First song

[Age]

Just thought of this and it might be a brain twister. (at least I ~hope~ it is)  Gotta give this one a lotta thought:
As a kid, what was the first song of piece of music that you remember singing (and trying to sound good) in the process? Remembering the song/number will probably give us all an idea when we became interested in music.
What the heck! I'll go first this time. Mine was Tony Bennet singing "Because of you."  I was six when I started hearing it on the radio that was taller than I was.

[Grizzly]

Ever since I was six, or ten, or whatever, I haven't a clue. But my interest in music started around nine or ten, and grew over the years and decades to result in study at a university school of music. I told my Cindy 37 years ago, when we married, that if she ever made me choose between her and music, then bye-bye wife.

She just grinned.

Tom

[brorat]

Mom played piano and organ at church. I vividly remember many hymns, but my favorite to sing as a small kid was “In My Heart There Rings A Melody”.

There still is a melody in my heart.

[Keith]

Wasn't really interested in any music until my early 20's, then it was just listening to cassette tapes, (when I was in the Army).

Somewhere in the 70's I got interested in trying to play some music, bought some recorders, but found them to be a bit too quiet, & pretty much gave up.

Played a few other instruments half heartedly, clarinet (loud), then flute, wasn't much good, sometimes I'd get a few notes out of it before I lost my embouchure.

When I retired, I bought an electric piano, but couldn't co-ordinate my 2 hands to play chords & melody; then I bought my first harmonica since being a teenager.....didn't get on with it too well.....so then I tried ukuleles, & stuck with them for a few years.

Went back to harmonica, decided that I needed all the notes, so bought my first chromatic, then a couple more as I began to be able to play them.

Gave my old flute another go, but again had embouchure problems, so bought my first tin whistle, then some more, as I found that I could play some simple tunes on them.

Then I came across a piccolo for sale, I'd always fancied having a go at one, so bought it, & I got on better with it than my old flute. This lead me on to buying keyless flutes & piccolos, which I enjoy more than keyed, & they're a lot cheaper.

.......& so my collection just grew & grew.....

[Age]

We had an old (who knows? It might have actually been new  ) "78" record player and a small stack of records. A lot of them were Hungarian music, but none of that stuck in my head with the exception of "Third Man's Theme. (I can still see that mesmerizing blue  "London" label spinning as it played) Then my mom or somebody bought all of Arthur Godfrey's records, cuz I was a fan, but "Because of You" is still the one I remember trying to sing.

[Keith]

Ah, The Third Man, I remember that from TV, Michael Renee, I think it was...

[John Broecker]

The 1st song that I remember was
Bend & Stretch, composer unknown.

The teacher asked all of us 6-yr.-old students
to sing along, while we bended and stretched,
for a morning warm-up.

I hated singing, and just kept quiet, with
the other students singing if they wanted.
At that age, I hated a lot of things, like
formal exercising.

Whenever the teacher wasn't looking in my
direction, I stopped B. & S.'ing. When she
looked in my direction, I faked singing
("lip sync") and B. & S.

Here's the first tune, in 3/4 time:

||BEND . AND |STRETCH . .
|Reach for the |stars . .
|I . see |Jup-it-er,
|I . see |Mars . .

|Bend . and |stretch . .
|Up through the |clouds . .
|Sing . a |mel-o-dy
|Sing it out |loud . .||

Best Regards,
Bend and Stretch

JB

[Age]

Ah, The Third Man, I remember that from TV, Michael Renee, I think it was...

Yeah, but that show was in the early sixties. I think that old London label record was from the early fifties, so it was prolly from some movie that I never saw

I remember Michael Renee from "The Day The Earth Stood Still" Klatu Berrada nikto!

[John Broecker]

About The Third Man Theme:

Here's a story about The Third Man Theme.
It was also known as The Harry Lime Theme,
from the British spy movie, The Third Man,
starring USA actors Orson Welles and Joseph
Cottton, 1949.

It was performed for the movie by Anton Karas
on zither, and was originally known as Rags to Burn,
a USA Ragtime piece for piano, 1899, by Frank X.
McFadden.

The 3rd Man Theme was #1 on the USA Billboard charts
for 11 weeks in 1950, and was later performed on guitar
by the Guy Lombardo band; Country music guitarist
Chet Atkins, and by classical pianist Victor Borge.

USA comedian George Carlin used the tune to show
Hawiian nose humming (pinching the nostrils, fanning 
and humming).

The story, personal memories:

In the early 1970s, I played drums in a small trio, with
Hans Bobitz, a professional barber "from the old country"
(Germany). Hans played the tune on a violin. His son,
Ullrich, played clarinet in the cafe trio.

I had shoulder-length hair, and Hans was occasionally
pressuring me to get a haircut.

The Harry Lime Theme was a tune he liked to play,
regularly, in a mandolin-style. It drove me crazy.
Many years later, I played it on a Seydel Deluxe
Chromatic Balalaika harp.

Yeah-yeah, swing it, baby! Swing it, Hans!!

I still freak out whenever I hear that tune.

Best Regards, Stay Healthy

JB

[Scotty]

'Scotland the Brave'. It was ingrained being the unofficial Scottish National Anthem - especially since I was Scots, lived in
Glasgow (Glesga in the vernacular). We sang it in school (I began school at age 4) and was still only 4 when I picked up my
first harmonica - think it must have been a chromatic (or a double-sided tremolo at a second-hand store while we were on
holiday that same 'summer' - it was pouring and chilly as it usually was during Scottish summers). Don't honestly remember
the instrument too well - but I do remember the dusty glass fronted wood trimmed cases everything was kept inside and
seeing this 'thing' which I had to have. I played the song all the way through - despite never having played any music or
instrument before. It confused everyone who looked at me as if I'd just arrived from another Planet. (Was probably the only
song I knew to sing then, other than 'God Save the Queen).

scotty

[Aluvsupreme]

When I was really young I used to watch my grandfather play the guitar and my family sing Italian folk songs.
       But I think the biggest influence on me was watching my older brother playing the songs played by the 
   VENTURES on guitar.                  Brian                   

[ejacob4]

The Christmas Song. Yup. Cole. Strings. Riddle. That one.
Sang all the time. Walked everywhere and sang. Sang everything I heard. In a way, everything had music, often still does. Sang to the records, the radio, whatever.

Best regards,
Ed

[Bernie9]

I think the first song I ever tried to sing and play on my accordion at age 10, was Cabdriver by the Mills Bros. They were my dad's favorite group, along with the Ink Spots. I, of course, wanted to please him. After all, he bought me my first instrument.  The results were less than spectacular, but he gushed anyway.

[smojoe]

My father's favorite groups/people were: Ink-spots, Mills bros., Cab Calloway. Mother liked Nat King Cole. So I probably did something THEY did. My favorite groups/people were: Ventures, Flamingoes, Platters, James Brown, so I also did stuff by them. But to recall a particular tune? I would say:
Der Drott Mann (third man theme). We were living in Vienna at the time the movie was being made. I fell in love with zither. I think I was in first grade. lolol.

Der Cellophane Mann