Hey, Remember the 'Typewriter Song'?

Vintage Underwood*, circa 1910 or so>

My wife and I stumbled upon a great moment in music history a few minutes ago as part of a conversation about something completely apart from our conversation. It sent both of us to the archives (after acting out the song; she was funny, typing and punctuating with "ding"). The topic was "the typewriter song" and most of you've heard it: fast-playing violins punctuated with the bell of the old typewriter carriage return. It's a marvelous piece of music (by classicist Leroy Anderson) and an even better slice of 1950s culture. I love it and here's your link. (The song's title, by the way, is "Typewriter.")

(*OK, the story on this one is that when I started in the newspaper business in 1964, I was the kid in the newsroom and the kid got the oldest typewriter. These babies were built like tiny tanks and they didn't break, so they stayed around a while. Mine was a 1907 Underwood, much like the one pictured here, and it was the oldest item in the building. It served me well. Today, I have a 1910 Underwood in my entrance hall at home as a reminder that we used to have to work at this business. My old friend Keith Ferrell still uses a typewriter because, he says, it makes him think about what he's writing before sending it off to the publishers.)