Colonel Bogey March

Even the famous whistling that the soldiers are doing in the movie almost did not happen.

Lean wanted the prisoners to enter camp using the Colonel Bogey March, while Spiegel initially thought the idea wouldn't mean anything to audiences.

The whistling became one of the most recognizable pieces in the movie, while composer Malcolm Arnold had only about 10 days to write roughly 45 minutes of score.

He called it one of the worst jobs he ever had, and then-

I'ma hit 'em with it.

It's like two balls.

I'ma hit 'em with the Colonel Bogey March, y'all.

Get 'em to start whistling.

[instrumental music][fairground music]

Colonel Bogey, marching us into the second hour of this week's Continental Carousel here on Mechanical Music Radio.

Hello, it's Paul Kirage, and that was the magnificent 96 keyless Voigt organ owned by the Muller family in Switzerland.

Fabulous.

That was a very nice arrangement of Colonel Bogey, I thought.

Wouldn't normally start the hour with that tune, but when I heard that arrangement, I thought, "Yeah, really nice." Hope you enjoyed it.

So still to come, we have plenty of German fairground and concert organs to keep you entertained over the next 55 minutes or so, including a triple play coming up, uh, in about 20 minutes' time on an organ that is currently being restored.

The story goes that he came across a certain nicknamed colonel who, rather than yell four to warn others of his wayward shots, would whistle a descending minor third.

Music It stuck in Rickett's mind like a high lob to a soft green, and the Colonel Bogey March was born.

With that whistle.

Serving as the opening line to the melody.