No saxophone, alas.

June 2, 2023 5:05 PM

Careless Whisper's lick on 100 instruments.
posted by signal (25 comments total)

That was extremely impressive. Not only could I not play 100 instruments, I wouldn’t even know where to get 100 instruments.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:15 PM on June 2, 2023 [8 favorites]

When you press the + button on your General MIDI keyboard 100 times
posted by credulous at 5:19 PM on June 2, 2023 [12 favorites]

What's the timestamp for the rubber chicken careless whisper?
posted by BrotherCaine at 5:21 PM on June 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

Pfffft no kazoo or nose flute.

JK this was fun. I applauded at the oud.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 6:18 PM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Very impressive. That guy must be so sick of that riff.
posted by bendy at 6:24 PM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

It is a rather interesting and timeless melody in my opinion (I'm not a fan of Wham).

Wikipedia:

"With 'Careless Whisper' I remember exactly where it first came to me, where I came up with the sax line ... I remember I was handing the money over to the guy on the bus and I got this line, the sax line ... I wrote it totally in my head. I worked on it for about three months in my head."

"When I was twelve, thirteen, I used to have to chaperone my sister, who was two years older, to an ice rink at Queensway in London," he explained. "There was a girl there with long blonde hair whose name was Jane. I was a fat boy in glasses and I had a big crush on her—though I didn't stand a chance. My sister used to go and do what she wanted when we got to the skating rink and I would spend the afternoon swooning over this girl Jane..."

The story goes on with George continuing to swoon over girls, Wham recording the demo for £20, and going on to record many different saxophone players (maybe including Tom Scott?) trying to get it to sound right over the years. (I hate to bring up the Spittin' Image joke about how Andrew laments "Who slaved away sleepless nights coming up with our great songs?" "George Did!" "Yeah, he did.")
posted by ovvl at 6:38 PM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

As an amateur multi-instrumentalist (not as fancy as this cat) I'm quite impressed. Nice to see some interesting instruments featured. I liked seeing the kettle-drums (so much fun to play, but gotta be perfect in concert).
posted by ovvl at 6:46 PM on June 2, 2023

Very talented, but he's no Sergio Flores.
posted by dobbs at 7:41 PM on June 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

A) am intrigued by the accordion cover
B) no theremin? Harpsichord? Spoons? Wineglasses with water in them?
I’m not a musician by any means, but it might be fun for someone who has knowledge/talent of additional unconventional instruments to allow us to bask in mid-80s aural glory.
posted by sara is disenchanted at 7:56 PM on June 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

He says in the comments that he actually owns all of those instruments. The mind boggles.

I was intrigued by the Persian Ney, one of the several instruments I had never heard of before, especially because the video shows that there's something unique going on with the mouth. That led me, via a quick search, to this delightful Web 1.0 site of a Persian ney aficionado. Be sure to "click to enlarge."
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal at 9:51 PM on June 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

Just a couple weeks ago I watched a room go bananas as Delvon Lamarr launched into an instrumental cover on a Hammond organ. Cracking song.
posted by Dysk at 9:57 PM on June 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

I shared this with my 72-year-old dad, who is one of those weird people who can navigate almost any instrument you set in front of him. He expressed his approval.

He also threatened to introduce this guy to his deranged septuagenarian hippie musician friends.

I welcome your prayers for all involved.
posted by armeowda at 10:56 PM on June 2, 2023 [11 favorites]

Peripherally related, this episode of the Comfort Blanket podcast explores the Wham! song Freedom.

Has some audio of George Michael talking about songwriting, really interesting.
posted by Zumbador at 11:24 PM on June 2, 2023

Dude, if I was a grade school music teacher, I'd be all over this. If he did a series of these with different songs kids should know or do know, it would be really excellent educational content.
posted by es_de_bah at 4:44 AM on June 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

The '80s Kids' Guide to the Orchestra.
posted by straight at 10:03 AM on June 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

This fellow does not have guilty feet.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:04 AM on June 3, 2023 [5 favorites]

I was mostly watching to see if his beard would get longer.
posted by srboisvert at 2:50 PM on June 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

I was hoping for a theremin, water glasses and a steel drum… but that’s mostly because of how amazed I was / am at the breadth of instruments, and the ability to play them each in a way that made the riff feel intentional. Well done!
posted by Mchelly at 6:53 PM on June 3, 2023

You play with the 100 instruments you’ve got. Although I bet he has a saxophone too.
posted by swift at 7:45 PM on June 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

How does he even keep all of them tuned? Impressive!
posted by Harald74 at 3:33 AM on June 4, 2023

What's the timestamp for the rubber chicken careless whisper?
You mean this one?

I don’t favorite a lot of TikToks, but when I do, it’s usually someone doing Careless Whisper…
posted by Mchelly at 4:31 AM on June 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

He had me at hurdy gurdy.
posted by quixotictic at 6:51 AM on June 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Now do "Baker Street."
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:58 AM on June 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Peripherally related, this episode of the Comfort Blanket podcast explores the Wham! song Freedom.

Thank you for this! I love Wham and I love George Michael. This is really interesting.
posted by Mavri at 7:07 AM on June 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Here's a list of the instrument he plays:

1. Piano -1
2. Harp
3. Guitar
4. Double Bass
5. Violin -2
6. Viola
7. Cello
8. Clarinet
9. Bass Clarinet
10. Piccolo -3
11. Flute
12. Oboe
13. English Horn
14. Bassoon
15. Tuba
16. Trumpet -4
17. French Horn
18. Trombone
19. Bass Trombone
20. Xylophone
21. Glockenspiel -5
22. Metallophone
23. Timpani
24. Electric Guitar
25. Electric Bass
26. Acoustic Guitar -6
27. Banjo
28. Ukulele
29. Banjolin
30. Mandolin
31. Cavaquinho -7
32. Harmonica
33. Musical Saw
34. Accordion
35. Slide Whistle
36. Pan Flute
37. Alto Recorder -8
38. Tenor Recorder
39. Soprano Recorder
40. Sopranino Recorder
41. Bass Recorder
42. Garklein Recorder
43. Pipe And Tabor -9
44. Crumhorn
45. Hurdy-Gurdy
46. Archlute -10
47. Medieval Bagpipe
48. Medieval Fiddle
49. Shawm
50. Tambin -11
51. Balafon
52. Mbira Dzavadzimu
53. Kalimba
54. Thianhou -12
55. Tongue Drums
56. Kora
57. Setar -13
58. Tar
59. Kamancheh
60. Duduk
61. Persian Ney
62. Santur
63. Dizi -14
64. Xun
65. Bawu
66. Hulusi -15
67. Sheng
68. Suona
69. Guanzi
70. Xiao
71. Guqin -16
72. Pipa
73. Guzheng
74. Erhu
75. Sanxian
76. Bansuri -17
77. Shehnai
78. Bansuri #2
79. Sitar
80. Swarsangam -18
81. Shruti Box
82. Sarod
83. Sarangi
84. Rubab
85. Turkish Ney -19
86. Kaval
87. Arghul
88. Zurna
89. Arabic Ney
90. Arabic Oud
91. Arabic Qanun -20
92. Saz
93. Lahuta
94. Rabab
95. Bouzouki
96. Tin Whistle -21
97. Low Whistle
98. Concertina
99. Celtic Harp
100. Uilleann Pipes
101. Cimbalom -22

He plays the bansuri twice, so it makes sense that the list has 101 items.
posted by WalkingAround at 1:35 AM on June 9, 2023 [1 favorite]