Calcutta '71

[minootodiwala]

I REALLY ENJOYED LISTENING IT AFTER A LONG TIME IT WAS MY FAVOURITE TUNE

[1990osu]

"Welk's reputation is mostly that of a homogenizer of already bland American pop music"

But he never cared about the critics, and rarely responded to them. He cared about making the American people happy. And he did. His music brought happiness to so many people.

[aspiceno]

Note at 1:50, the contact lens of the harpsichordist falls out; good reaction by both the harpsichordist and the guitar player prevents a possible embarrassing

situation from happening.....

[1949chefjojo]

Our family invited the neighbors to watch The Lawrence Welk Show from our TV. Everyone loved Mr. Welk making a popping sound from his mouth and let the the bubbles dance around him as he wished "Good Night' to all. We could not wait till the next show.

[ElCubanoConguero]

great song - really bad dancers!

[ladypodtron]

#1 TRUE JAM!

[heterodoxphilomath]

GERITOL!!!

[123outlay]

Myron Floren, He was the greatest! Wish I could play 10% as good.

[insurancetenor]

la la la la la la

[insurancetenor]

dig the broad with nasty pant suit

[timon924]

What's the difference between Welk and a moose? With a moose, the horns are in the front and the asshole is in the rear!

[MrConundrummer]

@timon924 you will never need pile cream buddy cos you are a perfect ass hole. now feck off afore i stick my size 12 special forces bott up yer butt.

[CeeKayz0rz]

Thumbs up if you're from Nortakota!

[TLogan1027]

Is that the Queen dancing at 2:09 lol

[OrmondTheMagnificent]

Love that GROOVY vest and bellbottom pantsuit at 0:37!!! Gotta love the 70s and Lawrence Welk!!! A veritable feast for the eyes!!!!

[tlw1950]

Pretty song. but the handclaps took it to # 1!!!!!!

[oamericanos69]

Welk's reputation is mostly that of a homogenizer of already bland American pop music who made it palatable to middle aged, conservative TV audiences. But he did have a degree of musicianship, personal vision and wit that's often lost in the dross, and this song is probably the best example of it.

[hotathlete2]

WTF???

[Kabla21]

Why Calcutta??

[SamPabloKuper]

It's Christmas in Heaven :)

[TSGT25]

Happy 108th Birthday Lawrence Welk !! You are "wunnerful, wunnerful " !

[valentino19441]

Sensacional este tema musical con Lawrence Welk: Calcutta!

Miren bién que van a ver que una pequeña bolita de papiel és jugada en el nariz del organista encuanto ello acompanha a Welk, en el medio de la duración del video.

Que danzarino malo és aquél largo de traje gris!!!

[DFTMAlamoAngels]

This brings back SO MANY "Wunnerful, Wunnerful" Memories!!

[RDK860]

The song was a big hit in "61, but it actually charted on Bilboards Hot 100 list on 12/12/60! It spent 17 weeks on the chart and 2 weeks at no.1. Frank Scott was the original plaer on the Harpsicord.

[dartanya2]

holy cow i remember that accordian player!

[JohnUSA7]

This is definitely Welk's biggest hit, and what a lovely tune.

Myron is one fantastic accordion player.

[bluesintheblood]

"Geritol" hanging on the backdrop says it all

[aspiceno]

Yes I agree, the hand clapping is an excellent addition to this song. It makes the song 'come alive'.

[RawUmbers1]

It's the hand claps that turned this song into a #1 record.

[aspiceno]

'Calcutta' is probably one of the top 3 best instrumentals of all time. It is a perfect song which has everything: wonderful accordion, great bassline, wonderful background vocals, nice guitar work. I feel good every time I hear this song. It is one of the best 'feel-good' songs ever. Thanks forever to Lawrence Welk and his band for this wonderful song.

[50Emerald]

Merry-a-music makers-uh... What's with that bird-dropping that almost hit the harpsichordist in the head at 1:49??

[Humbertusmarius]

Is there a death metal version?

[RawUmbers1]

@Humbertusmarius uh, this was the death metal version. You should hear the unsanitized version.

[Hollen36]

@RawUmbers1. I wish there was a more family-friendly version than this one, this stuff is just too hardcore for today's kids.

[BBBOOD]

Does anyone know where I can find a version of this song by Ray Davis?

[mears89]

I think this is one of the greatest instrumentals ever composed.

[wausauman]

I always thought the LW show was pretty hokey growing up

[paulj0557]

@ 1:49 Harpsichord player ( piano) loses his contact lens. See, all of these pretty people are really just like the rest of us. It must have been all of that smiling.

[Matnavox]

@paulj0557 Actually its a pic that the guitar player had stuck between the strings on the neck of his guitar.

[paulj0557]

@Matnavox I must have made that post a long time ago. I would have said, ''Bob Ralston'' instead of ''that harpsichord player'' since then I've really been playing the organ a lot. My favorite is my Wurlitzer 4500, but I also have a Gulbransen Rialto II, Hammond Elegante (81'), and a Thomas Palace III, plus a few spinet organs- Wurlitzer 625t favorite one of those...I guess I'm just a Wurlitzer guy, but I love Bob's Thomas organ playing on the show. People who don't like Thomas don't get it!

[futuristfood]

this is HOT.

[tomcaat1]

the tall guy dancing could only look better humping somebodies leg like a puppy.

[steventhestudent]

most of the old people dancing are dead now.

[Chickendoc]

I'm betting ALL those people dancing are dead!!!!

[polarisathena]

Lawrence big band was the last one ever to have a TV show, long after the era was over.

[MrBuc128]

I used to love watching this program on Saturday evenings with a cup of coffe a steak and a cigarette

[richone99]

@MrBuc128 You comment describes the era accurately ( i'm still rolling on the floor in stitches!) Thanks.

[futuristfood]

@MrBuc128 thats it exactly! my dad too!

[MrBuc128]

Now this is music. After Those darn Beatles came around  with their pot which is what the kids call marijuana and long hair this kind of music was not played as much.This is when musicians actually knew how to play their instruments.They didn't just scream and bang on the drums like a bunch of crazys.

[0KDAK]

Great! In Germany we heard this song by Vico Torriani!

[0KDAK]

@0KDAK great

[terrisonb]

I am not a huge Welk fan but I have loved this song since I was just a kid. To me it is so relaxing.

[buzmurdock]

i love this song - but I think this is a lip-sync (well an instrumental one) I'm still adding it to my favorites

[dahsuerk]

Where is Bobby?

[jlneis]

Just goes to show the difference in the world today.....and in 1961...this is music!!

[00rangerdood]

I love Myron's wink to the ladies when he first comes in... and the wide cut to the Geritol sign at the end :D

[chattos123]

reminds me of my old park street..great!!

[bearnurse1]

I just love this song. Never tire of it, but look at those awful hairstyles and fashions of the eary 70s!

[tigermark64]

Sounds a bit faster than the album, but it is great to see the instruments used.

[punedav007]

to ahoneanatwo, you know what? I went to musipedia, typed in this melody as i did not know what this song was, or who made it. I got a match, and with great enthusiam, i typed it here, and after some failed searches, i found the EXACT version which i had heard 10 years ago, when i was 18. THANKS A MILLION, for posting this here! GOD BLESS YOU ABUNDANTLY! and thanks to Technology!

[lostviewer]

And I'm Dooonneeessee! (SNL)

[CuyahogaJoe]

Hey chocolatechip1952...it is because a classic never dies.

[auntcamille]

Kalkutta liegt am Ganges Paris liegt an der Seine Doch dass ich so verliebt bin Das liegt an Madeleine Am schönen Rhein liegt Basel Und Kairo liegt am Nil Doch ich träum' von Madeleine An der liegt mir viel! Die schwarzen Kulleraugen Das ganze Drum und Dran Das schau ich an und sage dann:

[MuscleJacker]

I love Charlotte Harris (in the background).

[1948bola]

Nothing but a fruit festival.

[MuscleJacker]

Mary Lou Metzger looks like some retarded flake whenever she tries to lipsynch with a smile as wide and as forced as that.

[Pokyangelfish]

@MuscleJacker I happened to go to school with her at Temple U and rode the train. There is nothing retarded or forced. She is exactly as seen. A lovely sweet talented woman.

[smoothoperator1986]

This song brings back great memories" my grandpa played it for me all the time"

[Friedagroper]

Actually a cute little catchy tune- I usually hear it at the dentist office or the pharmacy.

[browneyedcarol]

or the elevator, or the grocery store! I love it!

[nukecat]

very true!its the fate of most oldies now .

[nukecat]

i concur

[Mrtriumphchopper]

Really great memories! We watched every Saturday evening w/ the family and nothing bad happenend to us LOL. LW doesn't get the credit he desereves for entertaining and inspiring his viewers. If things really do go 'round in circles, it's about time for this to return. I don't know if I care to be around a bunch of old-timers in the future listening to heavy metalHAHAHA!

[stalzz]

The tempo seems faster and maybe the song is in a slightly higher key than the 1961 recording? This is a great performance.

[wps1977]

No one, but no one, had better singers and musicians than Lawrence Welk.

Thanks!

[nukecat]

they were a very talented ensemble on that show!

[lt32253]

The Redhead girl singer. Who is she?? I allways thought she was hot!!!!.

[Ouranos94]

@lt32253 The redhead is Sandi Griffiths

[leftfootlouie]

This is a beautiful memory in my  honkey heart

[Ouranos94]

I really love this song. I want to get together a group of musicians to play this.

On a side not why is Myron movings the accordion from 1:35-1:40? There obviously isn't any sound coming out.

[mighuel6859]

Hey yeah!!! What gives?

[jankuya]

Saturday nights at Gramma's in the early 60's! She HAD to listen to Lawrence Welk! Thanks for the memories! R.I.P. Gramma B.

[vidayverdad2]

Haha! That sounds exactly like my grandmother. I hated Saturday nights between 7:00 and 8:00. That's when my parents were getting ready to go out for the evening, and my mother would fix a TV dinner for me and my siblings. For entertainment while we ate, our choice was Lawrence Welk or Hee Haw; we got no other stations. We hated both but always picked the lesser of the two evils, Hee Haw. Except when we were at my grandmother's, or she visited, it was Lawrence Welk and she required us to watch.

[LYNXVAL]

They were all reall good musicians and singers on the Lawrence Welk show! Loved it!

[landrykkb]

Not to totally diss some of today's entertainers because they bring something unique to the table themselves,but I do appreciate the simplicity of this era and Lawrence Welk was symbolic of that.I have countless memories of when I'd visit my grandparents in Halifax and they would watch Lawrence Welk religiously on Saturdays or whenever even the repeats aired on PBS.

[motorcitymiguel]

What a great song! Did'nt really appreciate it growing up.. Better Late Than Never.. Great Song

[LONGBEACHPUNKROCK]

T.V. @ Grandama's House On Sunday Night!!!

Never Really Thought About It But Now I Miss It Alot & Her!!!

Thanks Granny!

[50Emerald]

Thank you, Lawrence-a...

[aeschlimann89]

honey, welcome home! dinner is ready! how was it at work today?

[hebneh]

"And now, friends, a word about-a Geritol."

Which advertised that it corrected fatigue due to "iron-poor 'tired blood'" till the federal government put an end to that phony claim.

[MrMemories]

It almost sounds like they were playing and singing along to the original recording. It's virtually impossible to sound exactly the same.

[scdevon]

NO HE DIDN'T have a "Geritol" banner hanging over the stage.

[Alpha42Omega]

Oh yeah. Class on toast.

[VinylToVideo]

A reminder of much better times.

[wabcito]

¿ el nombre correcto no es abril en portugal ?

[MrOldSlacker]

Darn, I was hoping this was the episode where Myron Floren set his accordion on fire.

Maybe that was Weird Al.

[JiveDadson]

Play an accordion, go to prison. That's the law.

[dayers40]

Very danceable to a Samba or a Rumba. Take your pick. The Samba is the best fit. The nice thing about The Lawrence Welk show is seeing the hard core audience members on the floor dancing during the show. I take my dance shoes with me where ever I go and I am sure all the audience members came prepared to dance and it is nice to see that Lawrence Welk let them dance.

[landrykkb]

For sure,dayers40!Today's generation wouldn't have the first clue how to dance to this and it's definitely not as easy to dance polka as it would appear here.

[funstuff2006]

@landrykkb I've been to a couple Ukranian New Year's parties that would prove that statement wrong. Dozens and dozens of 20-somethings flying around the floor at a blistering polka pace.

[brownies4you]

Whew! That is much faster than the original. Whatever...I enjoyed this song as a teenager when it debuted in '61 and to this day. The bass guitar added a nice touch to this classic. Now...where did I put my Geritol? It's tough getting old.

[Tuggle]

The song is playing much too fast. Those poor seniors dancing are going to need an extra spoonful of Geritol!

[karmic454]

When it came out in '61, they were 10 years younger and could move a little faster. The best thing about it being on record was you could manually change the speed......if it was going too fast for them, just slow it down.

[Nekofemme]

Welk was born in North Dakota.

He also hired the great Arthur Duncan, one of the best tap dancers ever, as a regular for his show. Mr, Duncan, in case you didn't notice, was Black. Thanks to Welk, he was the first Black performer to be a regular on a TV variety show.

[Kalkkuhl]

The text below is the beginning of the german song lyrics of Calcutta.

[Kalkkuhl]

Kalkutta liegt am Ganges Paris liegt an der Seine Doch das ich so verliebt bin Das liegt an Madeleine Am schönen Rhein liegt Basel und Kairo liegt am Nil Doch ich träum von Madeleine, an der liegt mir viel Die schwarzen Kulleraugen, das Ganze drum und dran Das schau ich mir an und sage mir dann Kalkutta liegt am Ganges Paris liegt an der Seine Doch das ich so verliebt bin Das liegt an Madeleine

[Asdrubal1900]

LH was born and raised in the US. But he spoke only German at hone and started tackling English when in his twenties. That is why he has an accent.

[ticovaldezmd]

Dunno. His Wikipedia info states that his parents were Germans. If he was born in the U.S. like you said, then that makes him a German with American citizenship, imo. Thank God they immigrated here.

[ticovaldezmd]

Watching Lawrence Welk is like drinking milk -- you know you're doing something good to your body.

[freakybuzz]

And really, really REALLY white.

[ticovaldezmd]

Hmmm .... they had Arthur Duncan ( tap dancer ) who is black, Ana Cani ( singer ) who is Hispanic, and "Calcutta" is Indian ( lol ). They even had one show where they featured a Filipino folk dance using bamboos, called "Tinikling" ( Did I fall from my chair when I saw that segment ! ).

Lawrence Welk was German, not American. He seemed focused on music ALONE, and did not concern himself with race issues, as long as the artist was really talented.

[freakybuzz]

Then let me re-phrase the metaphor:

"And really, really, REALLY

bland."

plain."

homogenized."

:-)

[ticovaldezmd]

OK, I understand what you mean here. And I agree with you on THIS one. Their brand of entertainment is pure and simple. But that's the reason why legions of LW fans love it. Some of us just want the PURE AND SIMPLE art. Others prefer the gaudy, over-sensationalized, loud stuff --- which is NOT bad either. Just a matter of personal taste.

[topmjr]

Lawrence was born in the midwest of the US. He is as American as I am.

[chocolatechip1952]

i enjoy listening to Lawrence Welk;s music. i've listened to it for years

[frankd1965]

I live in Arizona and there are 2 stations in Phoenix, and 3 in Tucson that paly Lawrence Welk. Calcutta gets a lot of palytime.

[b0llx]

Lawrence Welk was the greatest musical genious ever.

[BrianOSU2000]

Lawrence Welk - when talent RULED!

[elegidovirtual82]

without words. i like this song.

[romeman01]

Quite amazingly, this music has French words to it, sung by Petula Clark at watch?v=ejjo99agOtQ

[eyesopenuw]

I get the biggest kick out of the tall dude dancing at 1:21.... or trying to dance anyway

[ALSmithey]

Yes, yes, yes! My sides are aching!  XD

[pirateblackbart]

Buddy is playing a Fender Bass 6 and Bob is playing an Allen electronic harpsichord.

[wurlitzermad]

Brilliant video ! Does anyone know if thats some kind of electronic harpsichord ? as i THINK i can see some form of stops on the nameboard . Thanks =]

[UIowaScottHighlander]

I don't know what type of harpsichord Ralston is playing, but I do know that for the recording, they placed a microphone inside of the harpsichord, to bring out it's sound over the other instruments.

[steinerredeemed]

Ultimate psychedelia. I adore this song. The video is too weird, though!

[juliusmunkus]

at 1:49 something falls out of the piano players nose!

[gabullstud]

That's a harpischord, not a piano

[juliusmunkus]

irregardless

[american2339]

He must have stuffed a kleenex up his nose to stop a nose bleed. It fell out while he was playing. Funny!

[Samrlounger]

A couple of seconds later he looks over and smiles!

[DuchessKyra]

That's the bass player's guitar pick. Notice, it's in his strings up until then!! So much for a "live" performance :)

[MidwestMagnum]

That's what it is...good eye.

[american2339]

You see that tall guy dancing? What is he, nine feet?

[american2339]

A CLASSIC NEVER DIES! THIS SONG ROCKS!

[srf1969]

There was another video called Calcutta with Bobby Burgiss and Cissy King dancing that was removed from YouTube. There was even a video like this one that was removed from YouTube as well and they just remade it as "Calcutta '71". Jennyluvver even replied to my comment on the other video as well.

[weatherboi]

That was a very good vid with those 2 dancing, a classic, too bad it was removed, really liked it. Hope it gets posted again!

[srf1969]

I'm glad you put this video on YouTube. I use to play this song a LOT on my 45 record when I was living in San Jose. I love watching the people dance to this song plus the girls sing as well. This is a GREAT video!!!

[frankd1965]

I live in Arizona and four radio stations in Tucson Play this song. KSAZ, KCEE, KGVY and KTUC. In Phoenix it is on KOY.