Whistling in the dark

from New York, Tel Aviv, Hartlepool

Hit of the Week: Whistling in the Dark – 1931


Whistling in the Dark {Silbando en la obscuridad}
Fox Trot
1144 – Durium Products Corporation – New York
Music by Dana Suesse
Lyrics by Allen Boretz
Performed by Sam Lanin’s Dance Ensemble

Whistling in the Dark was a 1931 Hit of the Week. These were cardboard records sold via newsstands for 15 cents during the Great Depression.

Hit of the Week records were promoted in 1929 with the following:

“This is the new Hit-of-the-week record. It is made of Durium, the great invention of a Columbia university professor. Its tone is as rich as the costliest record made. It is guaranteed to play perfectly longer than any other record. It won’t break if you drop it. It brings you the latest dance hits each week played by Broadway’s best orchestras, at the sensationally low price of fifteen cents! Each week our music jury, composed of Florenz Ziegfeld, Eddie Cantor and Vincent Lopez, selects the outstanding dance hits of the hour for the Hit-of-the-week recording. A new Hit-of-the-week record is on sale each Thursday at all news-stands in this city. Fifteen cents!” (source)

Digital Sheet Music Download for sale here (unless you are in U.S., Canada or Venezuela).
Shirts, posters, greeting cards and mugs with an image of sheet music for the song available here.

Radio Dismuke – Online station of 1920s & 1930s Popular Music and Jazz

They Might Be Giants’ Whistling in the Dark here

posted by Yaffa in music,whistlinginthedark.com and have No Comments

Whistling in the Dark Lyrics

A woman came up to me and said
“I’d like to poison your mind
With wrong ideas that appeal to you
Though I am not unkind”
She looked at me, I looked at something
Written across her scalp
And these are the words that it faintly said
As I tried to call for help:

There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
There’s only one thing that I like
And that is whistling in the dark

A man came up to me and said
“I’d like to change your mind
By hitting it with a rock,” he said,
“Though I am not unkind.”
We laughed at his little joke
And then I happily walked away
And hit my head on the wall of the jail
Where the two of us live today.

There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
There’s only one thing that I like
And that is whistling in the dark

There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling, whistling
Whistling in the dark

Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)

Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)

Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)

Flood was released by They Might Be Giants on January 5, 1990.

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