General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnd the program closes to the theme song of Monty Pythons Flying Circus!
Brilliant!
LudwigPastorius
(8,943 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,430 posts)LeftInTX
(24,541 posts)No wonder he sounded so freak'n awful
Was there a ramp involved?
cayugafalls
(5,629 posts)The Liberty Bell march by Sousa is played at quite a few Presidents Inaugurations.
It is exceptionally funny how it works extremely well for this particular pResident.
tanyev
(42,356 posts)MineralMan
(146,190 posts)The "Liberty Bell March" has more than one meaning, but everyone who plays music in a band knows the Monty Python story. I even arranged it for the woodwind quintet I played in. It was always good for a laugh at the wedding receptions, etc. that we played. That and our arrangement of "When I'm 64."
Fiendish Thingy
(15,363 posts)The band leader must have sense of humour...
(I know the MP theme is actually Sousas Liberty Bell March, which makes all the more ingeniously surreal)
SeattleVet
(5,468 posts)That's Sousa's march, "The Liberty Bell".
When I was in the Air Force we had to attend a change of command ceremony when some colonel retired. Weather was OK (for Plattsburgh, NY, that means "not snowing or raining or 15 below zero...just deal with the mosquitoes" ) and we are all out there in our dress blues, and mostly wanting to be pretty much anywhere else at the time. We march around the parade field, alternately stand at attention, and at ease. Listen to some speeches. Watch a lot of saluting and hand-shaking.
Then they started music again. Specifically, we hear the bouncy strains of John Philip Sousa's march, "The Liberty Bell". Now, this is the mid-1970's. We're mostly a bunch of 20-something airmen, and we only know this tune in one way - as the theme from Monty Python's Flying Circus. I'm a tall guy, so I was in the back rank of the formation. So here we are, standing at attention while some stuff is going on up on the reviewing stand (saluting, hand shaking, back patting, presentation of plaques, that sort of crap). I'm looking at the backs of all the blue uniforms in front of me, and notice movement. Lots of movement.
We were disciplined enough not to burst out laughing, but there were a LOT of shoulders moving up and down, as people were stifling their laughs. No out-loud laughing, but once in a while you could hear a snort or two. We see a few confused faces on the reviewing stand...probably older officers wondering what the hell is so funny.
I don't remember who retired, who took command, or why the hell they needed to have everyone waste a day honoring them...but I do remember the day that a Strategic Air Command change of command ceremony turned into a Monty Python skit. All that was missing was a giant foot coming down on the reviewing stand at the closing notes.
NotASurfer
(2,136 posts)I'm thinking of course of "In Der Fuehrer's Face"
regnaD kciN
(26,035 posts)...just before Bill Clinton was sworn in on January 20, 1993. (I remember being greatly amused that someone running the ceremony hadn't caught that.)
Retrograde
(10,068 posts)I once lived across the street from a college that was hosting a state-wide high school marching band camp: I heard of lot of Sousa marches, which all tended to sound the same.
If I were the band director at the campaign event, I would have gone for Sousa's "Washington Post March" - yes, THAT Washington Post!