “The Elephant Man.” 
That doesn’t seem to matter to listeners, who almost always are moved by it.

"Adago For Strings" played by Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin on YouTube

 


From Roger:

Seven Variations on a Shaker Marching Tune, Op. 1, No. 2


I composed this work while a graduate student at Binghamton University in 1971
and based it on a Shaker tune in a 19th century Shaker instruction book.

I revised my composition before it was published in 1984.

This composition is now available on these two AMRC CDs:

 

 

 

You Tube -- "Variations On A Shaker Marching Tune" performed by Kathryn Southworth pianist


 

 

 

Film Music

From Gail:


"Feed the Birds" is a song written by the Sherman Brothers (Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman)
and featured in the 1964 motion picture Mary Poppins. 

Feed The Birds (Mary Poppins) with lyrics (youtube.com)

 

 

 

 

From Jim:

“The Last of the Mohicans” film score (1992) by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman.  When I saw the film originally and heard a recording of the score I was impressed by the excitement of the music, much in keeping with the story’s action.  Yet when I watched the movie recently I was scarcely aware of the score, which probably means it was skillfully integrated.  The film won an Academy Award for “Best Sound” only, but the music score itself won a major British award.

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS Main Theme on YouTube

 

 

 

From Roger

The first LP album I purchased as a teenager was for the TV show, PETER GUNN (1958-59)
One of tunes from PETER GUNN I always liked
with music by Henry Mancini was titled, "Dreamsville,"
with a piano solo performance
by Johnny T. Williams shown here:

He is now known as world famous composer, John Williams


I played the "Dreamsville" tune when doing a tribute to Mancini on a local radio station in 1989
and it is now available on this special limited edition CD:

 


You can listen to "Dreamsville" on YouTune at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0dYYJfKwY8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

Total for National Carry A Tune Week
2001-2023 = 550 tunes chosen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sammy Film Music Awards (SFMA)

 

List of past Sammy Film Music Awards

 

 

 

 

 

Centennial Tributes:

Leroy Anderson (classical-crossover composer)

Gene Autry (western singer-songwriter)

Sammy Cahn (lyricist)

Jerome Moross (composer)

Miklos Rozsa (film composer)

Walter Schumann (film composer)

 


See the catalogue of CDs in the

American Music Recordings Collection (AMRC)

 

See the composers listed on the

Tunemaker Hall of Fame

 

 

 

 

Please help support the mission of

The American Tune Lovers Society

Order one or both of these CDs

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAMP Store

 

 

 

National Carry A Tune Week (Main Page)

 

 

 

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