Sounds of typewriters in music

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Typing Music (Genesis XVI) is the opening track on Steve Reich's 'The Cave' and there's a short reprise later on .

― avery keen-gardner (avery keen-gardner), Monday, 1 August 2005 23:20 (eighteen years ago) link

Typewriters figure in several pieces by John Cage. For instance, while it's not a fixed element of the piece, in some performances of 0' 00", Cage typed letters to his friends on a greatly amplified typewriter. And a typewriter can be heard prominently in the Atelier Schola Cantorum recording of his Song Books.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Monday, 1 August 2005 23:37 (eighteen years ago) link

One of the tracks on the Tom Zé compilation David Byrne put out on Luaka Bop in the late eighties (Brazil Classics no. 4) had a typewriter - it was an instrumental with a lot of other found sounds on it. I think the track was called 'Toc'.

― scriblerus (mike lynch), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:50 (eighteen years ago) link

I believe there's a Calexico song that uses the typewriter for percussion...can't remember which one, now.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 03:05 (eighteen years ago) link

You should get Moreno Veloso's "Music Typewriter"

― sibsi (sibsi), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 09:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Paul, are some of those performances of Cage's 0'00" recorded? I read about it once but never did hear it. The typewriter not being a fixed element in Cage's piece almost sounds like an advantage. The 'instrument' seems very appropriate for improvisation. The rhythm when writing a letter can mix wonderfully with music.

Sibsi, I most definately should, but it looks like a real hard one to find on the net, let alone a copy of the cd. I don't suppose you can help me out? :-)

― Gerard (Gerard), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 10:05 (eighteen years ago) link

The Monkees, P.O. Box 9847

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 10:06 (eighteen years ago) link

(Gerard, if you want the Stereo Total track mentioned above, just say so – is that gmail address real?)

― OleM (OleM), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 10:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah it's real, OleM, that'd be great!!

― Gerard (Gerard), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 12:21 (eighteen years ago) link

I remember seeing a documentary on Ennio Morricone in the mid-90s in which he demonstrated the use of a typewriter in one of his compositions (think it was a mid-60s number). Anyone any idea what that composition might have been? It was ruddy marvellous.

― harvey.w (harvey.w), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:20 (eighteen years ago) link

There's a really good Paperchase song on one of their earlier albums with a typewriter intro.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Janis Joplin, The Typewriter Tapes

― t. fiend (t. fiend), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 14:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Gerard, send me an email w/ your address and if I have time I can send you a copy.

― sibsi (sibsi), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 14:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Harvey, I believe that was improvisation after the interviewer asked Morricone to demonstrate his use of odd instruments. If it ended up on one of his gazillion albums, I do not know about it, but it could very well be true.

Sibsi: Done!

― Gerard (Gerard), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 16:23 (eighteen years ago) link

The Blue Nile's "O Lolita" b-side has quite an extensive typewriter break.

― blue, Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Gerard, unfortunately I really don't what any recordings of 0' 00" are like (assuming they exist). The complete score of the piece is basically just a verbal instruction to perform an unspecified action, in an unselfconscious manner and allowing for any interruptions or unintentional sounds that may occur. Cage's 1965 amplified-typerwriter performance at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University has been discussed a lot and is the one I was thinking of. (The other sounds, also greatly amplified, that were heard at this performance: Cage drinking from a glass of water, squeaks from his chair.) As far as I know there's no recording documenting it.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:42 (eighteen years ago) link

Dolly Parton -"9 to 5"

Really though I usually loathe the sound of typewriters in songs

― Uncledoj, Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:39 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

"Gonna Type A Letter" - Billy Fury

― CarlosDP, Monday, 10 November 2008 01:29 (fifteen years ago) link

Cornelius - Typerite Lesson

― WE ARE ALL GEETIKA (PappaWheelie V), Monday, 10 November 2008 02:09 (fifteen years ago) link

Brutum Fulmen has a lot of recordings which use typewriters as the sound source. Search the "Flesh of the Moon" album.

― ian, Monday, 10 November 2008 03:00 (fifteen years ago) link

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