Towards the end of February, I was much amused by a tweet from mathematician Rob Eastaway:
A quick rummage on the keyboard confirmed his find and that actually the basic tunes were very similar. A quick moment in trusty old Sibelius helped to make it clearer; I halved the note lengths in the second tune to get them to match better.
Postman Pat and Mack the Knife
Although I was supposedly working on a maths problem for Rob, this appealed as a quick, fun challenge so I set to.
I first put together the words of both songs and sorted out a melange that fitted the Kurt Weill tune. I then found a decent karaoke version of the Bobby Darin arrangement on YouTube and ripped that to an mp3 file. Next I dropped that into Audacity, an excellent open source multi-track program, and recorded the song with the new words.
The karaoke stereo track above the voice track
I use a Samson Q1U, a venerable but still excellent USB microphone. The pop screen is an invaluable addition and resting the mini tripod on some bubble wrap takes away the vibrations from the computer fan!
Samson mic with pop screen
Finally, back to you tube for a collection of Postman Pat clips which I ripped to avi files. These were then arranged over the sound track in the old version of Windows Moviemaker, which is free and ideal for simple video editing projects.
All that was left to do was upload it to YouTube and let Rob know I was done.
Lyrics:
Postman Pat … Postman Pat,
Postman Pat and … his black and white cat.
Early in the morning,
Just as day is dawning,
He picks up all the … postbags in his van
Postman Pat … Postman Pat
Postman Pat and … his black and white cat.
All the birds are singing,
And the day is just beginning,
Pat feels he’s a … a really happy man.
On the pavement … Monday morning, don’t ya know,
Lies a postbag … big and fat.
There’s someone driving … around the corner,
Could that be our boy … Postman Pat?
Ev’rybody knows his … bright red van.
All his friends will smile as … as he waves to greet ’em.
Maybe you can never … be sure there’ll be a ring
or a knock, knock … letters through your door?
Postman Pat, … Postman Pat,
Postman Pat and … and his fluffy little cat.
All the birds are singing,
And the day is just beginning,
Pat feels he’s a … a really happy man.
Farmer Thompson … Old Missus Goggins,
Reverend Timms and Ted Glen,
Yeah the parcels … will be right babe
Now that Pattie’s … back in town.
I said Farmer Thompson … Old Missus Goggins,
Look out Reverend Timms and old Ted Glen,
Yeah the parcels … they will be right babe
Now that Pattie’s______ back in town ______
Look out old Jessie is back!