Organ grinder – slurry pump impeller – Sand Pump ES
Operation
An organ grinder with a monkey, photographed in 1892.
The grinder would crank his organ in a public place (either a business district or in a neighborhood), moving from place to place after collecting a few coins or in order to avoid being arrested for loitering or chased by persons who would not appreciate hearing his single tune over and over again. The grinder would often[citation needed] have as a companion a White-headed Capuchin monkey to do tricks and attract attention. The monkey would collect the money from the audience and sometimes collect other shiny objects that attracted his attention. Other attractions might be parrots, dogs, dancing bears and members of the organ grinder’s family who would dance and sing.[citation needed]
Many cities in the United Kingdom had ordinances prohibiting organ grinders. The authorities often encouraged policemen to treat the grinders as beggars or public nuisances. In Paris there was a limited number of permits for organ grinders, and entry in that reserved circle was based on a waiting list or seniority system. In New York City (USA), there were as many as 1500 organ grinders on the streets at a time – one on almost every block.[citation needed]
Music lovers usually hated the organ grinders, since most grinders seemed to be tone deaf and lacking any sense of rhythm.[citation needed] They apparently were not interested in keeping their instrument in tune or cranking at a rate suited to the music which was “programmed” in their barrel organ. This was most likely true of the organs that were rented for the day from “organ liveries”. The organ grinder would pick up an organ in a small store-front shop and then walk or take the streetcar to his chosen neighborhood. After moving from block to block throughout the day, he would return the organ to the livery and pay a portion of the take to the owner.
Charles Dickens wrote to a friend that he could not write for more than half an hour without being disturbed by the most excruciating sounds imaginable, coming in from barrel organs on the street. Charles Babbage was a particularly virulent enemy of the organ grinders. He would chase them around town, complain to authorities about their noisy presence, and forever ask the police to arrest them. Yehudi Menuhin on the other hand is quoted to have said: “we musicians must stick together” while handing an organ-grinder some change.[citation needed]
According to Ord-Hume the disappearance of organ grinders from European streets was in large part due to the early application of national and international Copyright laws. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century European publishers of sheet music and the holders of copyrights to the most popular operatic tunes of the day often banded together in order to enforce collection of performance duties from any musician playing their property in any venue.
When faced with notaries and the hounding of other legal representatives of the “music industry” of the time, in addition to the other sources of hostility mentioned above organ grinders soon disappeared.
Street organs were banned in New York City in 1936 by Fiorello La Guardia. An unfortunate consequence was the destruction of hundreds of organs, the barrels of which contained a record of the popular music of the day. Before the invention of the cylinder record player, this was the only permanent recording of these tunes. The law that banned barrel organs in New York was repealed in 1976 but that mode of musical performance had become obsolete by then. However, organ grinders did return to New York on the 9th of April 2006, when the first organ rally in the area was held in Coney Island.
Modern usage
There are still persons today who own and sometimes operate a barrel organ on a street. They have very little in common with the calling of the organ grinder of yore. For instance, it is considered lucky for a couple in Denmark to have a barrel organ playing outside on the morning of their 25th wedding anniversary, thus creating a small niche for professional musicians or musicologists capable of tuning one of the few surviving barrel organs, and interested in maintaining an old tradition in their spare time.
In addition to a few antique barrel organs, there are many more modern organs that have been built. These do not operate on pinned barrels anymore, but use perforated paper rolls (analogous to player pianos) or perforated cardboard book music (this method is mostly to be found in France Orgue de Barbarie, Holland or Belgium) and sometimes even electronic Microchip- and/or MIDI-systems. Organ grinders are a common sight in Mexico City.
Some modern day organ grinders like to dress in period-costumes, albeit not necessarily the period-clothes of an organ-grinder. He would be found at an “organ rally” (in case of the picture the “MEMUSI”-event in Vienna), where lots of enthusiasts would come together and entertain on the streets, but equally so at a wedding (usually performing the “Lohengrin”-tune) or at any other event where he might be chosen over hiring an entire band or a deejay.
Larger organs are not usually turned by hand, but use an electric motor. Such larger instruments are called a fairground organ, band organ or orchestrion.
References in popular culture
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)
A Winston Churchill (British politician, 1874 – 1965) quote, “Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room,” advises care in choosing the right audience for a discussion or an argument.
Mark Knopfler (Musician, born August 12, 1949), “Punish the Monkey,” from Kill To Get Crimson due 9/18/07: “Somebody’s gonna take the fall / There’s your quid pro quo / Punish the monkey / Punish the monkey / Punish the monkey / and let the organ grinder go.” Also, as part of Dire Straits, “It Never Rains” from Love Over Gold 20/9/82: “Ah but it’s a sad reminder / when your organ grinder has to come to you for the rent /and all you’ve got to give him / is the use of your side-show tent. ”
Bob Dylan (Musician, born May 24, 1941), “I Want You,” from Blonde on Blonde 5/16/1966 “The guilty undertaker sighs, the lonesome organ grinder cries, the silver saxophones say I should refuse you” (verse 1)
James Blunt (Musician), “Out of My Mind”, “Judging by the look of the organ grinder/he’ll judge me by the fact that my face don’t fit/it’s touching that the monkey that sits on my shoulder/he’s waiting for the day that he gets me”
Also, in Marilyn Manson’s first official release Portrait of an American Family, 1994, the fourth song is called “Organ Grinder”.
The Band’s Robbie Robertson writes “The organ grinder and his monkey, still walkin’ the same old beat” in the song “Rags and Bones” off of their seventh album Northern Lights – Southern Cross.
Emilie Autumn (Musician) recorded an instrumental track called “Organ Grinder” for the German Saw III soundtrack.
Numerous classic cartoons depict organ grinders, including Max Fleischer’s Popeye short The Organ Grinder’s Swing (1937) and Warner Bros.’ The Organ Grinder (1932) and Hurdy-Gurdy Hare (1950). A particularly valuable early Mickey Mouse tin toy depicts Mickey in the role of an organ grinder.
In the game “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”, there exists an organ grinder inside a windmill in Kakariko Village who grinds away at his organ day and night.
In the game “The Sims: Unleashed”, one of the NPCs on Community lots is an organ grinder.
In Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, circa 1972, Fred Rogers creates an opera about a financially failing organ grinder who discovers, at his peak of despair, that if he turns his organ upside down it makes popcorn, which he then successfully sells.
Bon Jovi (Musician), “Letting You Go” from “These Days”: “It would all have been so easy / If you’d only made me cry / And told me how you’re leaving me / To some organ grinder’s lullaby / It’s hard, so hard – it’s tearing out my heart / It’s hard letting you go”
See also
Mechanical organ
References
^ Babbage, Charles (1864) Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, Chapter 26, page 342. ISBN 1-85196-040-6
Bibliography
Ord-Hume, Arthur W.J G. Barrel Organ: The Story of the Mechanical Organ and Its Repair. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978.
Reblitz, Arthur A. The Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments. Woodsville, New Hampshire: Mechanical Music Press, 2001.
Reblitz, Arthur A., Q. David Bowers. Treasures of Mechanical Music. New York: The Vestal Press, 1981.
Smithsonian Institution. History of Music Machines. New York: Drake Publishers, 1975.
Mechanical Music Digest. http://mmd.foxtail.com (since 1995).
Quotation #2796 by Winston Churchill, from Laura Moncur’s Motivational Quotations. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2796.html
External links
A picture of a 1930s American organ grinder
Categories: Occupations in music | Busking | Mechanical musical instruments | Street cultureHidden categories: Articles that may contain original research from September 2007 | All articles that may contain original research | Articles to be merged from September 2008 | All articles to be merged | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from December 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements from July 2007 | Articles with trivia sections from September 2008 | All articles with trivia sections
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