Thursday, October 30, 2008

Roll out the barrel

The other day, I took you on a little accordion trip to a few different countries. It's amazing at how seamlessly even the same song can transform from culture to culture. A great example of this is The Beer Barrel Polka, also known as Roll out the Barrel. The link takes you to a performance by Canada's polka king, Walter Ostanek from St. Catherines, Ontario. Look what happened when the tune made its way to Texas and became El Barrilito. Listen to Tony de la Rosa kick it up. The song was originally a Czech tune from the late 1920s which, with English lyrics became very popular during the second World War. Even swing players like Benny Goodman took a shot at this one. It may be the most poplular polka ever recorded. I even have a Portuguese version on a cassette tape kicking around somewhere.

5 comments:

Candy Minx said...

This is just one of the few songs in the world I do not enjoy on any level. I don't knwow, it's associated with some awful, repressed childhood memory or something. It makes my skin crawl.

Bridget Jones said...

OH NO Now I"m gonna have that idiotic song running through my head all night. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

mister anchovy said...

aw geez, now I feel so bad.... I'll get over it though. Oh well, maybe there's somebody out there who likes it. It is after all party music.

The Nag said...

My claim to fame is that I live very close to St. Catharines, home of The Polka King.

mister anchovy said...

Hi Nag, thanks for stopping by.