Robert Browning Recites His Poem (1889 Edison Cylinder)

[thejackcocking]

something something ROBERT BROWNING BROWN BROWN HIP HIP HOORAY HIP HIP HOORAY

[eclecticdufus]

The October 5, 1888 cylinders of the dinner that featured Arthur Sullivan and Edmund Yates (who Sullivan says had had a little too much wine!) and others are much clearer than this. But how lucky we are to have Browning's voice preserved!

[ivgrhgerukhggieuhrgu]

bla bla bla blubb bla blubb blabbedi blubb bla bla bla blubb bla blubb blabbedi blubb bla bla bla blubb bla blubb blabbedi blubb bla bla bla blubb bla blubb blabbedi blubb hip hip hooray hip hip hooray hip hip hooray

[EmmetEarwax]

Robert Browning may have been failing in all ways, as he died the year he recorded this -or at least tried to, adlibbing at the end like a rowdy !

[EmmetEarwax]

Before 1890, cylinder records were of bottom quality and were mostly home made or experiments. By 1900, they were approaching the qualiity of shellac disks that I have many of.

Robert Browning may have been failing when he cut these grooves....

[cedrickdbz]

everybody got laid that night.

[Taew2009]

@neymoura I think old Robert Browning might have been speaking to the wrong end of the mic!

[thinkingevil]

I love the way he blurts, "hip hip hooray" as something to holler into the wonderful invention after forgetting his own lines...

[InnocentBearz]

Robert Browning... ROBERT BROWNING.. ROBERTBRARARAAUWING.... RABRABRARARWARWARWR!!!!!!

[Phavonic]

That was classic.

[Kinewa]

Gosh, he has such enthusiasm!

[Pmitxki]

If he was born in 1812, that probably makes him one of the earliest born people whose voice has been captured on record. This is important for historical linguistics too. People's accents and pronunciations are usually solidified between the ages of 4 and 7 based on what they hear spoken around them. This means the accent you hear in the recording could be how people in his part of London might have spoken around 1820, including "me verses."

[FriedEggsWithChips]

@Pmitxki I thought that too. It's how a lot of working class British people talk even now, even I say that, e.g. "me shoes" etc. So did my parents at times and my grandparents definitely did.

[creamyfilling102]

if it were not for subtitles, this recording would be useless.

[ClassicHorrorDB]

I hate iPods, phonographs RULE!

[mayanma]

Thanks...I am excited...perhaps as much as the great poet when he recorded his lines...very spontaneous...a great poet indeed

[TheIntolerantAtheist]

When he heard the playback of the recording I wonder if he asked "Do I really sound like that?"

[Corrie121]

Thank you for sharing this very interesting post.

[mayatatyana1]

Mark, this is astounding! Thank you to Doug@CurzonRoad for sharing. Maya

[AnttiApinaPro]

Must have been quite an amazing moment.

[segadreamer]

Funny has hell!!

[karlsalz]

it sounds as if he were really riding on a horse.

did he?

[Dilhan777]

Wonderful! Thank you very much for posting this marvellous recording!

[LePrince1890]

Maybe they should have asked for the introductory verse from PIPPA PASSES ("God's in his heaven, all's right with the world!")

[twosoulsup]

lol sounds like he had some fun with that at the end.

[Gydinglight12]

Is that what he sounded like at night talking to Elizabeth?

[jannyrcobs]

Ol' Robbo sounds like he's having one helluva time in true poetic fashion!

[MissGoldenDreams13]

"I'm terribly sorry but I can't remember me own verses..." This just might be one of the funniest things I've ever heard!

[beatlefied70]

He sounds like he was jerking off!

[hasanraja100]

BEWARE Purna Das Baul and his youngest son dalal dibyendu chotton das,

they cheat all Bauls.they collected the name of poor Bauls to help from North America.where there Baul School?

[transformingArt]

Check my video - Thomas Alva Edison's Speech, 1927

[transformingArt]

@neymoura the 1877 voice recording doesn't exist anymore. What you may have heard was recorded in 1927. I also posted the very recording on my Channel.

[Gydinglight12]

interesting that he said "me own verses." Would Henry Higgins have drug Browning away for some elocution lessons? Did Browning have a cockney background?

[Menophanes]

'Me' for 'my' was still acceptable for an English gentleman in the early 20th century. Kipling, in a 1916 story 'The Edge of the Evening', makes a distinguished judge say 'I suppose I'll have to resign me club.' It can also be heard in a 1922 recording of Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Iolanthe'; George Baker, as the Lord Chancellor, sings 'Love unrequited robs me of me rest.'

[mossfitz]

@Menophanes it´s still used in Dublin - Joyce often spoke of `me book´

[brendel99]

@mossfitz I think it's used all over the place. "Has anyone seen me car keys?" etc. You could hear that usage almost anywhere.

[inkstersco]

@Menophanes

'Me' was the original pronunciation of 'my'. 'me' used to sound like 'may' in the medieval period, but there has always been a residual coexistence in some dialects of "me" and "my" to mean "my".

[NEDM1991]

So cool.

[keagleman21]

Amazing. Thank you so much for posting.

[MiK3i]

what was he doing at the time this was recorded? sounds like he's riding horseback or in a carriage

[Eron2828]

Dinner party, says Wikipedia.

[archer1949]

Wow.

"I can't remember me own verses"

For some reason I always expected these Victorian Poets would have been speaking in "veddy, veddy" proper BBC stentorian accents.

I don't know why.

Rather silly if you think about it.

[kissed61]

I heard he got distracted when he saw them removing the dessert tray, and lost his concentration.

[holbeincity]

god this is wonderful

[evepxpx]

this is better than MP4 pssh.

[celtmaiden]

You can get this on a great cd from the British library with lots of other writers too including Tennyson sounding like a dalek. this is the best one though!

[AndyLaurence84]

Very interesting! Thanks for posting this video.

[vielsu]

I'm terribly sorry but I can't remember me own verses XD

[myboomstick]

Must've been one hell of a party - sounds like Bob had one too many. God love him!

[chengy85]

@myboomstick God's in his heaven, all's right with this world my friend

[juniper6782]

this is so fascinating. i love that he forgot his own verses...couldn't have been more spontaneous....

[PARISA7777]

Fantastic! Thanks for posting :) . . .

[BakaDemi]

ROBERT BROWNING, HIP HIP HOORAY!

[Dilhan777]

This is fantatistic!! Thank you for posting.

[WalterSobchak1985]

amazing, just amazing!!

[ineendubh]

Truly awesome.

[ManilaSyndicate]

Wonderful. Truly an inspired moment.

[VandaVisions]

Incredible!

[markismac]

how does one get a hold of this wow.

[shashi2005]

39 years after I last heard it.....this work sprang to mind.

While the words are almost unintelligible, the white noise and surface noise horrendous.

It's not important.

Because the "music" and tone of the verse is clearer than any even the printed word.

It sounds to me like the tone of voice that somebody would use when shouting to someone who was galloping along side of them. Which is about right really.

Sincere thanks for posting.

Truly priceless.

[VanessaDriana]

WOW. OK, the background crackle sounds like a regiment marching in a monsoon, but... WOW! Thank you!!

[hrhqueene]

Wow. Just wow.

To actually hear his voice! The thrill!

[NotUTom]

Amazing. Thank you for posting.

[HoundoBaskerville]

Absolutely magnificent find!

[megansspark]

I had no idea this existed, wow!