where DO they come up with this stuff?
WGMS radio station in Washington DC plays classical music except for November and December, when they play Christmas music all day, probably as a sop to their sponsor, a jewelry store that wants to encourage Christmas shopping, I guess.
Here is a clip from WGMS' morning announcer, and I do believe he's serious, poor deluded chap:
The World's Most Popular Music
Aug. 7, 2005
By James Bartel
The American music industry tells us that the most recorded (ergo, world's most popular) piece of music is "Yesterday" by Lennon-McCartney. But the American music industry has a history of glutting the market with cheap records thereby producing such skewed (and screwy) results as naming Eddy Arnold more popular than Frank Sinatra by virtue of record sales. A case of numbers clouding common sense.
I think that "Yesterday" is a perfectly fine and tender pop song. But the world's most popular piece of music? By the imprecise measurements as those used by the American music industry, I would choose "Happy Birthday" over "Yesterday" but I have determined that neither is the world's most popular. I've conducted a poll of my own. Never mind my methods. They are too scientifically complex for any of us to understand. What's important is that I arrived at a winner. With all the data compiled - including recordings in print, frequency of performance, duration and pervasiveness in the world repertoire, and the subjective yardstick of avidity of audiences - the honor goes to (snare drum roll, please!): Boléro!
Here is a clip from WGMS' morning announcer, and I do believe he's serious, poor deluded chap:
The World's Most Popular Music
Aug. 7, 2005
By James Bartel
The American music industry tells us that the most recorded (ergo, world's most popular) piece of music is "Yesterday" by Lennon-McCartney. But the American music industry has a history of glutting the market with cheap records thereby producing such skewed (and screwy) results as naming Eddy Arnold more popular than Frank Sinatra by virtue of record sales. A case of numbers clouding common sense.
I think that "Yesterday" is a perfectly fine and tender pop song. But the world's most popular piece of music? By the imprecise measurements as those used by the American music industry, I would choose "Happy Birthday" over "Yesterday" but I have determined that neither is the world's most popular. I've conducted a poll of my own. Never mind my methods. They are too scientifically complex for any of us to understand. What's important is that I arrived at a winner. With all the data compiled - including recordings in print, frequency of performance, duration and pervasiveness in the world repertoire, and the subjective yardstick of avidity of audiences - the honor goes to (snare drum roll, please!): Boléro!