Peter & the Wolf 1 - Narrated by David Bowie (1978)

[xjyxjy2]

I love it - but it scared the shit out of my daughter (who still gets the shits hearing Peter even though she's over twenty) and my nephew - the most devastating Xmas present he ever got...

[ollieroks]

I use to have this on green vinal when I was a kid

[pag42084]

This is amazing.

[natotack]

HOLY FUCK WE LISTENED TO THIS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Being so young, I didn't really understand that it was THE David Bowie reading it. Now that I'm older and a huge fan, WOW!

[ohtoseemusic]

Our teacher played this for us in elementary school. I remember being soooo moved by the story and the music! This type of entertainment which feeds on the imagination to flesh out the story is far superior than today's entertainment in which every single aspect of each uninspired story is completely fleshed out by computers. It leaves little to develop the imagination. So sad.

Thanks for posting this.

[theartofsmileyface]

His voice is so... soothing... I wish he read me bedtime stories. lol

[wdmoyer505]

I used to listen to this all the time as a kid on cassette tape (I feel old typing this)

[9265704]

@wdmoyer505 how bout listening to it on the record player now I feel old

[billiejean94100]

I never got tired of this story...I still love it!

And Bowie has a very nice voice indeed...

[2411rosalia]

Love it! i usesd to play it for my children when they were ...children. now they are young adults. It is easy to do it and a lot of fun. You just follow and make faces and play along. WONDERFUL!

[NovaKlark]

I don't see any merit of Bowie, but Prokofiev.

[skerrywall]

Thank-you for reminding me of this gem. I still have my original, translucent green vinyl copy of this LP. Used to play it for my daughter at bedtime when she was very young - 30 yrs on she's still an avid Bowie fan as is her mom.

[ck1791]

I love this, in elementary school we had an assembly and this recording was played while some of the older students played the parts. I haven't listened to this in years..

[edwigederer]

j'adore

[villi1997]

imagine if there was a christopher walken version

[Zelatynaxyz]

i can't stop. love his voice <3

[bobbydylanio]

My grandma would play this for me all the time, its incredible how vividly I remember it, i haven't heard it for 15 years but I can still remember the meadow and the tree in my mind as a child. Quite emotive really.

[carouseljunkie]

oh gosh his voice.

[Ju0Ju0Bug]

SO MUCH NOSTALGIA

[jonbonave]

This version use to terrify me as a child, still a little edgy listening to it again.

[natibinder]

adorable...downloaded at once

[PhantomWerewolf]

2 people should be dipped head first into the Bog of Eternal Stench.

[paulostroff99]

David Bowie is superb on this epic tale.TY glamyears for posting.

[TheVerandaguy]

2 people are ignorant.

[zara2255]

Very beautiful...thanks ! :)

[tusculum30]

Alec Guinness, Gielgud, and Bowie have all done this role so wonderfully. They are my favorites

[HCShannon]

Growing up I had a tape of Carol Channing telling this!

[PRCLIMAX]

fucking weirdo lol!

[PRCLIMAX]

fucking weirdo lol!

[antheaize]

Is incredible how many wonderful thing david has done... you can ever be surprised by this great great artist! hope to see you mr Bowie!

[Darthcaboose87]

Hmmm... David Bowie's quite a good narrator, but I've always preferred Patrick Stewart's rendition of this wonderful and timeless story / musical.

[linkmelee1993]

Mr. Bowie, I remember this from my youth. You made me like this song. Well, not really, but you helped. :)

[gheridarigaaz]

I remember performing to this as a kid!! i was In the papers!!!

[NumOneJoeJonasLuver]

I have this CD!!! I listened to this as a child and loved it!! I just re-dug it up today & downloaded it into my iTunes so I may have it on my iPod :D I love this!! David Bowie is the best!! Love you David Bowie!!! I would always answer "Yes!" when he would ask "Are you sitting comfortably.

[beeman2075]

David Bowie has such a fantastic voice, both for singing and for narration.

[Jemmicins]

This is reminds me of my childhood sooooo much! My dad used to play it to me.. and it kinda scared me "/

[williammorris1]

so fantastic! i want to track town this record!

[JungleDog99]

I was looking for the one with Terry Wogan,

If anyone has that, please put it on and let me know.

It's pretty similar, but with a Wogan brogue

[VickeeHowlett]

This is just fantastic.

[GazzaLloyd]

What has happend to part four of this story, please could you upload the rest of the story so that we can find out what happens in the end, because it seems that we've only got half the story here.

[tangie971]

i love the fact that its him

[Foundlilly11]

I wish I had this on my Ipod so David Bowie could read me a bedtime story!

[FullMetalStar]

@Foundlilly11 If you're really interested, you can always rip the audio. :]

[Jakeshark]

@Foundlilly11 It's on iTunes, I believe.

[yusefelhalal]

@Jakeshark The original print is worth it though. It was made of green vinyl. :-)

[maddalonefarms]

@Foundlilly11 then why dont you download it on ituns

[Dutchgirl002]

Wow.. I found this version with Bowie. I was like. NO WAY, THIS IS TOO PERFECT!

[MrHarringtonUK]

I have recently played Peter and the Wolf to my year 3 class. It's a classic!

[klapsikopatiko]

forgot to mention this is Prokofiev's work?

[whisperbane]

I still have the David Bowie version of this on green see through vinyl. Haven't listened to it in ages. Thanks for posting :)

[inconceivabledark]

ugh......makes me wish i was 12 all over again:}}}

[emocub16]

god, being born in 1992, this is one of my childhood phenomenons. oh the nostalgia.. :<

[ericairisheyes]

I love this tale...actually, as an oboist, the duck part is one of my favorite pieces to play.

[HighCaliberFlame]

@ericairisheyes As a bassoonist, Grandpapa is one my favorites. Actually, it's the piece I credit with my decision to play bassoon in the first place.

[22car22]

@HighCaliberFlame

I play the fr. horn because of the amazing three part chords of the wolf.

[CamFlame18]

@22car22 me too! it's the whole reason i started playing french horn!

[CandleSwan]

OH MY I LOVED this tale when I was little and finding this version by FREAKIN DAVID BOWIE my all time Idol! wow just WOW.

[xanfus]

dude seriously?! david bowie?! awesome!

[taelok]

@xanfus Yeah, David Bowie did some great stuff outside of his rockerboy gig. Did a really great Little Drummer Boy with Bing Crosby.

[magenta1000]

WOW. I can't believe I ran into this.

I heard this thing a few hundred times in elementary school. I loved his voice, even then. Even though I had no idea who David Bowie was. But that's beside the point!

Thanks for the nostalgia!

[daliahc]

This is great, but I disagree with some of the speeds, in my opinion the bird and Peter are too slow.

[Murdilizer]

F!@#ing RIPPING! This bring me back like a time warp.

[KoharuDaPyon]

I absolutely loved this story as a child. I sometimes still find myself humming peter's part to myself at work. Now I can listen to the whole thing all over again. ^_^

[0Djclum0]

:( Im 13 all i hear is club and pop, The peter + the wolf was on the simposons once and ive been looking for it for ages!! NOW IVE FOUND IT !!

[FritzTheCat1030]

I don't want to take anything away from this great recording...it was the one I grew up with and it's still my favorite...but I do think it's very interesting. They edited out the names of the bird and the duck, Sasha and Sonya, presumably to avoid any implication that the story and music was Russian.

Given the political situation of the time, I think the omission is noteworthy...maybe it's just me.

[andyroo731]

Actually, the names Sasha, Sonya and Ivan as well as the hunter's names were added to the Disney movie and were never in the original book.

You can see more changes that were made by reading the Wikipedia entry for Peter and the Wolf.

[berezkin00aka00whore]

WTF

[svendavidsson]

What a frightening piece. I was terrified of this as child.

[Eluria8]

Whenever I hear this I imagine Jareth telling a bedtime story to Toby :)

[LAX324]

My mother bought this for me when I was a child and I was scared of the wolf, but it was still a great story and this is a great cd

[Luis2899]

At 5 I was freaked out by this lol , Ahh but the memories =D

[jozowske]

yup, takes me back to being a small lad and it scaring 7 shades of shit outta me!

[ciaconne90]

my school plays this every year for little elementary kids. so fun because we get some people to act out all these characters.

[jgplummer]

Peter's music is quite possibly the most memorable music I have ever heard. I whistle it to myself constantly.

[KaliYugaForKiX]

jesus way to freak the kids out, getting ziggy stardust to read a bed time story

[MultiMeli123]

LOL that's great! "way to freak the kids out, getting ziggy stardust to read a bed time story'

[darkhyena]

*sigh* David Bowie is amazing. But, oh, how I wish that Freddie Mercury narrated a version of his own

[sweetheart87]

David Bowie is amazing! I wonder what it would have sounded like if Marc Bolan narrated it? ;-).

[thedeadsealion]

wop-a-de, wop-a-de, bo bo yea!

[Madelonetj]

Teh wolf theme gives me teh creeps!!

I WANT MY MAMA!

[miciiic]

It remembers me my own childhood... Great music from Sergei Prokofiev.

[minorSi]

yeah.. for me too. My father used to put me to hear this! And after that a small vinyl with separated instruments of the orchestra playing music, to learn the sound. Nice remembrance man..

[eleutheromaniac]

achewood

[workingcat88]

I just gave this album to a little girl I know!!!! YES!

[georgebush911]

Nice! I'm also thinking of getting this for some young relatives. I remember I heard this on tape in my own childhood. It's a timeless masterpiece, and in my opinion much more inspiring to kids than most of the modern stuff.

[bonbon1995]

god i luv his voice...

[rossmcl177]

He does have a great voice for this. When I first heard it as a kid 30 years ago, the narrator was some really old posh woman - completely reinforcing the idea that the music was a dusty old relic, not meant for my young ears. Its much better when someone like Bowie does it. Makes it more accessible.

[myxylplx6]

I love this. Thanks for posting

[A7X91gio]

damn dislixik !!!

[A7X91gio]

This girht here inspired me to play the oboe i freakin love that duck

[Darkover54]

one of the good parts from childhood....!

[Karinthewhite]

yeh!! True!!

[daringdavie]

Ha ha "Plenty of sexy" I love it

[Ghostx1977]

I've never watched the disney film but remember being in my class at school and all of us listening to this while we all sat in a semi circle...while it rained outside! Was kinda cosey at the time! lol

[Sparkina]

Beautiful instrumentation -- and Bowie's speech voice is PLENTY OF SEXY

[k9thewonderdog]

I had this on green vinyl........

mom threw it out  grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

as well as the other 999 records

[hannah0815]

reminds me of when i was a kid. i have loved this story sooo much :)

[jackwhitefanatic]

shoot i haven't seen this in YEARS.. i remember watching this when i was like 2 or 3

[princess52316]

SAME! then i heard it in a movie and was like "WHY IS THIS BRINGING BACK SCARY MEMORIES?" My mom used to play it for me when I would go to bed and I was terrified of it!

[jackwhitefanatic]

LOL!! i can't imagine the weird dreams i'd have if i fell asleep to that

eeek

[rossmcl177]

ME TOO! :)) The wolf is terrifying. I think its because you cant see it - I never found wolves all that scary when I saw them, but with this music representing the IDEA of a wolf, in the context of the duck etc - it really terrified me. And yes, listening to it now, it still does!

[poot3rs]

I felt the same way. as a child id fall asleep listening to this and the sound of the wolf scared me to death. the image it produces it truly sinister

[weepingforbrunnhilde]

Yup, me too. Very early childhood memories. Real terror, scared me to death too.

[YouAreHereNow]

Man, I so pity that duck that got eaten alive in my game I played of this when I was younger and we had PCs. The cat is always up to no good, the bird a fun character, Peter a great one, Grandfather the good guy, and the shotguns and the wolf trouble, trouble, trouble. Gotta love "Peter and the Wolf."

[crystalstormlily]

I had the vinyl version with the narration done by Dudley More. I absolutely loved. This is one of my favorite pieces. I wanted to learn how to play the bassoon after I heard it for the first time. Thank you for posting it.

[ericberner]

me too! I brought it to school one day- I was gonna play it for the class. It slipped out of it's sleeve and shattered on the floor- a real 'Christmas Story' moment that depresses me to this day - ha ha The origional cover art was way cooler though. a grim black and white pic of the wolf on a little hill- spooky-

[Mooncrystal159]

I remember listening to this story on my grandmother's record player when I was little. I think it's been about 18 years since I've last heard it. ^_^

[flautistnotflutist]

the flute part to this is ridiculous!

[CherrySodaPop]

does anyone remember the cartoon that had this audio along with it? And if so what cartoon was it. I mean who was it by?

[JPM2875]

It was a disney cartoon. It can be found in my favorites. I remember the cartoon from when I was really little and only just rediscovered it tonight (April 4, 2009) by looking up David Bowie s Album "Ziggy Stardust" believe it or not.

[clarinetbulldog1996]

I want to learn to play the clarinet part can anyone help me

[blufkin25]

reminds me of when i was a kid. i love the strings.

[allemgail]

gaily haha

[naotarocker27]

"the wolf" Scott Farcus! ^^

[camilaabufom]

i love this, bowie´s voice is perfect.

[LadyScreaming]

Priceless! Love it.

[davros59]

Haha!.....I used to have this album on yellow vinyl......probably worth a few bob now!

[rockafellersquare]

beautifully written

well done prokofiev

[loftymercury]

David Bowie is the best narrarator of peter and the wolf that I have yet to hear

[taelok]

@loftymercury Scott Simon of NPR does a really nice one, too :)

[smole133]

The bassoon is so majestic!

[96cambridge]

Go hiontach. Bhí me ag lorg rud eigin faoi Peter agus an mac tire.

Great stuff. i was just looking for stuff on Peter and the wolf. thanks