Powerhouse (song)
Encyclopedia
Powerhouse is a instrumental musical composition by Raymond Scott
, probably best known today as the iconic "assembly line
" music in animated cartoons released by Warner Brothers.
's Saturday Night Swing Club, on which the Raymond Scott Quintette
performed, host Paul Douglas announced that Powerhouse had been premiered on that program in January or early February 1937.
Scott's Quintette (actually a sextet) first recorded "Powerhouse" in New York on February 20, 1937, along with three other titles. This recording was first commercially issued on the Irving Mills
-owned Master Records label as Master 111 (mx. M-120-1), coupled with another Scott composition, The Toy Trumpet. After the demise of the Master label late in 1937, "Powerhouse" was reissued on Brunswick
7993, and subsequently on Columbia
36311 (after the CBS purchase of ARC, which included the Brunswick catalog). The same take was issued on all releases. (An unreleased 1939 recording by the original Scott Quintette was issued in 2002 on the 2-CD Scott compilation Microphone Music.)
Both "Powerhouse" and "The Toy Trumpet" remained in Scott’s repertoire for decades, both were adapted
for Warner Brothers cartoon soundtracks by WB music director Carl Stalling
along with a dozen other Scott titles, and both have been recorded by numerous other artists. Stalling, who spiced his scores with Powerhouse dozens of times, never created a complete version of the work, with all his adaptations existing as excerpts.
The United States publisher of the title is Music Sales Corporation. Outside the U.S., the title is controlled by Warner/Chappell Music
.
s. Both have been used in numerous cartoons. The first theme, sometimes referred to as "Powerhouse A", is a frantic passage typically employed in chase and high-speed vehicle scenes to imply whirlwind velocity. The slower theme, "Powerhouse B", is the "assembly line" music, which sometimes accompanies scenes of repetitive, machine-like activity. Powerhouse in its entirety places "B" in the center while "A" opens and closes the work in the sequence A-B-A.
Looney Tunes
short Porky Pig’s Feat
, directed by Frank Tashlin
. Also in 1943, it was used in the Private Snafu
shorts Gripes, Spies
, and Rumors
. It was subsequently featured in over 40 other Warner Bros. cartoons. The most well-known "assembly-line" usage of "Powerhouse B" occurs in Bob Clampett
's Baby Bottleneck
(1946), in which newborn babies (of various species) are processed on a conveyor belt in time to the melody.
The "Powerhouse A" section featured prominently during Bugs Bunny
's altercation with a gremlin
in Clampett's 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon Falling Hare
. The 1953 Merrie Melodies cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
, directed by Chuck Jones, contains Stalling's lengthiest adaptation of the "Powerhouse A" section, clocking in at one minute and twenty-five seconds.
In the 1960's, producer Hal Seeger
and composer/arranger Winston Sharples
adapted "Powerhouse" and other Scott compositions in dozens of episodes of their Batfink
cartoon series.
The original Raymond Scott Quintette recordings, including Powerhouse, were licensed in the early 1990s for soundtrack
usage in twelve episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show
. Various passages of the tune have been arranged for use in The Simpsons
, Duckman
, The Bernie Mac Show
, and The Drew Carey Show
(in a brief scene involving an animated character). An entire 1993 episode of Animaniacs
, "Toy Shop Terror," was set to Warner Bros. music director Richard Stone
’s arrangement of the composition. "Powerhouse" also served as bumper theme music for the Cartoon Network
from 1997 to 2003, and can be heard as a systematic rock theme in the 2003 feature film Looney Tunes: Back in Action
.
"Powerhouse" has been used In The Simpsons
four times. The first occurs in ""And Maggie Makes Three
" (Season 6, Episode 13) during a scene at a bowling alley. In the episode "Bart Has Two Mommies
" (Season 17, Episode 14), "Powerhouse" B is adapted in a scene that pays homage to the 1937 Disney short, The Old Mill
, when Homer Simpson
gets caught in the Old Mill while trying to save his Rubber Duckie.
In the episode "Little Big Girl
" (Season 18, Episode 12), "Powerhouse" was used during the sequence where the fire at Cletus' farm is lit. In the episode "The Fool Monty
" (Season 22, Episode 6), "Powerhouse" was adapted as background music for a construction scene in which Charles Montgomery Burns, having lost his memory, is led to a dangerous construction site by Homer Simpson, who is seeks revenge for Burns' years of cruel behavior. Burns walks along moving girders, narrowly avoids flying rivets, and other well-worn cartoon construction site gags. Simpsons creator Matt Groening
once ranked "Powerhouse" as #14 on a list of his "100 Favorite Things."
in the soundtrack of the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
. The Horner composition, titled "Power Play," resulted in legal action by Scott's U.S. publisher, Music Sales Corporation, against Walt Disney Pictures
for failure to credit the work's original composer. The dispute was ultimately settled out of court.
In recent years, Powerhouse has been recorded by jazz clarinetist Don Byron
on his album Bug Music, jazz pianist Ted Kooshian
on his 2009 CD Ted Kooshian's Standard Orbit Quartet: Underdog, and other Stories..., pedal steel guitarist Jon Rauhouse, The Metropole Orchestra, The Beau Hunks
Sextette, The Coctails, and jazz guitarist Skip Heller
. The title, as arranged by Michelle DiBucci
, has been in the repertoire of Kronos Quartet
since 1994.
The rock band
Rush
adapted part of Powerhouse in their 1978 instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" (5:49 into the track) on their Hemispheres
album, as did ska
/soul
band The Pietasters
in Factory Concerto on their 1993 self-titled album
, and alternative band Soul Coughing
featured it in their song Bus to Beelzebub from their 1994 album Ruby Vroom. The tune has also been appropriated by They Might Be Giants
(on the song Rhythm Section Want Ad), Devo
(on Fraulein), and others. Other contemporary artists who have recorded versions of "Powerhouse" include Thelonious Moog, The Tiptons
(with Amy Denio
), the Grammy Award
-nominated string ensemble Quartet San Francisco
, and Steroid Maximus (featuring J. G. Thirlwell
).
In 2006-2007, the "assembly line" theme was used in a highly choreographed commercial for the Visa check card
. The commercial, entitled "Lunch", was staged in a manner intended to be reminiscent of the song’s cartoon uses.
In August 2009, Sinking Ship Productions staged a musical portrait of Raymond Scott entitled Powerhouse at the New York International Fringe Festival
. The composition "Powerhouse" was used as a recurring theme.
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
, probably best known today as the iconic "assembly line
Assembly line
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods...
" music in animated cartoons released by Warner Brothers.
History
In scripted comments read on the First Anniversary Special of CBS RadioCBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
's Saturday Night Swing Club, on which the Raymond Scott Quintette
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
performed, host Paul Douglas announced that Powerhouse had been premiered on that program in January or early February 1937.
Scott's Quintette (actually a sextet) first recorded "Powerhouse" in New York on February 20, 1937, along with three other titles. This recording was first commercially issued on the Irving Mills
Irving Mills
Irving Mills was a jazz music publisher, also known by the name of "Joe Primrose."Mills was born to Jewish parents in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He founded Mills Music with his brother Jack in 1919...
-owned Master Records label as Master 111 (mx. M-120-1), coupled with another Scott composition, The Toy Trumpet. After the demise of the Master label late in 1937, "Powerhouse" was reissued on Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
7993, and subsequently on Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
36311 (after the CBS purchase of ARC, which included the Brunswick catalog). The same take was issued on all releases. (An unreleased 1939 recording by the original Scott Quintette was issued in 2002 on the 2-CD Scott compilation Microphone Music.)
Both "Powerhouse" and "The Toy Trumpet" remained in Scott’s repertoire for decades, both were adapted
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
for Warner Brothers cartoon soundtracks by WB music director Carl Stalling
Carl Stalling
Carl W. Stalling was an American composer and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.-Biography:Stalling was born to Ernest and...
along with a dozen other Scott titles, and both have been recorded by numerous other artists. Stalling, who spiced his scores with Powerhouse dozens of times, never created a complete version of the work, with all his adaptations existing as excerpts.
The United States publisher of the title is Music Sales Corporation. Outside the U.S., the title is controlled by Warner/Chappell Music
Warner/Chappell Music
Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company, and a division of the Warner Music Group. The company traces its origins back to 1811 and the founding of Chappell & Company, a music publishing company and instrument shop on London’s Bond Street that, in 1929, began a rapid...
.
Structure
Structurally, Powerhouse consists of two distinct - and seemingly unrelated - musical themes, played at different tempoTempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
s. Both have been used in numerous cartoons. The first theme, sometimes referred to as "Powerhouse A", is a frantic passage typically employed in chase and high-speed vehicle scenes to imply whirlwind velocity. The slower theme, "Powerhouse B", is the "assembly line" music, which sometimes accompanies scenes of repetitive, machine-like activity. Powerhouse in its entirety places "B" in the center while "A" opens and closes the work in the sequence A-B-A.
Use in cartoons
The first use of Powerhouse in a cartoon occurred in the 1943 Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
short Porky Pig’s Feat
Porky Pig's Feat
Porky Pig's Feat is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Looney Tunes series, produced in black-and-white and released to theatres on June 13, 1943 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Frank Tashlin with musical supervision by Carl Stalling, and produced by Leon Schlesinger...
, directed by Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin, born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, also known as Tish Tash or Frank Tash was an American animator, screenwriter, and film director.-Animator:...
. Also in 1943, it was used in the Private Snafu
Private Snafu
Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional cartoon shorts produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The character was created by director Frank Capra, chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit, and most were written by...
shorts Gripes, Spies
Spies (Private Snafu)
Spies is part of the Private Snafu series of animated shorts produced by Warner Bros. during World War II. Released in 1943, the cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones and features the vocal talents of Mel Blanc.-Plot:...
, and Rumors
Rumors (Private Snafu)
Rumors is part of the Private Snafu series of animated shorts produced by Warner Bros. during World War II. Released in 1943, the cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng.-Plot:...
. It was subsequently featured in over 40 other Warner Bros. cartoons. The most well-known "assembly-line" usage of "Powerhouse B" occurs in Bob Clampett
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
's Baby Bottleneck
Baby Bottleneck
Baby Bottleneck is a 1945 Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1946 and directed by Robert Clampett and written by Warren Foster.-Plot:...
(1946), in which newborn babies (of various species) are processed on a conveyor belt in time to the melody.
The "Powerhouse A" section featured prominently during Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
's altercation with a gremlin
Gremlin
A gremlin is an imaginary creature commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented, with a specific interest in aircraft. Gremlins' mischievous natures are similar to those of English folkloric imps, while their inclination to damage or dismantle machinery is more...
in Clampett's 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon Falling Hare
Falling Hare
Falling Hare is a 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert Clampett, starring Bugs Bunny. The title is another play on words. The word "hair" and "hare". As "falling hair" refers to impending baldness, while in this cartoon's climax, the title turns out to be descriptive of Bugs' situation....
. The 1953 Merrie Melodies cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century is a Merrie Melodies cartoon created in 1952 and released on July 25, 1953, starring Daffy Duck as space hero Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig as his assistant, and Marvin the Martian as his opponent...
, directed by Chuck Jones, contains Stalling's lengthiest adaptation of the "Powerhouse A" section, clocking in at one minute and twenty-five seconds.
In the 1960's, producer Hal Seeger
Hal Seeger
Harold "Hal" Seeger was an animated cartoon producer and director who owned his own studio the Hal Seeger Studio ....
and composer/arranger Winston Sharples
Winston Sharples
Winston Singleton Sharples was a composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures...
adapted "Powerhouse" and other Scott compositions in dozens of episodes of their Batfink
Batfink
Batfink is an animated television series, consisting of five-minute shorts, that first aired in September 1967. The 100-episode series was quickly created by Hal Seeger, starting in 1966, to parody the popular Batman and The Green Hornet television series which had premiered the same...
cartoon series.
The original Raymond Scott Quintette recordings, including Powerhouse, were licensed in the early 1990s for soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
usage in twelve episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren & Stimpy Show, often simply referred to as Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series, created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Höek, a psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat...
. Various passages of the tune have been arranged for use in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, Duckman
Duckman
Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man is an American animated sitcom that aired from 1994–1997, created by Everett Peck and developed by Peck. The sitcom is based on characters created by Peck in his Dark Horse comic...
, The Bernie Mac Show
The Bernie Mac Show
The Bernie Mac Show is an American sitcom featuring comic actor Bernie Mac and his wife Wanda raising his sister's three kids: Jordan, Bryana and Vanessa. The show aired for five seasons , concluding with a half-hour series finale on Fox....
, and The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004. The show was set in Cleveland, Ohio, and revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the actor....
(in a brief scene involving an animated character). An entire 1993 episode of Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, "Toy Shop Terror," was set to Warner Bros. music director Richard Stone
Richard Stone (composer)
Richard Stone was an American composer. He played an important part in the revival of Warner Bros. animation in the 1990s, composing music and songs for Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz-Mania, SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid!, The Sylvester and Tweety...
’s arrangement of the composition. "Powerhouse" also served as bumper theme music for the Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
from 1997 to 2003, and can be heard as a systematic rock theme in the 2003 feature film Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American live action/animated adventure comedy film directed by Joe Dante and starring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, and Steve Martin. The film is essentially a feature-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical...
.
"Powerhouse" has been used In The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
four times. The first occurs in ""And Maggie Makes Three
And Maggie Makes Three
"And Maggie Makes Three" is the thirteenth television episode of The Simpsons sixth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 22, 1995. In the episode, Lisa notices that there are no photos of Maggie in the family photo albums. This leads to a recount of...
" (Season 6, Episode 13) during a scene at a bowling alley. In the episode "Bart Has Two Mommies
Bart Has Two Mommies
"Bart Has Two Mommies" is the fourteenth episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons.-Plot:One day, the Simpsons attend a church fundraiser for a new steeple. In spite of Homer's best efforts to cheat, Ned Flanders wins a rubber duck racing contest and wins a female-oriented computer called...
" (Season 17, Episode 14), "Powerhouse" B is adapted in a scene that pays homage to the 1937 Disney short, The Old Mill
The Old Mill
The Old Mill is a 1937 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Wilfred Jackson, scored by Leigh Harline, and released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on November 5, 1937...
, when Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
gets caught in the Old Mill while trying to save his Rubber Duckie.
In the episode "Little Big Girl
Little Big Girl
"Little Big Girl" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons eighteenth season, which was originally broadcast on February 11, 2007. It was written by Don Payne, and directed by Raymond S. Persi. Natalie Portman guest starred as a new character, Darcy. The title is a play on the Dustin Hoffman movie...
" (Season 18, Episode 12), "Powerhouse" was used during the sequence where the fire at Cletus' farm is lit. In the episode "The Fool Monty
The Fool Monty
"The Fool Monty" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons twenty-second season and aired on November 21, 2010. In the episode, Bart finds Mr. Burns living in the forest and takes him home, while Homer and Marge decide to get payback on him...
" (Season 22, Episode 6), "Powerhouse" was adapted as background music for a construction scene in which Charles Montgomery Burns, having lost his memory, is led to a dangerous construction site by Homer Simpson, who is seeks revenge for Burns' years of cruel behavior. Burns walks along moving girders, narrowly avoids flying rivets, and other well-worn cartoon construction site gags. Simpsons creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
once ranked "Powerhouse" as #14 on a list of his "100 Favorite Things."
Use in video games
In the Madness Regent and Madness Accelerant games of Newgrounds.com, "Powerhouse B" serves as the main theme music of the evil clown.Recent performances, recordings, and usages
"Powerhouse" was adapted without attribution by composer James HornerJames Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
in the soundtrack of the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 comedy film. The directorial debut of Joe Johnston and released through Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III, the film tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to 1/4 of an inch with his electromagnetic...
. The Horner composition, titled "Power Play," resulted in legal action by Scott's U.S. publisher, Music Sales Corporation, against Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
for failure to credit the work's original composer. The dispute was ultimately settled out of court.
In recent years, Powerhouse has been recorded by jazz clarinetist Don Byron
Don Byron
Don Byron is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet, but has also used bass clarinet and saxophones....
on his album Bug Music, jazz pianist Ted Kooshian
Ted Kooshian
Ted Kooshian is a New York jazz pianist and keyboardist who has performed with artists that include Aretha Franklin, Chuck Berry, Toni Braxton, Marvin Hamlisch, Sarah Brightman, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Kooshian has played in many Broadway pit orchestras, and is a member of the Ed Palermo Big...
on his 2009 CD Ted Kooshian's Standard Orbit Quartet: Underdog, and other Stories..., pedal steel guitarist Jon Rauhouse, The Metropole Orchestra, The Beau Hunks
The Beau Hunks
The Beau Hunks are a Dutch revivalist music ensemble who have performed and recorded the vintage works of composers Leroy Shield, Raymond Scott, Edward McDowell, Ferde Grofé, and others. They have been referred to as a "documentary orchestra," because they perform note-perfect renditions of music...
Sextette, The Coctails, and jazz guitarist Skip Heller
Skip Heller
Fred "Skip" Heller , although active in many different types of music as a performer, producer, and historian coming out of the Philadelphia jazz scene, he never made much of a mark in his hometown despite local critical recognition....
. The title, as arranged by Michelle DiBucci
Michelle DiBucci
Michelle DiBucci is a composer who writes scores for film and TV. She worked on the film scores for Wendigo and Carrier. She also composed for Gêmeas and for the film Creepshow.- References :...
, has been in the repertoire of Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
since 1994.
The rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
adapted part of Powerhouse in their 1978 instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" (5:49 into the track) on their Hemispheres
Hemispheres (Rush album)
Hemispheres is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1978. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and mixed at Trident Studios in London....
album, as did ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
/soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
band The Pietasters
The Pietasters
The Pietasters are a seven-piece ska/soul band hailing from Washington, D.C., with additional members from Maryland and Virginia.- History :In 1990, a group of friends were attending college at Virginia Tech in the mountains of Virginia...
in Factory Concerto on their 1993 self-titled album
The Pietasters (album)
The Pietasters, also commonly referred to as Piestomp, is the first album by the ska/soul band The Pietasters. It was released in 1993 on Slugtone. Alternative recordings had earlier been released on cassette as All You Can Eat and The Ska-Rumptious 7 Inch. The CD was reissued in 2000 and made...
, and alternative band Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing was a popular New York-based alternative rock band. The band found modest mainstream success during the mid-to-late 1990s. Soul Coughing developed a devout fanbase and have garnered largely positive response from critics. Steve Huey describes the band as "one of the most unusual cult...
featured it in their song Bus to Beelzebub from their 1994 album Ruby Vroom. The tune has also been appropriated by They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
(on the song Rhythm Section Want Ad), Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
(on Fraulein), and others. Other contemporary artists who have recorded versions of "Powerhouse" include Thelonious Moog, The Tiptons
The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet
The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet is an all-female, jazz saxophone quartet from Seattle, Washington. They actually consist of five members...
(with Amy Denio
Amy Denio
Amy Denio is a Seattle -based multi-instrumental composer of soundtracks for modern dance, film and theater, as well as a songwriter and music improviser. Often called an unclassifiable avant-garde jazz musician, she is also deeply inspired by world music. She is probably best known as a...
), the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-nominated string ensemble Quartet San Francisco
Quartet San Francisco
Quartet San Francisco is a non-traditional and eclectic string quartet led by violinist Jeremy Cohen. The group played their first concert in 2001 and has recorded four albums...
, and Steroid Maximus (featuring J. G. Thirlwell
J. G. Thirlwell
James George Thirlwell , aka Clint Ruin, aka Frank Want, aka Foetus, is an Australian vocalist, composer and record producer...
).
In 2006-2007, the "assembly line" theme was used in a highly choreographed commercial for the Visa check card
Check card
The term check card can refer to:* An identification card issued by a retailer allowing the holder to tender payment by check. Such cards were commonly issued in the United States by supermarkets and other retailers before the widespread use of debit cards....
. The commercial, entitled "Lunch", was staged in a manner intended to be reminiscent of the song’s cartoon uses.
In August 2009, Sinking Ship Productions staged a musical portrait of Raymond Scott entitled Powerhouse at the New York International Fringe Festival
New York International Fringe Festival
The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, is a Fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It takes place over the course of two weeks every August, spread across several neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, notably the Lower East Side, the...
. The composition "Powerhouse" was used as a recurring theme.
External links
- Clip of "assembly line" theme of Powerhouse (.wav file) at RaymondScott.com
- Clip of "chase" theme of Powerhouse (.mp3 file) at RaymondScott.com
- Raymond Scott performs "Powerhouse" on TV's Your Hit Parade, April 16, 1955
- Seventy-five "Powerhouse" adaptions and performances compiled on YouTube by the Raymond Scott Channel
- Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" at Jazz.com
- Choreographed sketch from Sinking Ship Productions' theatrical presentation Powerhouse, recorded during the New York International Fringe Festival Opening Press Conference, August 12, 2009
- The Philharmonicas (harmonica sextet) performing "Powerhouse" in 1939 short film The Dipsy Doodler