Whistling "Sweet Georgia Brown"

[Eutychus]

Last week I scored a greatest hits collection of Rahsaan Roland Kirk for ten cents at a library book sale. I’d never had much exposure to Kirk except through Jethro Tull’s cover of “Serenade to a Cuckoo” but now I’m sold.

One of the songs on the CD is “Sweet Georgia Brown” and Kirk has William Eaton whistle it. It was recorded back in the 70’s but I’m sure I’d heard it done as the theme song for the Harlem Globetrotters before then. So, my question is … who was the first to whistle “Sweet Georgia Brown?” Was this original with Kirk? And when did it come to be associated with the Harlem Globetrotters?

[An_Arky]

From Wikipedia:

The tune was first recorded in 1926 by bandleader Ben Bernie, resulting in a five-week No. 1 for Ben Bernie & his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra

and

The version used by the Globetrotters is a 1949 instrumental by Brother Bones & His Shadows, featuring whistling and bones by Brother Bones. It was adopted as the Globetrotters theme in 1952 and today remains about as inextricably associated with the Harlem Globetrotters as the finale of Rossini’s William Tell Overture is with The Lone Ranger.

The Brother Bones one is the only one noted for whistling, but I can’t be sure if it was indeed first.

[mobo85]

The Brother Bones version is a federally registered trademark of the Harlem Globetrotters for “entertainment services in the nature of basketball exhibitions.”