songs with whistling in them.

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

not sure if this has been done before. a friend of mine wants to make a themed tape. so far i've only come up with "walk like an egyptian" (bangles), "centerfold" (j geils band), "the riddle" (nik kershaw) and a couple of others i've forgotten. the whistling doesn't have to be too prominent... any ideas please?

― cecilia, Monday, 19 August 2002 16:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Just from the top of my head, "Patience" by Guns N' Roses.

― paul cox, Monday, 19 August 2002 16:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

Hmmm. You could go from "Walk Like an Egyptian" to an Abdel Halim Hafez song with whistling. Except I don't know it's name.

― DeRayMi, Monday, 19 August 2002 16:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding (and, by extension, "Eye Know" by De La Soul).

― Nate Patrin, Monday, 19 August 2002 17:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

Leonard Cohen's done a few songs where he ends up whistling funnily enough --- "Tonight Will Be Fine" and "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong". Both are as effortlessly cool as only Leonard can be.

― Enid Roach (Enid Roach), Monday, 19 August 2002 17:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Whistler - Dr. Rockit

and Walk Like An Egyptian rules. Also "Winds of Changes" by The Scorpiomns? (i think)

― Nik (Nik), Monday, 19 August 2002 17:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

'Whistling'Jack Smith-I was Kaiser Bill's Batman[Deram 67]

― Paul, Monday, 19 August 2002 18:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Winds of Change" and I claim my 5 deutschemarks

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 19 August 2002 18:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Rock Cottage" by Ten Benson (or maybe it's just the mix I have of it?)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 19 August 2002 18:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Jealous Guy" by John Lennon

― paul b, Monday, 19 August 2002 18:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Four Fingers" by Negativland
"Blue You" by the Magnetic Fields

― Ernest P., Monday, 19 August 2002 18:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

"The Whistling Song" by Moose

― justin, Monday, 19 August 2002 18:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life", "Mr Bojangles",

― Siegbran Hetteson (eofor), Monday, 19 August 2002 18:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

errol t, bingy bunny & general echo - this is a fabulous whistling track, tho i only had it on a tape of peel stuff. Its a version thing so tracking down the whistling one may be tricky

Roger whittaker - skye boat song

peter gabriel - downside up (gabriel whistles and liz fraser wails)

i tend to agree with peel - you can't go wrong with a whistling song

― geoff, Monday, 19 August 2002 18:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Felt Mountain" by Goldfrapp has some big, alpine kind of whistling on it.

― phil jones (interstar), Monday, 19 August 2002 19:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Undertones 'Get Over You' has got a great wolf-whistle at the start. Incidentally, I always (genuinely !) thought that the first line of that song wasn't "Dressed like that you must be living in a different world" but (and remember kids, the song was released in 79) "Dressed like Thatcher, must be living in a different world" ! Oh dear ...

― Darren, Monday, 19 August 2002 19:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I keep mine hidden" - The Smiths. I think the band hated it, while Moz loved it. Right before the split anyway. I kinda like it. Especially the whistling, actually!

― Simon, Monday, 19 August 2002 20:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

cant get used to losing you by the (english) beat

― dbini, Monday, 19 August 2002 20:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

thank goodness for these answers! i'd thought of some of those before, but that was the other night at 4 am-ish, and by the next day, most of them had faded from my mind. thanks everyone!

― cecilia, Monday, 19 August 2002 20:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

i could be real wrong, but wasn't there some whistling in some early mountain goats stuff? john to the thread.

― Brock K. (Brock K.), Monday, 19 August 2002 21:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

None spring to mind immediately that haven't already been mentioned, but I wanted to take this opportunity to mention that I'm currently on hold, waiting for an insurance quote, and they're subjecting me to a pan-flute version of "Chariots of Fire" that sounds like it has whistling in the background. Please kill me.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 19 August 2002 22:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

LIVE - nobody knows...one of the few decent songs on their monstrosity simply called V.

― bris, Monday, 19 August 2002 22:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

rammstein - engel ( i think that's what it's called)

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 20 August 2002 00:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

"in-zicnirea apusului" by negura bunget, from the _maiastru sfetnic_ album. romanian black metal with whistling? fuckz yeah.

― brian (yournullfame), Tuesday, 20 August 2002 01:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

Frankie Knuckles, "The Whistle Song"

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 20 August 2002 01:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

New York Dolls, "Babylon"

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 20 August 2002 01:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Maiden's Milk," Meat Puppets

― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 02:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

Beck - Steal My Body Home off Mellow Gold. The whistling part of the song is cool.

― maryann, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 03:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

Is this just my personal dream or do Slim Whitman songs have whistling in them?

― maryann, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 03:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

Maybe that Beck song doesn't have whistling in it. It's about four years since I heard it. Gee I really helped out.

― maryann, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 03:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

'games without frontiers' by peter gabriel hasn't been mentioned?

― tylero, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 05:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

And the LA band I can't remember the name of right now have a song called "Man From China" that some of their fans claim Gabriel ripped off for Games w/o Frontiers.

― nickn, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 06:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Sissyneck" Beck
"How Soon is Now?" Smiths
"Whistlin' Tune" Elvis (dreadful)
"Blackbird" Beatles

― bham, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 08:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

Where's my umlaut function when I need to mention Isobel by Bjork?

― Damian (Damian), Tuesday, 20 August 2002 10:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

Civil War by Guns and Roses. Special mention to Morricone's theme from A Fistful of Dollars.

― Roger Fascist, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 11:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

'big chief' by professor longhair, new orleans goodtime-music god. or if the frame of reference extends to plastic whistles, go for 'the baby song' by husker du, which is arguably one of the most ridiculous things to ever make it onto a record.

― angelo (angelo), Tuesday, 20 August 2002 12:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

a bunch of Cannanes songs.

― mike, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 21:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

The great 'Some People Try To Fuck With You' (?) by Teenage Fanclub has a one note whistle (not whistling) solo (as well as plenty of odd overdubs of things found in the studio's 'percussion box'). They curse so sweetly too.

― Snotty Moore, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 23:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

die matrosen (sp?) by liliput/kleenex has amazing whistling throughout. i'm not sure how easy it is to find... i've got it on a comp called "totally wired".

― lauren, Wednesday, 21 August 2002 03:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

Cannanes songs: "Ern Malley" from Arty Barbeque has some. I think "Prototype" has some as well.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 21 August 2002 03:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

"the whistling song" from meat puppets 2.

― jay kirsch, Wednesday, 21 August 2002 03:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

Frankie Knuckles "The Whistle Song"

― Siegbran Hetteson (eofor), Wednesday, 21 August 2002 10:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

The best whistling in a song EVER is near the end of "Step On" by The Happy Mondays - Ryder just starts whistling out of tune just as it's about to fade out. Genius!

― John Barlow, Wednesday, 21 August 2002 10:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

loose joints - tell you (today)

― JC (JC A.), Wednesday, 21 August 2002 14:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pere Ubu's "Nonalignment Pact" has a slew of whistling in it.

― badger, Thursday, 22 August 2002 00:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pixies - "La La Love You" - David Lovering's finest moment!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 22 August 2002 01:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

weird how peter gabriel's been mentioned twice already and yeah "games w/out frontiers" is as o.t.m. now as then (maybe more), but it's actually the first song on that third album where he uses whistling downright spookily on "The Intruder"

― george gosset (gegoss), Thursday, 22 August 2002 10:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

and don't the residents and xtc do it just a little too often ?

― george gosset (gegoss), Thursday, 22 August 2002 10:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

two months pass...

Paul Simon...Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard

― Lindsey, Monday, 4 November 2002 22:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

"The Stranger" by....er...Billy Joel.

"Ten Dollar Bill" by Cop Shoot Cop features the zealous blowing of pennywhistles (does that count?)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 November 2002 22:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Skipping 17 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

"Prove It" by Television is probably my favorite song with whistling in it, I can't believe no-one has mentioned it yet.

― webcrack (music=crack), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 00:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

Smash Mouth - "All Star"

― Curtis Stephens, Wednesday, 11 December 2002 01:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

Laurie Anderson's "Excellent Birds" has some whistling-type sounds, don't know if they're 'true'. P. Gabriel sings on that track, too.

And the "Colonel Bogey March" from "Bridge Over the River Kwai" hasn't been mentioned -- that should begin and end any whistling tape.

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 08:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

... that should be "Bridge On the River Kwai" ...

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 08:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

James' "What For?" has whistling on it.

― Zora (Zora), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 22:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Opus 40" by Mercury Rev

― felicity (felicity), Monday, 16 December 2002 07:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...

Who Painted Whistlers Mother - Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 17 January 2003 15:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

five months pass...

cornelius - star fruit sof ryder

― DZ, Monday, 30 June 2003 18:25 (twenty years ago) link

I love "Star Fruits Surf Rider" SO MUCH!!!! What a gorgeous song.

And also with the whistling-in-songs: Cee-Lo's "Gettin Grown"!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 30 June 2003 18:36 (twenty years ago) link

nine months pass...

in the middle of making a mix myself...

brother bones - sweet georgia brown (harlem globetrotters theme)
also
whistle stop from the disney version robin hood

i think all the other ones have already been said. incidentally, i wouldn't count beatles - blackbird...that doesn't really sound like whistling to me

― AdkenC, Thursday, 22 April 2004 07:04 (twenty years ago) link

"Set the House Ablaze" - The Jam.

Two whistlers! Harmonized!!

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:22 (twenty years ago) link

Two that nobody's mentioned, that are tremendous songs:
Parliament: I Just Got Back
Cartoone: Knick Knack Man

― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Thursday, 22 April 2004 14:50 (twenty years ago) link

when we eventually record a proper vrsion of this song, http://www.angelfire.com/la3/friendlyfire/Head_Up_His_Oedipus.mp3 , it's going to fade out on a glorious whistling solo.

― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Thursday, 22 April 2004 16:59 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.whistlingrecords.com/

― (Jon L), Thursday, 22 April 2004 17:01 (twenty years ago) link

"Generals and Majors" deserves a mention.

Does the "sound effect" whistling in Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen" count?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 22 April 2004 22:20 (twenty years ago) link

Also, "Don't Worry Be Happy"

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 22 April 2004 22:21 (twenty years ago) link

Keith Mansfield - Morning Broadway

― eleki-san (eleki-san), Friday, 23 April 2004 14:08 (twenty years ago) link

Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again - Amy Rigby

― frankE (frankE), Friday, 23 April 2004 15:15 (twenty years ago) link

Scariest whistling: "Face On Breast" - Scott Walker

"Ya know how to whistle, just put your lips together and blow"

― thing of thing, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:18 (twenty years ago) link

Outstanding examples, most of them, of melodic whistling, but what about whistling as punctuation, like the (CLASSIC!) "giddyup" whistle leading into the solo on Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' With Disaster"? What songs have THAT kind of whistling in them?

Plus, just about any double live LP from the 70s will feature some punter's long, loud, piercing whistle over a quiet passage during the big power ballad (e.g., "Turn the Page" off "Live Bullet"). What are the best/worst examples of this?

― briania, Friday, 23 April 2004 17:57 (twenty years ago) link

Air - Alpha Beta Gaga

(x-post: also contains banjo)

― frankE (frankE), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 15:51 (nineteen years ago) link

eleven years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBosTrEcVb4

― saer, Saturday, 7 November 2015 10:46 (eight years ago) link

The Cure - "Harold and Joe"

― LeRooLeRoo, Saturday, 7 November 2015 23:38 (eight years ago) link

**ctrl+f "andrew bird"**

I am disappoint.

― austinato (Austin), Saturday, 7 November 2015 23:54 (eight years ago) link

thurston moore - cherry's blues

― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Saturday, 7 November 2015 23:55 (eight years ago) link

But seriously, there's two sides to Andrew Bird's whistling stuffs. The pop stuff (of which 'Fitz and Dizzyspells' is absolute tops) and the more doodly, loop station-y instrumental stuff (of which 'Nyatiti' would be my pick).

― austinato (Austin), Sunday, 8 November 2015 00:35 (eight years ago) link

Obviously, duh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-bms6b2YKY

― Caput Johannis in Disco (Tom D.), Sunday, 8 November 2015 00:35 (eight years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihUna0TLoZA

― Michael Train, Sunday, 8 November 2015 00:56 (eight years ago) link

Julia Holter - Sea calls me home (she whistles herself)

― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Sunday, 8 November 2015 08:54 (eight years ago) link

X Files Theme

― cheeseburger, Sunday, 8 November 2015 22:42 (eight years ago) link

Andy Griffith theme.

― austinato (Austin), Sunday, 8 November 2015 22:45 (eight years ago) link

one year passes...

Can we please put a moratorium on this?

― calstars, Saturday, 10 December 2016 18:57 (seven years ago) link

Ok, just after you listen to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx4gi5_AV2U

― StanM, Saturday, 10 December 2016 19:06 (seven years ago) link

There's some millennial anthem with whistling in it that I keep hearing in places that just needs to be nuked

― calstars, Saturday, 10 December 2016 19:13 (seven years ago) link

I like Julia Holter tho so maybe I should hear that track. Gauzy heavy noisepop shoegaze minor key whistling might be OK

― calstars, Saturday, 10 December 2016 19:14 (seven years ago) link

I suspect that Steve Lillywhite is the culprit on early '80s whistling--he produced Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" and "The Intruder" plus XTC's "Generals and Majors" and "Take This Town" in 1980. I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting another big one.

― Hideous Lump, Saturday, 10 December 2016 20:25 (seven years ago) link

one year passes...

Nigerian whistling:

Dabenja • Take Away https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xSof_vDhY

― breastcrawl, Saturday, 1 December 2018 00:04 (five years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Belle and Sebastian - The Loneliness of the Middle-Distance Runner

― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 17 December 2018 05:57 (five years ago) link

Maybe it's been done in one of the many songs mentioned here but is there a song with autotuned whistling ?

― AlXTC from Paris, Monday, 17 December 2018 09:56 (five years ago) link

Similar track to Belle + Sebastian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-bms6b2YKY

― It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christ (Tom D.), Monday, 17 December 2018 10:03 (five years ago) link

Korean whistling:

(G)I-DLE • HANN (Alone): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNXn2qCEws

― breastcrawl, Monday, 17 December 2018 20:55 (five years ago) link

"World, Hold On" by Bob Sinclar somehow absent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyYMSa7_sWU
Probably the most whistling-dependent hit record of the decade to not actually be called "Whistle".

― You're all losing so many points on your progress bars (Champiness), Tuesday, 18 December 2018 01:13 (five years ago) link

Good pick! (different decades though: “World, Hold On” is a 2006 hit, “Whistle” is from 2012)

― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 18 December 2018 06:44 (five years ago) link

Scott Walker - Face On Breast

― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 18 December 2018 08:03 (five years ago) link

Colbie Caillat - Goldmine

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 18 December 2018 10:11 (five years ago) link

All these years and never a mention of "A Song For Europe?" Jamais???

― Hakuna Mutato (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 19 December 2018 21:43 (five years ago) link

Golden Years

― BrianB, Wednesday, 26 December 2018 01:52 (five years ago) link

Echobelly's "I Can't Imagine The World Without Me" has a "beckoning" whistle at the start (ie nothing to do with the melody)

― Maltrsnapper, Thursday, 27 December 2018 19:57 (five years ago) link

three years pass...

an old chestnut that’s never been posted (unless it was in one of the unspecified broken YouTube links):
Kyu Sakamoto’s “Ue o Muite Arukō” a/k/a “Sukiyaki”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc

Simply a beautiful little song, fantastically performed.

― middot • is • my • middle • name (breastcrawl), Thursday, 5 May 2022 12:38 (one year ago) link

The Flesh Eaters - River Of Fever

― city worker, Thursday, 5 May 2022 12:47 (one year ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.