Old Time Tune

I’ve always wanted one or two wax cylinders.  They’re what music was recorded on before records and I’m sure that in their day, people thought they were the be all and end all of audio technology. 

Last weekend on one of our antique outings I found a few and chose the least beaten-up and stained among them, not even thinking about what sound it might contain.  It’s not as if I have the technology to play it!

It turns out that I chose the song She Does Like A Little Bit of Scotch by B. Williams.  I did a bit of research and found out that the B is for Billy and the song was recorded by him in 1913.  A collector with a proper player has uploaded the song on YouTube and it’s as scratchy and quaint as you might expect a 100 year old recording would be. This one cylinder holds the 3 minute song plus the spoken intro.  It’s a silly little ditty.  Here’s a lyric sample:

My old woman went to Scotland for a holiday
Got Scotland on the brain, she’s driving me insane.
She used to give me eggs and bacon for my breakfast once,
but I’ve been eating nothing else but porridge now for months and months.
She does like a little bit of scotch she does,
She does like a little bit of scotch.
In the middle of the night she begins to sing,
Jumps out of bed does the highland fling.
She christened me Sandy, her ways you ought to watch.
‘Tis a bright bright moonlight night tonight, in a Scots accent,
she does like a little bit of scotch.