Public Address | Cafe | Random Play: Whistle while you work https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address Rachel Prosser https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51517#post51517 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51517#post51517

We could have Whistling Competitions, where the kids could join teams and have whistle-off's ... instead of Youth Gangs fighting each other they could just Whistle For It!

If only you'd suggested this before the 48 hour film contest. Could have run as a plot for Juvenile Delinquent or Dance/Musical.…

]]> Thu, 22 May 2008 20:39:50 +1200 3410 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51080#post51080 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51080#post51080 Also from Wikipedia:

A popular German army song "Ich war der Putzer vom Kaiser" ("I was the Kaiser's batman") sung during World War I tells of a soldier who missed the horrors of service on the Western front by being the batman to Kaiser Wilhelm II.

It was set to…

]]> Tue, 20 May 2008 14:58:58 +1200 Nick D'Angelo https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51026#post51026 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51026#post51026

The same, I suppose could be said for this, which was a huge hit when I was about four:

Book me a spot on Beat The Geeks (or just call me old). I knew that tune was from a movie:

Only When I Larf (1968)

This is an enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek glossy…

]]> Tue, 20 May 2008 11:05:48 +1200 Nick D'Angelo https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51024#post51024 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51024#post51024 We live in a culture which extolls the virtues of youth, when Baby Boomers refuse to grow old (mea culpa me too perhaps?) and when people Botox and Pilate and do anything to offset the inevitable attritions of age.Could we not put Ronnie in a Hoodie, give him a beatbox… ]]> Tue, 20 May 2008 10:52:16 +1200 Kyle Matthews https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51020#post51020 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51020#post51020 From wikipedia:

In 1967, the pseudonymous Whistling Jack Smith (actually a session vocalist) recorded an all-whistling number called "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman", which went Top 5 in the UK. Despite a title that baffled most Americans (who no doubt were thinking of the other Batman), the tune hit #20…

]]> Tue, 20 May 2008 10:15:17 +1200 Andrew Paul Wood https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51019#post51019 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51019#post51019 Tue, 20 May 2008 10:12:49 +1200 Danielle https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51015#post51015 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51015#post51015

The same, I suppose could be said for this, which was a huge hit when I was about four

You put acid in my coffee, right?

(That is one of the single greatest things I've ever seen. Thank you. The tune is vaguely familiar, but I had no idea of…

]]> Tue, 20 May 2008 09:06:13 +1200 3410 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51012#post51012 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51012#post51012 Still whistling at 83, Alessandro Alessandroni:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QNjiblp_kPQ

]]> Tue, 20 May 2008 07:07:19 +1200 Jackie Clark https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51010#post51010 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51010#post51010 Tue, 20 May 2008 07:02:33 +1200 Rob Hosking https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51008#post51008 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51008#post51008

Here was a man whose talent is rare and quite ignored by current fashion.

The same, I suppose could be said for this, which was a huge hit when I was about four:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQQ5sEOhbjQ

]]> Tue, 20 May 2008 06:22:45 +1200 Islander https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51002#post51002 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=51002#post51002 I love whistlers!I well remember 'If I were A Blackbird" and others...I whistle myself but cherish a long dead friend of mine who must've had a syrinx – he could return song phrases to tui! (not kidding.)
Well done Ronnie -and you for bringing this to our attention (if Ronnie…

]]> Mon, 19 May 2008 22:57:51 +1200 Bob Munro https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50998#post50998 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50998#post50998

What I got from Ronnie was that if you just keep doing what you do with enthusiasm and enjoyment and don't resign yourself, then life might just go on as something to enjoy and not endure.

The musicians certainly seem to be able to do it. Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley,…

]]> Mon, 19 May 2008 21:23:52 +1200 Amy W https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50985#post50985 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50985#post50985 Mon, 19 May 2008 17:04:30 +1200 linger https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50975#post50975 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50975#post50975 amount of information presented, as in what kind of information is presented. It is somewhat analogous to the difference between a dictionary (where there is a known organising… ]]> Mon, 19 May 2008 15:42:46 +1200 Kyle Matthews https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50960#post50960 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50960#post50960 Perhaps I'm swimming against the tide, but I really like Te Papa. My son is an energetic child, finds most things in museums boring and stuff stuck in glass cases uninteresting.

He really enjoys going to te papa, likes the interactivity, and learns stuff while he's there. As I understand…

]]> Mon, 19 May 2008 13:18:38 +1200 daleaway https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50954#post50954 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50954#post50954 How wonderful that Ronnie is still performing, well into his retirement years. He's a one-off.

In the days before Sunday trash papers existed, and I'm thinking the 1940s and 50s, Ronnie's talent was a stalwart of the Sunday request session on the ZB network. I learned the words to "If…

]]> Mon, 19 May 2008 12:29:11 +1200 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50953#post50953 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/random-play-whistle-while-you-work/?p=50953#post50953 Discussion from blog post.

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