Just Purse Your Lips

I was listening to the Manic Street Preachers' song "You're Tender and You're Tired" today and it got me thinking about all songs I love with whistling. Now when you whistle in a rock song, you have to be careful, because if you get too complex, you'll end up sounding like Roger Whittaker - and no one wants that. But over the years, some bands have got whistling right and here are a couple of my favorites in no particular order.

Guns n' Roses - Patience

This whistle happens at the beginning of the song and I can't help but think that during previous jams on the song, Slash was responsible for the tune. Next time you listen to it, picture it as a guitar solo and you'll come to the realization that it's TOTALLY a Slash solo. Then during the actual guitar solo in the song, picture it as whistling. You'll agree with me.

Focus - Hocus Pocus

This song SLAYS me every time I hear it. These crazy Dutch dudes come up with one of the sweetest riffs in rock and roll EVER, and then alternate between the riff/competent soloing and yodeling, whistling, complete incoherent blabber and flute playing. I mean it's really song for everyone. If you haven't heard it, here it is LIVE on some American TV show in the 70s. They do get the standing ovation they deserve. On a side note, I own (rather my father owns) the record this song is on, it's called Making Waves. Do not buy it based on this song alone. The rest of the album is BO-RING - trust me.

Built to Spill - Broken Chairs

Broken Chairs your body conforms to
Out beyond the quieted garden
You can bring the man form into trust
Through the holes in my everydayness
Lends sustenance where starvation's necessary
Cause my head's a dictionary
Of long spring days and the speech of crows
Who themselves are mirrors of apprehensions
In the fallen sun
Alright
You can make it stay

A lot of critics of Doug Martsch's lyrics say he tends to have his lyrics fit rhythmically into his songs without much thought into the meaning. Maybe this song exemplifies said criticism or maybe it breaks the mold - I'll leave that up to you to decide. The album version of this song at a meaty 8:41 but if you really want to hear a better version of it get the Built to Spill Live album - it's twice as long. And, do NOT buy this album off iTunes unless you really are stuck because the 20 minute version of Neil Young's Cortez the Killer (video link is a live version including a REALLY skinny Neil Young dressed like Pete Townhend and Jawas???) is not included from iTunes - probably some licensing issue but it's really a shame. I got to see Built to Spill on September 10th of this year and they played the song, however there would be no whistling this time.

Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

This song has been covered so many times but no matter who covers it, the whistle solo makes the cut. What exactly were Paul and Julio doing down by the Schoolyard? Well Paul Simon has always remained cryptic on the subject, claiming that he never put much thought into what that something was. Oh sure Paul, that's what you said about Graceland. Like what is that anyway? Some sort of grace-land type thing? Come clean Paul. And how can she have diamonds on the soles of her shoes? I speculate she was just a rich tap dancer. Then again she could have been the reason Annie Lennox was walking on broken glass. Okay, I have said too much.

Warren G and Nate Dogg - Regulate

Okay this one is a special case because the whistling is clearly a keyboard. But I put it on the list anyway. I had to, or 213 would have to regulate.

Billy Joel - The Stranger

I didn't want to make this some sort of contest, but I will end with this song and yes, it is my favorite song with whistling in it of all time. It's my favorite for sentimental reasons though. Back in '82 my Dad got a betacam to start collecting family home videos. He also got a tripod because back in those days, the camera wasn't just something you had in your hand or on our shoulder like today, the part that went on your shoulder was just the lense! The tape and recording took place in the actual beta machine which you would have to carry in a shoulder bag. And even though I was only like 3 at the time, I could tell that thing was heavy. So when I was 3 in '82 my Dad was 28 like I am today. Hmmmm coincidence??? Lugging a camera is what I do for a living by the way. Anyway, my Dad (who is a REALLY bad whistler) took the camera to Stettler for xmas '82 and got the usual xmas morning gift opening and some roll of my brother's first birthday (his birthday is xmas-eve SUCKA!) but he and my Mom's four brothers decided on Boxing Day (the day after xmas day) to write, produce, and shoot some indie films.
One was a thriller based in the Northern woods where four men are stranded and waiting for a helicopter rescue at the graveyard. Of course nothing goes to plan and two of them succumb to a hand puppet dragon and one to a deflated Smurf blow-up chair. Both were gifts from the day before, the Smurf chair was for me and I guess after it was blown up, I sat down rather frugally and popped it and the dragon hand puppet was my brothers' who was one year and two days old and wasn't going to miss anything except his bottle. So at the end of the movie, my Dad makes it to the graveyard just in time to get picked up by the helicopter. The best part about this movie was that the soundtrack was all taken from Pink Floyd's The Wall. The intro and outtro were both taken from the song "Is There Anybody Out There?" and the helicopter came from "Another Brick in the Wall Part 1". Someday I will digitize that movie and put it up somewhere, someone will enjoy it. But getting back the The Stranger.
The next day after "The Weekend Nobody Came Home (except my Dad)" was filmed, my uncle and his friend Kevin took the camera to make a movie of their own. Theirs was entitled "Little Chicago" and was a short film that was basically a chase scene between cop and robber. Starsky and Hutch styles, it was most a car chase and not only a car chase, but the funniest car chase ever! Winter in Canada is not the best time to be in a car chase on the best of days. Roads are slick and good luck if you have to make a sudden stop. This was shot in Stettler, at the time, a town of no more that 2500 and so being such a small town, the didn't have much in the way of street sanders or plows that would routinely plow the streets like they do in the city. So my Uncle Rod played the cop and his friend Kevin was the robber. Kevin was in a light weight toyota truck and my uncle was in a whale of a car, it was a late 70s model Lincoln Towncar. Kevin was driving over the speed limit and e-braking around the corners, while my uncle was driving 10 kms under the speed limit because he KNEW that his parents would see the footage. The film ends when Kevin makes his by jumping out of his car and running up a hill, my uncle chases him, shoots him in the back and Kevin rolls down the hill and ends up lying dead at the bottom. The soundtrack to this film was all the intro and outtro from Billy Joel's "The Stranger" and I will always remember this movie when I hear it.

When I get back to Canada I am going to digitize both these movies and put them up. But until then, here is a video of my sister when she was 4 singing jingle bells, followed by almost cracking her skull open. Enjoy!


My brother flips my sister.