76 Trombones: Music Man

From the Broadway play, "Music Man"
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Meredith Willson

Please, folks
May I have your attention, please?
Attention please
I can deal with the trouble friends with the wave of my hand, this very hand
Please observe me if you will
I'm professor Harold Hill and I'm here
to organize a River City boys band
Oh, think my friends how could any pool table ever hope to compete with a gold trombone
Rah rah rah da da da da rah rah
remember my friends what a hand full of trumpet players did to the famous, fabled walls of Jericho
Oh, billiard parlor walls come a tumbling down
Oh, a band will do it, my friends, oh, yes, I said a boys
band, do you hear me?
I said River City gotta have a boys band
and I mean she needs it today
Well, Professor Harold Hill's on hand
River City's going have her boys band
As sure as the Lord made little green apples
and that band's gonna be in uniform
Johnny, Willy, Teddy, Fred
and you'll see the glitter of crashing cymbals
and you'll hear the thunder of rolling drums
and the shimmer of trumpets
tun-ta-da
And you'll feel something akin to the electric thrill
I once enjoyed
when Gilmore, Liberati, Pat Conway, the great creator, W.C. Handy, and John Philp Sousa
all came to town on the very same historic day

76 trombones led the big parade
with a 110 coronets close at hand
they were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos
the cream of every famous band
76 trombones caught the morning sun
with a 110 coronets right behind
There were more than a 1000 reeds springing up like weeds
There were horns of every shape and kind
There were copper bottom timpani and horse platoons
thundering and thundering all along the way
double bell euphoniums and big bassoons, each bassoon having his big, fat say
there were 50 mounted cannon in the battery
thundering and thundering louder than before
Clarinets of every size and trumpeters who'd improvise a full octave higher than the score

CHORUS
76 trombones hit the counter point
while a 110 coronets blazed away
to the rhythm of harch, harch, harch
all the kids began to march, and they're marching still right today

Category:

Music

Tags:

• 76
• Trombones