Berliner record Feb. of 1896, "On The Gramophone"

[solophoneman]

Here is a recitation by Berliner artist David C. Bangs entitled "On the Gramophone", recorded on February 15, 1896. This is typically scratchy for a 113 year old record, but you can still make out the words quite well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0rZDcuNAQk

[MordEth]

Great video—thanks for sharing it. I wonder how many of the uses he listed were actually used...I cannot imagine many people proposed into the gramophone!

— MordEth

[Starkton]

Is it possible to transcribe the spoken text for us non-native speakers? I had some difficulties to understand several words/passages. Partly because the disc run too fast. Thank you in advance!

[phonogfp]

Interesting! I have the same title re-done by George Graham in December 1896, but the talk is set in rhyme. You can hear this on the audio CD that accompanies The Talking Machine Compendium 2nd Edition. The text is also provided in the book.

George P.

[MordEth]

Is it possible to transcribe the spoken text for us non-native speakers? I had some difficulties to understand several words/passages. Partly because the disc run too fast. Thank you in advance!

Starkton,

I’ll see what I can do with that—I was thinking that it might be useful to have a transcript of it.

— MordEth

[MordEth]

This is kind of rough, but maybe someone else can help me fill in the parts that I am not hearing clearly enough to be certain what he is saying.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am the gramophone. I can talk longer, talk louder, and talk with more given subjects than any other instrument that has been invented. Now friends, whatever you talk into me, I talk back to you. Whatever you talk here on these plates is saved upon years and years. You can talk into me and talk a letter. And send it off to your mother, your father or your sweetheart, and they can hear your own beloved voice many miles away. I can tell you there’s nothing like a gramophone, and tell it’s the greatest thing for you because if a young man’s going to propose to you, make him talk into the gramophone and he’ll dally instead. The ??? of the good of ??? to break the promise, when you have the gramophone.

One other thing, whatever you say into the gramophone is bound to have the last word. Don't be startled, and don't leave it around where your wife or your mother-in-law can hear it. My friends, you can send letters of advice that the president of the United States and tell him how to conduct his administration. Leave a little good advice on the gramophone and the gramophone can give it.

But friends, I haven’t much time to tarry, and I have to go ’round the world on my triumphant tour bearing the glad tidings and speaking the good news of the gramophone everywhere. In conclusion, mark my words, world, the gramophone is destined to be one of the grandest inventions of modern times. So good night, folks, good night.

The sections in blue are the ones that I am not certain are correct (or are missing content denoted by ???).

Hope this helps.

— MordEth

[richardh]

Wow Mordeth, how many times did you need to listen to it to transcribe all that!

Bet you won't want to listen to it again for a while. But this is a great recording. Thanks for posting it Solophoneman...its fasinating listening to a recording made right at the beginning of the technology and hearing what uses they thought the machine could be put to. He was right about it being one of the most important inventions...just think how different the world would have been without it!

RJ

[MordEth]

Wow Mordeth, how many times did you need to listen to it to transcribe all that!

Surprisingly, not all that many—mostly I kept pausing it and playing the segments that I was not certain were correct again. Then I played it a couple of times to read what I’d transcribed to verify it for accuracy.

I was tempted to run it through speech recognition software, but I figured that it might require more work to try to clean it up to the point where that would be effective (and it would probably still have difficulty with how things were said), and so I used the manual method instead.

Bet you won't want to listen to it again for a while. But this is a great recording. Thanks for posting it...its fascinating listening to a recording made right at the beginning of the technology and hearing what uses they thought the machine could be put to. He was right about it being one of the most important inventions...just think how different the world would have been without it!

I’ll probably give it another couple of passes to see if I can’t improve on the blue sections later, but I think that a break might help. And perhaps solophoneman can help fill in some of the parts where I was not certain exactly what was said.

I agree, though—the invention of means to record sound was one of ‘the grandest inventions of modern times’.

— MordEth

[Valecnik]

Thanks for the posting and also for the transcript. It is hard to listen to, even for a native speaker. I agree it's fascinating some of the uses they imagined.

[MordEth]

Thanks for the posting and also for the transcript. It is hard to listen to, even for a native speaker. I agree it's fascinating some of the uses they imagined.

Bruce,

I agree, and you’re very welcome. Hopefully someone else can fill in the gaps or I will have more luck when I review it again later. I’m curious what is being said about broken promises. Plus, I find it interesting that solophoneman’s posting sparked additional discussion about Berliner, a subject on which I really need to become more knowledgeable.

— MordEth