Uploaded November 2015 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
BRIAN FAHEY
Brian Fahey was a British musical director and arranger, best known for composing "At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal", Alan Freeman's signature tune to his BBC Radio 1 programme Pick of the Pops.
Born in Margate, Kent, Fahey learned piano and cello and became interested in big band arranging and composing. During the Second World War he was a survivor of the Wormhoudt massacre which occurred on Tuesday 28 May 1940. After recovering from his wounds, he subsequently spent five years in POW Camps, during which time he worked on his musical skills.
Fahey played in various bands, but his passion was for arranging. Between 1949 and 1959, he worked for the music publishers Chappells and Cinephonic Music, specialising in arrangements for singers, bands and orchestras, mainly for radio broadcasts. His compositions include Fanfare Boogie (1955), which won an Ivor Novello Award.
Fahey freelanced after 1959, working with recording companies, the BBC and in the theatre. He provided scores for movies such as The Break (1963),The Curse of Simba (1965), The Plank (1967) and Rhubarb (1969), and the theme to Pete Murray's popular BBC Radio 2 show Open House. He became principal conductor of the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra in 1972, and continued to work for the BBC after the orchestra was disbanded in 1981. He also was Shirley Bassey's musical director for some time.
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off is a song written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film Shall We Dance where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as part of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates.
The song is most famous for its “You like to-may-toes and I like to-mah-toes ” and other verses comparing their different regional dialects.
The differences in pronunciation are not simply regional, however, and serve more specifically to identify class differences. At the time, typical American pronunciations were considered less "refined" by the upper-class, and there was a specific emphasis on the "broader" a sound.
This class distinction with respect to pronunciation has been retained in caricatures, especially in the theater where the longer a pronunciation is most strongly associated with the word “ darling.”
Notable recordings
Billie Holiday / Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong/ Fred Astaire with Johnny Green & His Orchestra / Brian Wilson and Sam Cooke
Recent performances
The song has been re-used in filmmaking and television production, most notably in When Harry Met Sally... – where it is performed by Harry Connick, Jr. and The Simpsons. It was featured in the 2012 Broadway Musical Nice Work If You Can Get It.
BRIAN FAHEY
Brian Fahey was a British musical director and arranger, best known for composing "At the Sign of the Swingin' Cymbal", Alan Freeman's signature tune to his BBC Radio 1 programme Pick of the Pops.
Born in Margate, Kent, Fahey learned piano and cello and became interested in big band arranging and composing. During the Second World War he was a survivor of the Wormhoudt massacre which occurred on Tuesday 28 May 1940. After recovering from his wounds, he subsequently spent five years in POW Camps, during which time he worked on his musical skills.
Fahey played in various bands, but his passion was for arranging. Between 1949 and 1959, he worked for the music publishers Chappells and Cinephonic Music, specialising in arrangements for singers, bands and orchestras, mainly for radio broadcasts. His compositions include Fanfare Boogie (1955), which won an Ivor Novello Award.
Fahey freelanced after 1959, working with recording companies, the BBC and in the theatre. He provided scores for movies such as The Break (1963),The Curse of Simba (1965), The Plank (1967) and Rhubarb (1969), and the theme to Pete Murray's popular BBC Radio 2 show Open House. He became principal conductor of the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra in 1972, and continued to work for the BBC after the orchestra was disbanded in 1981. He also was Shirley Bassey's musical director for some time.
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off is a song written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film Shall We Dance where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as part of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates.
The song is most famous for its “You like to-may-toes and I like to-mah-toes ” and other verses comparing their different regional dialects.
The differences in pronunciation are not simply regional, however, and serve more specifically to identify class differences. At the time, typical American pronunciations were considered less "refined" by the upper-class, and there was a specific emphasis on the "broader" a sound.
This class distinction with respect to pronunciation has been retained in caricatures, especially in the theater where the longer a pronunciation is most strongly associated with the word “ darling.”
Notable recordings
Billie Holiday / Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong/ Fred Astaire with Johnny Green & His Orchestra / Brian Wilson and Sam Cooke
Recent performances
The song has been re-used in filmmaking and television production, most notably in When Harry Met Sally... – where it is performed by Harry Connick, Jr. and The Simpsons. It was featured in the 2012 Broadway Musical Nice Work If You Can Get It.
