Please help me get this 78 record!

My grade school had it back in the 50's. This is the exact title. Don't know label. It was a 10" record. It had instrumental accomp.
A later version was done by Sally Field, AKA The flying nun, in the 60's.
"I am a fine musician"
Please help me locate, and, obtain this record.
Many thanks.
Bill Cahill

I don't have a lead to the record, but here is a link to the cast of "the Dick Van Dyke Show' performing the song.

http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.co ... OnjmYAHNqA

Thanks. I wish I could find the record. It's really tough to get.
I now know there were 2 other schools that used to have that record. One was in Geogia.
Both other copies are gone.....
Bill Cahill

The actual title of the recording is "The Musicians"

I was able to find this reference on the web:

...the first RECORDED version of "The Musicians" was on the Young People's Records label in 1949. That version was an adaptation for two singers and guitar accompaniment. Soon thereafter, Tom Glazer adapted it for four singers and small orchestra; that version was recorded by the quartet of Dinah Shore / Tony Martin / Betty Hutton / Phil Harris and issued on RCA Victor in 1951***. In the 1960s, the Glazer version was performed on the Dick Van Dyke Show (on two different episodes). The recording of the Shore group was issued on CD in 1997 (Dinah Shore, Fascination, BMG 44507-2).

From: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=10179

***The Musicians -- RCA Victor # 20-4225 (See -- http://www.78discography.com/RCA204000.htm )


A copy of this record appears on youtube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-nMJC7VX9E -- so you can verify that this is the one you are looking for.

Joe_DS wrote:The actual title of the recording is "The Musicians"

I was able to find this reference on the web:

...the first RECORDED version of "The Musicians" was on the Young People's Records label in 1949. That version was an adaptation for two singers and guitar accompaniment. Soon thereafter, Tom Glazer adapted it for four singers and small orchestra; that version was recorded by the quartet of Dinah Shore / Tony Martin / Betty Hutton / Phil Harris and issued on RCA Victor in 1951***. In the 1960s, the Glazer version was performed on the Dick Van Dyke Show (on two different episodes). The recording of the Shore group was issued on CD in 1997 (Dinah Shore, Fascination, BMG 44507-2).

From: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=10179

***The Musicians -- RCA Victor # 20-4225 (See -- http://www.78discography.com/RCA204000.htm )


A copy of this record appears on youtube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-nMJC7VX9E -- so you can verify that this is the one you are looking for.

Sorry, you are wrong. That was the first record made, and, I have that.
The actual title is "I am a fine musician".
It was recorded in the US after the otherone, "The musicians" in the UK.
The two songs are similar, but, instrumentation, and, words are very different.
Sorry.
Bill Cahill

Bill Cahill wrote:The two songs are similar, but, instrumentation, and, words are very different.
Sorry.
Bill Cahill

That's the only version of the song I've heard--used for both the Dick Van Dyke show, and the 1951 Dinah Shore, et.al. RCA recording.

Could you post some of the lyrics from the song you're looking for? Sometimes that can lead to tracking down the recorded version.

JDS

Yes. I'd be happy to..
Verse 1
"I am a fine musician.. I practice everyday.
And, people come from miles around just to hear me play-
my tuba, my tuba. They love to hear my tuba.
Oom pah, oom pah, oom pah, oom pah, oom....
Verse 2
I am a fine musician. I practice everyday...
And, people come from miles around just to hear me play-
my trumpet, my trumpet. They love to hear my trumpet.
Ya, dah, yah, dah, ya dah. Ya dah, dah.
Verse 3
I am a fine musician. I practice everyday.
And, people come from miles around just to hear me play-
my picolo. My picolo.
They love to hear my picolo.
Root, tuti root, toot, root, toot, root, toot.
Root, tuti,root, toot, toot...
Verse 4
We all are fine musicians. We practice everyday.
And, if you want to play with us, we'll show you the way.
Come join us, come join us.
Come on along, and, join us."

Here, and, throughout the song, as the instrumentssounds are being sung by men, and, women, each person does their instument in a successive repeat in back ground.
There is a simple back ground orchestra playing throughout.
There are no actual instruments playing for the sung instruments.
It was a 10" 78 rpm record.
I believe the original jacket had a hand drawing of kids marching, playing instruments.
I never saw the label well enough to see the company name, or, the singers.
I believe the label was yellow, but, not swearing to it.
The record itself was black.
They used to play this record often on their TR-16 transcription phonograph.
That record saw many plays over the years.
The earliest I remember hearing it was in 4th grade, and, that might have been around 1956.

As I said, Sally Field of "The flying nun" comedy series did that song with a group of children with somewhat different words on her show.
I have the album of that somewhere, but, I seem to have lost it somewhere in the house.
But, I really want the original 78. Thanks for your help....
Bill Cahill

That sounds like it was a simplified version of the Tom Glazer arrangement, repeating the two opening stanzas. Probably never sold to the general public, but recorded specifically for use in schools and libraries and other institutions.

Your best bet may be to get in touch, directly, with collectors of children's records, many of whom have their own websites, blogs and forums, and try to network through them.

If you haven't done this, go to google and type or copy and paste the following into the search box:

"Children's Records" OR "Kiddie Records"

Good luck.
JDS

Some years back I had talked to a children's record collector who never heard of this title.
I have a friend who's grown son specializes in these records. After an exhaustive search he found the title mention, and, that it was recorded on 78, but, that's the only mention they made of it.
Bill Cahill

We used to sing that at school, but the music teacher had sheet music. And there were many more verses for other instruments, including violin, string bass, trombone, and bass drum.

I also remember hearing a 78 of it in the 1950s, but it was on a 6-inch 78 rpm record, not a 10-inch. Note that, once styrene records became possible, many of the 10-inch children's records were re-issued on 7-inch or 6-inch records, with a longer playing time obtained by reducing the bass.

I also seem to remember the Chipmunks making a royal mess of it on a TV cartoon, but it might have been a similar song.

You might try the children's record companies Golden Records, Peter Pan Records, Spear Records, and Twin Tunes. Columbia also made quite a few children's records, including a very well done song, "the Little Engine that Could."

Another possibility is that you had one of the knock-offs made by Hit Records. I have several 78s on that label with not the original artists, in addition to many 45s.

Shari Lewis did it too, with her puppets, on TV.

I just remembered something funny that happened at the end of the 6-inch record. The last line was "My piccolo broke!"

Interesting... I have been looking on those labels with no luck. You'd think with as popular as the song was that it would have been more widely sold. Maybe copyright problems?
I know the original version was originally made in Britain. "The musicians", which wasn't as po;ular. I have that one on an American label 10" 78.
Music was similar, but, words were quite different.
I have a friend who's older son is a proffessional in the field of knowing of titles of childrens' records. It took him alot of looking just to find a mention that it was even recorded on 78, and, even then, only scantly. No label name, or, anything.
I've been to two record label sites on the internet. One claims to have the largest collection of children's record titles. Sadly, that record isn't mentionned there.
The other isn't even convinced the record ever existed.
I wish I could find the record. It means an awful lot to me.
I know two other people have also told me their grade school also had that record on 78. One in Georgia. They still had it 3 years ago, but, refused to even sell it to me.
I was told it was incinerated with 500 other records that same year. They just wouldn't deal with me.
Bill Cahill

There are some clowns in government who believe it is somehow "wrong" for private individuals to "profit" from anything government bought. So they would prefer that it be destroyed, than that someone might somehow make money off of it.