The Syncopated Clock
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"The Syncopated Clock", an extremely familiar piece of American "light" classical music, has become a staple of the so-called "pops" repertoire.
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[edit] The Composer
The piece was written in 1946 by Leroy Anderson, his first popular hit and originally an instrumental selection. Anderson's original version---credited to Leroy Anderson and his Orchestra, but sometimes suspected to be the Boston Pops Orchestra, for whom Anderson worked at the time---reached number twelve on the charts, while a version credited to the Boston Pops itself hit number 28.
[edit] The Movie Theme
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Listeners are probably most familiar with the version recorded by Percy Faith in 1951; it is this version that CBS (for whose Columbia Records label Faith recorded) chose to introduce The Late Show on some of its owned-and-operated stations, most notably WCBS-TV in New York City. The Faith recording introduced the movie show for 25 years, as well as introducing the daytime movie show, The Early Show, for its entire life of about a decade.[citation needed]
The piece is also the tune of the Woodsy Owl theme song, Help Woodsy Spread the Word. .[citation needed] It also appeared in "Yours, Very Deadly," the October 28, 1986 episode of the ABC detective spoof, Moonlighting.[citation needed]
[edit] The Structure
The arrangement calls for temple blocks to be used as the sound of the clock which is heard throughout the number. The piece is in 4/4 time; the opening establishes a perfectly regular "tick-tock" accompaniment, beginning with a roll off the orchestra's staccato strike of an A chord, creating an expectation that it will continue. In the sixth measure, there is an eighth-note rest on the second beat, and two syncopated "ticks" are heard before the "clock" returns to its normal rhythm. As the piece proceeds, the "clock" continues to indulge in brief moments of syncopation. Some are expected by the listener (as the tune repeats the passage in which the first syncopation occurred); others are not, creating a whimsical and comic effect. The song's basic arrangement and lighthearted tone makes it a favourite for school bands.
[edit] The Lyrics
In 1951, Mitchell Parish added rarely-heard lyrics, in part:
He had a clock that worked all right,
It worked all right, but not exactly quite;
Instead of going "tick, tock, tick",
The crazy clock went—"tock, tick, tock".
The poor old man just raved and raved, because nobody could say
Why his silly clock behaved that hickory dickory way....
