Music Appreciation
Related: About this forumJohn Philip Sousa, The Liberty Bell, 'The President's Own'
(Monty Python)
Karadeniz
(22,282 posts)appalachiablue
(41,055 posts)SeattleVet
(5,468 posts)It was a mostly unmemorable 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, shoes spit-shined, and mostly wanting to be pretty much anywhere else at the time. We march around the parade field, alternately stand at attention and at parade rest. Listen to some speeches. Watch a lot of saluting and hand-shaking.
Then they started the music. 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, ass-kissing...that sort of crap). I'm looking at the backs of all of the blue uniforms in front of me, and begin to notice movement. Lots of movement.
We were disciplined enough not to burst out laughing and slapping our knees, but there were a LOT of shoulders moving up and down, as people were valiantly 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 looking out at the formation...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. (It would have been a welcome diversion.)
appalachiablue
(41,055 posts)scene perfectly-- who wouldn't break out esp. in the mid-1970s heyday...