Pop Culture References
Birdland was popular with many of the writers of the Beat generation. Reference to Birdland is made in Jack Kerouac's novel On The Road: "I saw him wish a well-to-do man Merry Christmas so volubly a five-spot in change for twenty was never missed. We went out and spent it in Birdland, the bop joint. Lester Young was on the stand, eternity on his huge eyelids." Birdland is also referenced in Emmett Grogan's novel "Ringolevio". "From the get-go, Birdland became one of his favourite haunts"
George Shearing's popular song Lullaby of Birdland (with lyrics later added by George David Weiss) refers to the club. Since Sarah Vaughan's 1954 hit version, it has been a jazz standard.
In 1993, Us3 released the single "Cantaloop", which opens with the line: "Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, we have something special down here at Birdland this evening"; Pee Wee Marquette's opening announcement from Art Blakey's first Birdland album in 1954. It appeared on Us3 1993 album, Hand on the Torch, which was Blue Note's first platinum-selling album. It reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was their only big hit. "Cantaloop" is Blue Note's first gold single. It is sometimes called "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)".
Weather Report released their most commercially successful hit entitled "Birdland" on the album Heavy Weather in 1977. The Manhattan Transfer recorded a cover version of the same song in 1979, with vocalese lyrics describing the club in its heyday.
U2 references the club in the song "Angel of Harlem" with the lyrics "...Birdland on 53, the streets sounds like a symphony..."
In the play Send Me No Flowers, George Kimball relates a story concerning a female friend who ran off with a "bongo player from Birdland" after her husband died. The bongo player subsequently "took her for every cent". In the play Middle of the Night, the husband remembers the good old days at Birdland with his wife, in an attempt to save their marriage.
Sesame Street featured a night club called Birdland, run by Hoots the Owl, which was occupied by various birds.
William Claxton took a picture of the club's entrance in 1960.
The club, along with several artists such as Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and James Moody, are mentioned in Quincy Jones song "Jazz Corner of the World ".
Ray Charles references a dance of the same name in the lyrics of his song "What'd I Say": "...See the girl with the red dress on, She can do the Birdland all night long..."
Read more about this topic: Birdland (jazz Club)
Famous quotes containing the words pop culture, pop and/or culture:
“There is no comparing the brutality and cynicism of today’s pop culture with that of forty years ago: from High Noon to Robocop is a long descent.”
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