“Top Hat, White Tie and Tails” is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1935 film Top Hat, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire. The song title refers to the formal wear required on a party invitation: top hat, white tie, and a tailcoat. Popular recordings in 1935 were by Fred Astaire […]
They All Laughed
“They All Laughed” is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, written for the 1937 film Shall We Dance where it was introduced by Ginger Rogers as part of a song and dance routine with Fred Astaire. This song was written for Ginger Rogers in the 1937 musical film Shall We […]
William Tell Overture
The William Tell Overture is the overture to the opera William Tell (original French title Guillaume Tell), whose music was composed by Gioachino Rossini. William Tell premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini’s 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement (he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music and secular vocal music). The […]
Willkommen
“Willkommen” is a song from the 1966 musical Cabaret. It is performed by The Emcee. The music was written by John Kander; the lyrics by Fred Ebb. John Kander explained “With Cabaret, we were trying to find the piece, to write our way into it. The first thing we wrote was ‘Willkommen’ and the very […]
Pick Yourself Up
Pick Yourself Up” is a popular song composed in 1936 by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It has a verse and chorus, as well as a third section, though the third section is often omitted in recordings. Like most popular songs of the era it features a 32 bar chorus, though with an […]
Send In The Clowns
“Send In the Clowns” is a song written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music, an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night. It is a ballad from Act Two, in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life. Among other things, […]
Stanley Unwin
Stanley Unwin was a British comedian who invented his own comic language, “Unwinese”, referred to in the film Carry On Regardless (1961) as “gobbledygook”. Unwinese was a corrupted form of English in which many of the words were altered in playful and humorous ways, as in its description of Elvis Presley and his contemporaries as […]
Doronbo Gang
The Doronbo Gang is the main antagonistic group of the anime series Yatterman, and are commonly seen as the mascots for the Time Bokan franchise as a whole. They are a trio of bumbling supervillains who work under the mysterious Dokurbei. They are comprised of the seductive and fiendish Doronjo and her two subordinates, the […]
Dum Dum Girls
Dum Dum Girls was an American rock band, formed in 2008. It began as the bedroom recording project of singer and songwriter Dee Dee (née Kristin Gundred). She is currently based in Los Angeles. The name is a double homage to the Vaselines’ album Dum Dum and the Iggy Pop song “Dum Dum Boys”. The […]
The Muppet Show Theme
“The Muppet Show Theme” was played at the beginning and end of every episode of The Muppet Show. Although it evolved visually over the course of the show’s five seasons, the musical composition remained substantially the same. It is credited to Jim Henson and Samuel Pottle as the composers. Each Muppet Show theme starts with […]