Hot Town in the Old Tune Tonight
General Info
Year of Published: 2018
Publisher: Row-loff Productions
Difficulty: Advanced
Duration: 00:04:25
Cost: $50.00
Instrumentaiton
Solo
Ensemble
Player 1: Glockenspiel
Player 2: Vibraphone
Player 3: Marimba 1
Player 4: Marimba 2
Player 5: Anvil & Ship Bell & Brake Drum & 2 Triangles & 4 Cowbells & Marimba (share wit Player 4) & Siren Whistle & Duck Call & Ratchet & Kazoo
Player 6: Snare DRum & 2 Wood Blocks
Player 7: Bass Drum & 4 Concert Tom Tom
Player 8: Hand Cymbals & Suspended Cymbal & Triangle (Large) & Bulb Horn & Police Whistle
Program Notes
Hot Town in the Old Tune Tonight is a rollicking fantasy variation based on the melodic theme of There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night composed by Theodore A. Metz (1848-1936).
In an interview for Time Magazine on August 5th, 1935, less than a year before his death, Metz retold the story of the composition’s genesis. “I was with McIntyre and Heath’s Minstrels as the bandmaster in 1886, and we were trouping through Louisiana… On the train, we passed a village called Old Town and there was a cabin burning. Mac turned to me and said: ‘There’ll be a hot time in Old Town tonight.’ It had the ring a good title ought to have and I jotted it down on the top of an envelope upon which I was scribbling the notes of a new march I was composing for our parade in New Orleans. The march became the song.”
There’ll be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night remains one of the most enduring American Folk Songs, becoming popular after it was used as a theme for Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders in the late 1890s. Since then it has been used as a Fight Song for many colleges and universities, and can be heard in films from Citizen Kane to Batman. It was used to great comedic effect when performed by the Hooterville Volunteer Fire Department Band in episodes of vintage television shows Green Acres and Petticoat Junction (which is probably where I first became aware of it).
The original melody is woven into the fabric of Hot Town in the Old Tune Tonight in many different ways - turned upside down, inside out, and backwards - giving it a slightly not-quite-right-ness that might also explain the title.
Works for Percussion by this Composer
Solo Works
Almost Calypso - Marimba
Duet Works
Pun Intended Consequences - 2 Players
Rocket Summer - 11 Players