Robert Preston 76 Trombones Lyrics

Friends! May I have your attention, please?
Attention, please!
I can deal with this trouble, friends, with a wave of my hand, this very hand.
Please observe me if you will,
I'm Professor Harold Hill
and I'm here to organize the River City Boys' Band!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... [drumroll]
Oh think, my friends, how could any pool table ever hope to compete
with a gold trombone --
Rah-bah, a ra ta ta ta ta dah daah!
Remember, my friends, what a handful of trumpet players did
to the famous, fabled Walls of Jericho --
[singing]
Old billiard parlor walls come a-tumblin' down!
[speaking]
Oh, a band will do it, my friends, oh yes, I mean a boys' band, do you hear me?
I say River City's gotta have a boys' band and I mean she needs it today!
Well, Professor Harold Hill's on hand and River City's gonna have her Boys' Band
as sure as the Lord made little green apples!
And that Band's gonna be in uniform -- Johnny, Willie, Teddy, Fred --
And you'll see the glitter of crashing cymbals,
And you'll hear the thunder of rolling drums,
the shimmer of trumpets! tah ta ta raah!
And you'll feel something akin to the electric thrill I once enjoyed
when Gilmore, Liberati, Pat Conway, the Great Creatore,
W.C. Handy and John Philip Sousa
all came to town on that very same historic day!
[singing]
Seventy-six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand.
They were followed by rows and rows
Of the finest virtuosos
The cream of ev'ry famous band.

Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind
There were more than a thousand reeds
Springing up like weeds
There were horns of ev'ry shape and kind.

There were copper bottom tympani in horse platoons
Thundering, thundering all along the way.
Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons,
Each bassoon having its big, fat say!

There were fifty mounted cannon in the battery
Thundering, thundering louder than before
Clarinets of ev'ry size
And trumpeters who'd improvise
A full octave higher than the score!

Seventy-six trombones hit the counterpoint
While a hundred and ten cornets blazed away
To the rhythm of Harch! harch! harch!
All the kids began to march
And they're marching still right today!