Talk:John O'Neill (musician, born 1926)

Untitled

I recently sub-edited this article, and removed the sentence - He had a hit in 1967 with the song, "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" (billed as Whistling Jack Smith). I do not believe this is correct - see All Music Guide wording below -

"Once upon a time in 1967, British Decca/Deram producer Noel Walker made a two-and-a-half-minute record featuring his own whistling backed by a veritable team of whistlers, electric organ, guitar, bass guitar, and trap drums. As fodder for this pixelated experiment he chose "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" (initially entitled "Too Much Birdseed"), a cheerful but dangerously infectious air composed by ex-Kestrels Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook. For a pseudonym, Walker devised the name Whistling Jack Smith, a play on the name of vaudeville's famous Whispering Jack Smith.

Released in the U.K. as DM 112 (then in the U.S. as DM 85005), the peculiarly pleasant if somewhat shrill 45-rpm single shot to number 20 on the Billboard pop chart. Many who heard this whimsically invigorating march tempered with elements of the Twist broadcast over the radio never even caught the name of the tune. Indeed, the majority of comic strip-reading, television-dazed U.S. citizens would have been puzzled by the word "batman," capitalized in the song title but spelled with a lower-case "b" when used by the English to describe a military valet.

Although Whistling Jack Smith never actually existed (an enigma comparable to that of Italo Calvino's Nonexistent Knight), he had the singular honor of not existing twice. The name was first applied to Noel Walker's invisible whistling homunculus, and then for publicity and puckered lip-sync public performance purposes to vocalist Coby Wells, aka Billy Moeller, then serving as roadie for his brother Tommy Moeller's band, Unit 4+2. Although four additional singles and an LP would appear under the name of Whistling Jack Smith, nothing was ever achieved by Walker and company that could approach the apex of human achievement represented by "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman."

I intend to try to pursue the validity of this - I fancy it might not be easy. Any help would be gratefully received.

Derek R Bullamore 19:01, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

It's likely true, and since Whistling Jack Smith redirects here, it should be mentioned - that, or Whistling Jack Smith should be split into its own article which discusses both uses. Both this article's whistler and the hit single's whistler are notable in their own right and deserve mention somewhere. Chubbles 04:56, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

It was I who made the addition referring to O'Neill as Whistling Kack Smith. I came across this in the Wikipedia page 'Batman' referring to military servants where, in the section 'Germany' the statement was made. I defer to you gentlemen and your knowledge of the subject, and I have edited the 'Batman' page to delete the reference to the record.

Mad Bill 18:58 28 September 2007 (UTC)

I was unaware of the kaiser bill thing before I researched this TBH- I just made the article due to the good the bad and the ugly (he's my great uncle). Here is where I found the Bill mention: http://www.thisiscolchester.co.uk/essex/local_interest/famous_faces/television/joneill.html Seems to be an obituary from where he lived.--Josquius (talk) 13:17, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Also here suggests: http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/whistling_jack_smith --Him and a dog 00:13, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Real identity of Smith

Five years on and nothing in the article to validate that O'Neill was Smith. Several mentions to people who stood in for him but for all we can see they (or one of them!) may have been Smith. Anyone and reliable sources to show O'Neill was Smith? The thisiscolchester one above is now a deadlink. Rateyourmusic is a user generated site--Egghead06 (talk) 04:26, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Another eight years on, and I have uncovered another version of the story. According to The Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music, edited by Colin Larkin, and I quote "Despite press coverage at the time, the whistling on the record was actually performed by producer Ivor Raymonde... it was a studio production by the Mike Sammes Singers, written by Cook and Greenaway. (William) Moeller was hired to tour under the name Whistling Jack Smith to capitalise on the song's popularity" That, at least, is a reliable source. Where do we go from here ? - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 11:27, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

References