George Laszlo - Taxi Intelligence

Taxi Music
A Ride Through the 20th Century
by George Laszlo
Taxi & Limousine
Research Center, Inc.
Taxi & Limousine
Research Center, Inc.
www.TLCentury.org
Copyrights and Disclaimers
Presentation Copyright 2013 - Taxi & Limousine Research Center, Inc.;
This presentation is an original work by the Taxi & Limousine Research Center, Inc.
Contents may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written
permission of the Taxi & Limousine Research Center, Inc.;
All songs/music used in this presentation that are not in the public domain were
legally purchased from iTunes or other on-line sources;
No song/music in this presentation is played in its entirety; only illustrative excerpts
are used under the “fair use” principle of the copyright act;
Individuals receiving/viewing this presentation are encouraged to legally purchase
the entire copies of the songs/music excerpted in this presentation
1891 - Taxi meter invented
Friedrich Wilhelm Gustav Bruhn
Germany (Lubeck and Berlin)
Measured distance traveled
His early meters measured wheel
turns and were used on horsedrawn carriages
Taximeter first used on an 1897
Daimler Victoria car in Stuttgart
Later invented the tachometer and
altimiter
Daughter became wife of Mies
van der Rohe in 1913
1897 Daimler Victoria Taxi
Time Left -> 29
1896 - Electrobat Taxi Introduced
Built and introduced in Philadelphia
Inventors were Harry Morris and Pedro
Salom
First used in New York in 1897 by the
Electric Carriage and Wagon Company
Battery weighed 800 pounds
Doomed by 1907
Electrobat in Union Square in front of Tiffany’s
Note: The first motor driven taxi was put
in service in Dessau, Germany by
Friedrich Lutzmann in 1893
Note: Taxi service in London and Paris
began in 1897
1904 - 1914 Taxi Business Heats Up
Many car companies introduce
purpose-built taxis
France: Renault, Darracq, DeDionBouton, Unic, Simplex
UK: Vauxhall, Austin, Napier
1902 De Dion Bouton
USA: Rockwell, Yellow, Alco,
Thomas Flyer, Titan
Germany: Daimler, Benz
1912 Titan Taxi
Taxis proliferate:
1897
1900
London
25
New York
12
1907
1911
1913
7000
200
1000
Paris
1070
Berlin
439
2800
10000
2000
1912 Mercedes Taxi
Taximeter Car Billy Williams
Edison Gold Moulded Records
13606
United Kingdom
Music Hall Song
1907 Cylinder
Year that taxi meters became
compulsory in London
“Do it in style for 8 pence a mile”
By Hyde & Heath
25
Mimi - Taxi
Harry Fragson
Pathe 4943
1913 (1900?)
Music Hall Song
By Emile Spencer (d. 1921)
Stravinsky took a part of the song
entitled “Elle avait une jambe en
bois [She had a wooden leg]” by
Spencer and made it part of
Petrushka. Heard if first played on a
Hurdy-Gurdy under his window at
the hotel Beaulieu in 1910. Was
forced to pay a royalty to Spencer’
publisher each time Petrushka was
performed
1914 - 1918 World War I Interferes
Taxi business is decimated in most
of Europe
Same fate for USA after entering
war
Illegal Jitney cabs ruin taxi
business in USA and Canada
Renault “Marne Taxi” circa 1912
John Hertz goes into taxi business
in Chicago
Paris is saved from German
occupation by taxi fleet
6,000 soldiers driven from Paris to
the front in 600 Renault taxis on
orders from General Joseph
Gallieni (two round trips)
Three solidiers inside, two on the
roof and two on running boards
Darktown Strutters Ball Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Columbia A2297
1917
By Shelton Brooks
Music Hall Song
Second record by ODJB
Many others; Jimmy Dorsey, Ella
Fitzgerald, Chick Webb, Larry
Clinton, Alberta Hunter, Arthur
Fields, Fatts Waller, Sophie Tucker,
Fats Domino, Dean Martin,Benny
Goodman, Pete Fountain, Jelly Roll
Morton, Steve Allen, Al Hirt, Guy
Lombardo, etc.
Playing: Alberta Hunter, Amtrak Blues - 1980 Columbia JC 36430
1919 - 1929 The Roaring 20’s
New taxi manufacturers come on the
scene in the USA
1919 - Commonwealth Motors
1922 - Checker Motors
1924 - Luxor, Bauer & Dodge
1925 - Moller
New York has 15,000 taxi drivers by
1920; almost 25,000 by 1926; 61,000 in
1928
Maude O’Dell - 1923
Paris has 21,000 taxis by 1921
Labor issues and Union pressures in the
USA slowly improve wages and working
conditions
Maude O’Dell becomes one of the first
female taxi drivers in New York in 1923
“Taxi Dancer” business explodes (e.g. El
Fey Club in NYC)
George Gershwin writes taxi horns into
the score of “An American in Paris”
1923 Checker H-2 Taxi
Great Crash of 1929 ruins everyhing
You’d Be Surprised Marilyn Monroe
Ziegfeld Follies of 1919
New Amsterdam Theater - NYC
1919
Sung by Eddie Cantor
By Irving Berlin
“A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody” was in
same production that year
Marilyn Monroe rendition was
recorded in 1954
Part of “Anthology” album - Crown
B000084476
1929 - 1939 No War - No Money
Checker produces 29,260 taxis between 1929
and 1942
New York has close to 70,000 licensed taxi
drivers but only 13,500 licenses in 1930
Paris has 12,500 taxis in 1930; 2,500 of them
are made by Citroen
Mercedes 260D Taxi
Mayor Jimmy Walker of NY resigns due to
bribary scandal involving taxis in 1932
In 1934 number of taxis in Paris is reduced to
3,000 during ‘crisis’; bounces back to 13,000
by 1936
Mercedes introduces the 260D taxi in 1936 in
Germany; becomes wildly popular; price is
6,750 DM
From 1936-1939, taxis are commandeered for
military use during the Spanish Civil War
Taxis by Macy’s in New York - 1930’s
New York creates the medallion system in
1937
20
Minnie Moocher’s Wedding Day Cab Calloway
Brunswick 6321
1932?
by Harold Arlen
Jazz
Original “Minnie the Moocher” was
from 1931
Performed at The Cotton Club in
New York
Continued the “call and response”
sing along method for which
Calloway is famous
Heavy on the cocaine and opium
theme
Lullaby of Broadway Wini Shaw
Warner Brothers & First National
Pictures
Decca 408
1935
Gold Diggers of 1935
Film Musical
Song By Harry Warren
Lyrics by Al Dubin
A Busby Berkeley production
Starring: Dick Powell, Adolphe
Menjou, Gloria Stuart
1936 “Best Original Song” Oscar
Tommy Dorsey had popular
rendition the same year
1939 - 1945 World War II Interferes
Car and Taxi production comes to a
virtual standstill
About 1940 in Europe
1942 in the USA
In 1940 about 6,000 taxi workers
strike in New York
Jews are prohibited to use taxis in
Germany starting roughly in 1940
Parisian drivers resort to wood
gasification due to gasoline shortages
By 1944 number of taxis in NY are
down to roughly 7,500
Only 1,000 taxis are left in Paris by end
of war in 1945
1942 Cadillac
That Lovely Weekend Vera Lynn
Decca
1941
Broadcast on BBC Radio
By Moira Heath & Ted Heath
Lyrics by Moira from a poem she
wrote to Ted
Royalties from this song allowed Ted
to form his own band
Became the most popular big band
after the war
1946 - 1969 Rebuild and Grow
Many war veterans become taxi or limo
drivers
Major taxi manufacturers are:
USA: DeSoto, Checker, Packard,
Ford, Studebaker, Plymouth
1952 DeSoto Taxi in NY
Europe: Peugeot, Mercedes, Austin,
Vauxhall, Citroen, Fiat
Cost of NY Taxi medallion in 1947 is
$2,500; $7,500 in 1952; $19,500 in 1959;
$26,000 in 1965
[$1M in 2013]
1958 Mercedes 190D Taxi
500 used A2 Checker’s are sent to
Finland in 1951
1954 NY law hurts Checker business; no
longer need to seat 5 people in back
Lee Harvery Oswald flees the Kennedy
shooting scene by hailing a Checker cab
on November 22, 1963
1962 Checker Taxi in Times Square, NY
NY ‘street hail’ taxis ordered to be painted
yellow in 1967
Taxi Driver John Lee Hooker
Modern 958
Also Ace CD 799
1954 (Likely)
Blues
By (not really) Jules Taub
Close to the end of the run with
Modern Records
Recorded in Detroit
Possibly recorded with Eddie
Kirkland on guitar
“You Receive Me” on flip side
15
Cab Driver Mills Brothers
Dot D17041 - 7” - Denmark
Dot DHO250 - 7” - USA
Dot DLP 25809 - LP - USA
1967 - Denmark
1968 - USA
Jazz
By Carson Parks
Conductor Sy Oliver
#23 on Billboard 100 in 1968
Carson Parks also wrote “Somethin’
Stupid” for Frank and Nancy Sinatra in
1957
1970 - 1979 A Stormy Decade
NY taxi medallion prices: 1971 - $25,000;
1973 - $30,000; 1976 - $42,000 ; 1978 $63,000
NY Taxi & Limousine Commission is started;
replaces Hack bureau
1972 Olympic Games fails to boost Munich
taxi business
Olympics marred by Palestinian militants
taking Israeli athletes hostage; two are killed
Padmini Taxi - Mumbai
Paris relaxes taxi license transfer rules in
1973
Fiat taxis are nenamed “Padmini” in 1974 in
Mumbai
Taxis transport injured after Birmingham Pub
bombings in the UK in 1974
First electronic taxi meter is introduced by
Kienzle in 1975
Movie “Taxi Driver” comes out in 1976
Birmingham Pub Bombing - November 21, 1974
Edward Cole is killed in 1977: beginning of
the end for Checker Motors
Big Yellow Taxi Joni Mitchell
Reprise RS 20906
1970
Folk
Mitchell: “I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip
to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke
up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and
saw these beautiful green mountains in the
distance. Then, I looked down and there was a
parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke
my heart... this blight on paradise. That's when I sat
down and wrote the song.”
“My old man” may refer to boyfriend,
husband and/or father. Car may not
necessarily be a taxi. Police car or
hearse could also fit.
Recorded by many others: Amy Grant,
Bob Dylan, Maire Brennan, Joe
Dassin, Pinhead Gunpowder, Counting
Crows
Taxi Harry Chapin
Electra E-45770 - 7”
Electra EKS-75023 - LP
1972
Folk Rock
Billboard #24 single in 1972
Sixteen weeks on the “Hot 100” list
Jim Connors, WMEX Boston radio
host, championed the song
Debut on the Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson
Song based in San Francisco and is
autobiographical
Harry Chapin did apply to get a NY
City hack license after college
“songs of simple people in ordinary
circumstances” - Chapin Foundation Web Site
Angela
Bob James
Tappan Zee Records JC 35594
1978
Smooth Jazz
Theme of “Taxi” TV Series
The song was named after the
guest character in the third
episode of the first season ("Blind
Date"), but after hearing the song,
the producers made this the
show's main theme, replacing their
previous choice
1980 - 1999 The Transition Era
NY taxi medallion prices: 1980 - $60,000; 1984
- $75,900; 1986 - $101,600; 1989 - $141,400;
1993 - $137,916; 1995 - $169,750; 1999 $212,917
Checker Motors stops taxi production for good
in 1982; 2,000 produced that year; each one
costing $11,000
340,000,000 taxi passengers in Germany in
1986
About 6,000 ‘black cab’ limousines operate in
New York City
Ford Crown Victoria taxi is introduced and
becomes most common model in NY until 2013
The Last Checker - 1982
Chevrolet stops making Caprice cars and taxis
in 1994
Coca Cola uses old Checker cabs to promote
its “Surge” drink in 1993
Kombi taxi industry in South Africa a national
disgrace; hundreds of accidents, murders and
assaults
New medallion sales in NY bring in $85,000,000
for city in 1996-1997
Taxi Workers Alliance union is formed in NY in
1998
Ford Crown Victoria Taxi - Union Squre NY
10
Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On Mel McDaniel
Columbia B-5418 - 7”
1984/1985
Country
Also on “Let It Roll” Album
By Bob McDill
Only #1 hit for McDaniel
McDill also wrote thirty #1 hits and
songs for singers like Perry Como,
Sam the Sham, Ray Charles, Joe
Cocker, Ann Murray, Pam Tillis
Hail Hail Rock ‘n Roll Garland Jeffreys
RCA 07863 06112-2 and PL90588
1991
Rock / Hip Hop
Racial profiling theme
Was #72 on UK singles chart in 1992
Album “Don't Call Me Buckwheat”,
devoted to the complexities of race in
America
Five Minutes Lorrie Morgan
RCA 9118-7-R
7” Single
1991
Country
#1 Hit Single
Also recorded by Pam Tillis
By Beth Nielsen Chapman
Chapman has written songs for
Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood,
Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Alabama,
2000+ Eagerly/Reluctantly Into the Future
NY taxi medallion prices: 2000 - $217,125; 2001
- $188,958; 2012 - $700,000 (Corporate: $1M)
In 2006 S. Africa starts Kombi Taxi replacement
program
TLC gets 13,000 complaints about taxi drivers in
2000, but
$21,550 is median annual earnings of a NY taxi
driver; $35K for Washington DC driver
Drivers win several suits against city about
overzealous enforcement
Women only taxi company is started in Beirut in
2009
PSA Peugeot-Citroen introduces a hydrogen
fuel-cell taxi in 2001
First electric taxi goes into service in Tokyo in
2010
There are roughly 6,300 taxi companies in the
USA in 2003 using 171,000 taxis
NY TLC approves VPG handicapped accessible
taxi in 2011; company shuts down in 2013
$96,800,000 brought in by NYC with new
medallion sales between 2004 and 2006
Nissan Leaf electric taxi pilot is started in 2013
in NYC
San Francisco first to introduce hybrid taxis in
2005; Ford Escape
“e-Hail” apps start to make inroads in various
major cities around the world
2012 Mercedes-Benz Vito London Taxi
2013 Nissan NV-200 NYC Taxi
Taxi David Weinstone
Music for Aardvarks
2007
Children’s Music (“Kindie Rock”)
By David Weinstone
Music video on Nick Jr. TV program
and web site
Most popular song on CD with
eponymous title
Bolivian Taxi Ride David Arnold
J Records 88697 40517 2
Also Sony BMG 88697 40517 2
2008
Pop
Extended version available - Score
Temple ST-1084
Filming location: La Paz
Original Bond theme was written for
Dr. No by Monty Norman
Taxi Cab R. Kelly
Jive 88697808742
2010
R&B / Soul
By R. Kelly
Track 7 on “Love Letter” album
10th Studio Album
1960’s ‘flavor’
#6 on Billboard 200 in 2010
RIA Gold Album (2011)
Less sexually explicit than typical for
R. Kelly
Bad Religion Frank Ocean
Island Def Jam Music Group
B0015788-02
2012
R&B
Unrequited Love -> Modern Day
Minnesänger
Debut studio album
A2, A5 and C1 were also hit singles
5
THE END
La Cumbia del Taxi