Laurel and Hardy music

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laurel and Hardy were primarily comedy film actors. However many of their films featured songs, and some are considered as musicals in their own right. A compilation of songs from their films, called Trail of the Lonesome Pine, was released in 1975. Oliver was a trained singer and sang many of the tracks solo with Stan singing in duet occasionally. A number of the songs were sung by neither Laurel nor Hardy.

[edit] Trail of the Lonesome Pine

  1. Dance Of The Cuckoos (0:26)
  2. Introduction (0:16)
  3. Trail Of The Lonesome Pine (2:01)
  4. At The Ball, That's All (2:01)
  5. I Want To Be In Dixie (2:01)
  6. Honolulu Baby (2:07)
  7. Stan's Voice (0:37)
  8. Lazy Moon (3:06)
  9. Swing Along, Chillun (1:03)
  10. I Want To Go Back To Michigan (1:28)
  11. Dance Of The Cuckoos (0:27)
  12. I Can't Get Over The Alps (2:29)
  13. The Mousetrap Song (0:38)
  14. The Cricket Song (1:45)
  15. Could You Say No (1:32)
  16. Let Me Call You Sweetheart (0:59)
  17. Never Mind Bo Peep (3:52)
  18. The Curse Of An Aching Heart (1:43)
  19. The Ideal Of My Dreams (1:24)
  20. Fra Diavolo (3:20)
  21. The Heart Of A Gypsy (1:45)
  22. I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls (3:24)
  23. Shine On Harvest Moon (1:13)
  24. Themselves. The Dance Of The Cuckoos (5:30)

[edit] Signature tune

Laurel and Hardy's famous signature tune, known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", "Dance Of The Cuckoos", or "The Waltz of the Cuckoos", was composed by Hal Roach Studios musical director Marvin Hatley as the on-the-hour chime for the studio radio station. Laurel heard the tune on the station and asked Hatley to use it as the Laurel and Hardy theme song. Laurel believed the song's main melody represented Oliver Hardy's character (pompus and dramatic), while the harmony represented Laurel's own character (somewhat out of key, and only able to register two notes: "coo-coo"). The original theme, recorded by two clarinets in 1930, was re-recorded with a full orchestra in 1935.

[edit] Dance routines

A number of their songs are accompanied with a dance routine. The most famous of which is their dance to the song "At The Ball, That's All" sung by The Avalon Boys in their 1937 film Way Out West.