Whistling - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

• Flo Rida in his hit song Whistle from the 2012 album Wild Ones.
• Ronnie Ronalde detailed his musical career in his autobiography entitled Around the World On a Whistle.
• Harpo Marx was known to communicate through whistling in both his onstage and on-film roles (such as A Night in Casablanca).
• Roger Whittaker was first known as a musical whistler.
• Bobbejaan Schoepen, a Flemish entertainer, singer, guitarist, composer, former actor, and founder of one of the most popular theme parks in Europe: Bobbejaanland, was well known for his outstanding whistling, but in the late 1980s he lost the ability due to surgery.
• Toots Thielemans is a Belgian jazz artist well known for his guitar, harmonica playing, and also for his highly accomplished professional whistling.
• The Whistler radio series ran from 1942-1948. The show opened with the sound of footsteps and an eerie whistle.
• Bing Crosby whistled and trilled in some of his songs, including "White Christmas." He could imitate a birdcall and then riff on it with a swing styling.
• Mary Martin in a duet with Bing Crosby on "Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie" in a segment from a 1962 Bing Crosby Christmas special.
• Elmo Tanner toured with the Ted Weems Orchestra and whistled in "Heart Aches" and "The High and the Mighty."
• Brother Bones 1903-1974, had a big hit with "Sweet Georgia Brown" which is still used as the warm up music of the Harlem Globetrotters.
• I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman by Whistling Jack Smith was a popular 1967 novelty song featuring whistling.
• Andy Offutt Irwin, storyteller, singer-songwriter, and humorist, is able to whistle on both inhalation and exhalation, allowing him to whistle without appearing to take a breath for a minute and a half. Irwin whistling can be heard on his solo performances and albums, but also in appearances with the chamber music group Kandinsky Trio.
• Roy Orbison on "Here Comes the Rain, Baby" from his 1967 album Cry Softly Lonely One.
• John Lennon in his song "Jealous Guy" from the album Imagine.
• Otis Redding in the last, unfinished verse of his song "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay."
• Peter, Bjorn and John on "Young Folks."
• The Black Keys on their song "Tighten Up."
• Andrew Bird implements whistling in many of his songs.
• Cirque du Soleil has a touring show named Corteo which features a whistling ringmaster.
• The Andy Griffith Show's main theme song is famously whistled.
• Foster the People in their song "Pumped Up Kicks" prominently features whistling.
• Alessandro Alessandroni, an accomplished whistler, collaborated with his childhood friend Ennio Morricone on a number of soundtracks for Spaghetti westerns.
• Clarence Clemons in Bruce Springsteen's "Working on a Dream."
• Guns N' Roses in their songs "Patience" and "Civil War" features a memorable whistling introduction. In "Civil War", Axl whistles the American Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
• Grizzly Bear in their song "Shift" whistles part of the melody
• Bjork in her song "Isobel" uses high pitches whistling discretely to enhance the eerie mood
• Bobby McFerrin in his song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" utilizes whistling to promote a happy mood. The chorus is essentially whistling.
• the song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life in the movie Monty Python's Life of Brianuses whistling to add to the ironic comedy.
• The Beatles song Blackbird uses whistles to emulate the song of the Blackbird
• Sibyl Sanderson Fagan, in her song "A Spring Morning," also emulates bird songs through whistles in order to give the listener a feel for a spring morning
• Graveyard in their song "Longing" from the album Hisingen Blues.