As I was first playing through the Fourth Word of DuBois Seven Last Words, it struck me that if played in a quicker tempo, it would sound like a German military march. I had NO idea why I would think that, but its true. Then, at the rehearsal I thought, This reminds me of an old Gillette razor commercial from my childhood. My father always watched the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports and that commercial sponsored the show. Sure enough, except for a G#, the first six notes are THE melody of that commercial jingle! I was only 6 years old, but I remember it. Herman found the song. its the Gillette Look Sharp March by Mahlon Merrick, who was a television musician and supervisor of music for the Jack Benny, Burns & Allen and a host of shows and who wrote the Washington University Cougars Marching Song. He primarily wrote marches and college fight songs, but also wrote operas and other music and was on the faculty at Washington State College/now University. He wrote that jingle in 1953, when I was 6 years old! So my musical memory was spot on. Above I posted the commercial as it played in 1958, but it was a staple on that program for years. It was vivid after 60 years! When Herman played the jingle from youtube, I was able to sing the lyrics word for word! To look sharp, you must feel sharp too, Choose a RAZOR, that is built for you..........! Amazing how the mind of a child captures EVERYTHING! I think it helped that there was a violinist, a pianist and a bassist in the commercial. My father used to sing the jingle too. I hated boxing, and still do, but loved that commercial jingle!
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 23:36:01 +0000
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