Billy Belly's Boston Big Brass Band

Billy Belly’s Boston Big Brass Band

A Nostalgic Burlesque in Four Episodes for a Narrator, Brass Band, Chorus, and Merry Audience

In the mid-1800s, a brass band served as a celebration of civic pride.

This composition is meant to serve no other purpose than to cheer us up and entertain

First Episode: Childhood

—The Parade—

One Two! One Two!

Boom Boom! Trara Boom!

Cheeng Boom! Oompah Boom!

Here they Come! Here they Come!

Oompah-Pah! Oompah-Pah!

Trara Boom! Drums Drums!

Sunday Morning! Here they Come!

Hear the Merry Slide Trombones—

Hear the Screaming Saxophones

Marching Down the Boston Streets.

Feel the Rhythm In your Feet!

Hear the Tenors, Altos, Flutes—

Hear the Stomping of the Boots!

Boots Boots! Boots Boots!

Over-Shoulder Tubas Blare

Boldly Moving to the Square!

Cheeng Boom! Over There!

Hear the Rumbling Drums and Bugles,

Jingling Johnnies, Singing Brass—

Hear the Fifes and Ringing Cymbals:

All the Town is Full of Brass!

There they Are! There they Are!

Billy Belly’s Boston Boys!

Billy Belly’s BOSTON—

Billy Belly’s—CHEENG BOOM!

Billy Belly’s—OOMPAH BOOM,

Trara Boom! Billy Boom!

Billy Belly’s B R A S S !

Billy Belly’s B R A S S ! !

Billy Belly’s B O S T O N ! ! !

Billy Belly’s B O S T O N ! ! ! !

B I L L Y . . . B E L L Y’ S . . .

B O S T O N . . . B I G . . .

B R A S S . . . B A N D ! ! ! ! !

Cheeng Boom!

LOUDER than loud!

Cheeng Boom!

CHEERS from the CROWD!

Oompah Boom! Cheeng Boom!

Hurray!

Great!

Second Episode: Adolescence

—In the Square—

Tra-ra-ra-Boom-dee-ay!

What are we doing today?

It is Sunday. Everyone is in the street in Boston.

Friendly sunlight has been beaming, gleaming everywhere,

Nicely brightening every glistening bell and valve and piston;

Every metal object all around the sunny square.

Every Sunday in the sunny square of Boston!

Tra-ra-ra-Boom-dee-ay!

Billy’s Band is great today!

Billy in his splendid and imposing bearskin shako;

Silver buttons, shining belt and gold-striped pantaloon;

Emblems, tasseled sash, and awesome, stunning jacket

Has been hailing with his bandsmen Sunday afternoon.

Every Sunday in the sunny square of Boston!

Tra-ra-ra-Boom-dee-ay!

Let us sing and dance today!

Overtures and marches alternate with fantasies, and

All the people cheer the pomp and grandeur of the themes.

A chorus in the bandstand sings of stars and glory, and

All become once more one nation, sharing all her dreams.

Every Sunday in the sunny square of Boston!

Third Episode: Maturity

—The Picnic by the River—

A thousand people sit there by the riverbank

To hear an outdoor concert of the Boston Band,

And no one seems to mind that tubas play off-key

While moms are handing napkins out with cups of tea,

And tasty snacks are passed around

To merry tunes and oompah sounds.

While the players try their best to spare their lungs,

Enormous loads of crackers land on our tongues.

It’s great to munch away while loafing on the grass

And all the while enjoy such cute refrains on brass.

The band is playing well-known songs

To please the sunny, eating throng.

As the afternoon progresses, all agree that all those starches

Blend extremely well with feeling great and Sousa’s marches.

Everyone is happy, glad and most relaxed,

Looking forward to the rolls and salads coming next.

See the countless faces glow!

See how all enjoy the show!

While we feast on popcorn, pasta, creamy pies, and more,

Drums and trumpets come with flutes and cymbals to the fore.

We nibble, chatter, frisk and walk about and hum;

And suddenly we meet forgotten friends again!

What a Sunday, what a picnic!

Nothing nasty, nothing hectic!

It’s getting late and Billy really cannot play forever.

It’s getting time now for the famous “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

Tonight the band returns for dance and serenade,

And afterwards we’ll join them in the night parade.

The picnic was a perfect treat,

And Sousa’s music quite a feast!

Fourth Episode: Old Age

—The Dance and the Night Procession—

Billy Belly’s Boston Big Brass Band

Is playing for dances in the park’s big bandstand.

Quicksteps, polkas, tangos, and . . . the waltz

Are on the program for tonight, and Billy loves the waltz!

Well then, let us dance, let us dance Billy’s waltz:

So we waltz, and we waltz, and we waltz.

Billy Belly’s fine baton is surely like some magic wand,

For, look, he’s making even grandma and grandpa dance

Quicksteps, polkas, tangos, and . . . the waltz!

Each girl will find her boy tonight—each boy will kiss his girl.

Well then, let us whirl, let us whirl, pretty girl:

So we whirl, and we whirl, and we whirl.

And so the dance and the band go on and on and on

Until the dancers seem to have enough of all those

Quicksteps, polkas, tangos, and . . . the waltz . . .

But before we call it a night and head for home,

We join the night procession with the Boston Band:

Cheeng-cheeng, boom—

Boom-boom, cheeng—

Cheeng, boom, cheeng—

Cheeng . . .

Great . . .

Narrator, in strict march tempo,

and with oomph!

Dead serious and with great

anticipation.

Booming!

Boy sopranos and tenors.

Boots, basses and stomping

audience.

Louder!

Ecstatic.

Almost in delirium!

All voices.

From this point on syncopated

& gradually louder as the band

is reaching the square.

With even more emphasis.

Slowing down towards the

final, broad conclusion.

Very loud indeed!

Narrator.

Chorus and kettledrums.

Narrator.

Audience and chorus.

Everybody.

Sung to the well-known tune

in a mood of great expectation.

Children’s chorus

Now being joined by all the

males in the chorus and those

in the audience

Joyfully.

Tenors.

Joined by all the females

saxophones, fifes and piccolos.

Like before, but with more

depth, almost as if in a trance.

Mixed chorus, audience,

cornets and bells.

With a touch of nostalgia.

Very leisurely throughout

Kids and toy drums

Even more relaxed.

Baritones and drums.

Extremely at ease

between bites.

Sopranos, tambourines and

bassoons.

Stuffed, but satisfied to a

significant degree.

Basses, cymbals, trumpets,

flutes and kettledrums

Narrator, chorus, audience,

and all instruments

With zest!

Tenors and horns.

Contraltos.

Elegant

Baritones and tubas

Sopranos and trombones.

Boy sopranos, very softly

and full of mystery.

Mixed chorus, trombones

and drums.

Sopranos and angel voices

Gentle sleep tonight,

Like a lullaby.

To do is to be.

—Descartes

To be is to do.

—Voltaire

Dobedobe-doobedooo.

—Frank Sinatra

onomatopoeia n. (ä-n&-"mä-t&-'pE-&) The naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz or hiss). Onomatopoeia may also refer to the use of words whose sound suggests the sense. This occurs frequently in poetry, where a line of verse can express a characteristic of the thing being portrayed.

—Encyclopædia Britannica

HURRAY!!!

GREAT!!!

H U R R A Y ! ! ! !

G R E A T ! ! ! !

Everyone is glad today!

Everyone is here today!

Tra-ra-ra-Boom-dee-ay!

Never, never leave us, Billy!

Stay with us and play forever,

All the flags are out today!

All the world is great today!