| "Powerhouse" | |
|---|---|
 Brunswick 78 rpm issue of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" | |
| Single by TheRaymond Scott Quintette | |
| B-side | "The Toy Trumpet" |
| Released | 1937 |
| Recorded | February 20, 1937 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:56 |
| Label | Master Records Brunswick Columbia |
| Songwriter | Raymond Scott |
"Powerhouse" (1937) is an instrumental musical composition byRaymond Scott, perhaps best known today asbackground music for chase andassembly line scenes inanimated short films produced byWarner Bros. Cartoons.
In scripted comments read on the First Anniversary Special ofCBS Radio'sSaturday Night Swing Club, on which theRaymond Scott Quintette performed, host Paul Douglas announced that "Powerhouse" had been premiered on that program in January or early February 1937.[1]
Scott's Quintette (actually a sextet) first recorded "Powerhouse" in New York on February 20, 1937, along with three other titles. This recording was first commercially issued on theIrving Mills-owned Master Records label as Master 111 (mx. M-120-1), coupled with another Scott composition, "The Toy Trumpet". After the demise of the Master label late in 1937, "Powerhouse" was reissued onBrunswick 7993, and subsequently onColumbia 36311 (after the CBS purchase ofARC, which included the Brunswick catalog). The same take was issued on all releases.[2] (An unreleased 1939 recording by the original Scott Quintette was issued in 2002 on the two-CD Scott compilationMicrophone Music.)
The personnel on the February 20, 1937, version are:
"Powerhouse" and "The Toy Trumpet" remained in Scott's repertoire for decades, and both wereadapted for Warner Bros. cartoonsoundtracks by WB music directorCarl Stalling along with a dozen other Scott titles, and both have been recorded by numerous other artists. Stalling, who spiced his scores with "Powerhouse" dozens of times,[3] never created a complete version of the work, with all his adaptations existing as excerpts.
The United Statespublisher of the title isWise Music Group. Outside the U.S., the title is controlled byWarner/Chappell Music.
Structurally, "Powerhouse" consists of two distinct – and seemingly unrelated – musical themes, played at differenttempos. Both have been used in numerous cartoons. The first theme, sometimes referred to as "Powerhouse A", is a frantic passage typically employed in chase and high-speed vehicle scenes to imply whirlwind velocity. The slower theme, "Powerhouse B", is the "assembly line" music, which sometimes accompanies scenes of repetitive, machine-like activity. "Powerhouse" in its entirety places "B" in the center while "A" opens and closes the work (ternary form).
The first use of "Powerhouse" in a cartoon occurred in the 1943Warner Bros.Looney Tunes shortPorky Pig's Feat, directed byFrank Tashlin. Also in 1943, it was used in thePrivate Snafu shortsGripes,Spies,[4] andRumors. It was subsequently featured in over 40 other Warner Bros. cartoons.[5] The most well-known "assembly-line" usage of "Powerhouse B" occurs inBob Clampett'sBaby Bottleneck (1946), in which newborn babies (of various species) are processed on a conveyor belt in time to the melody.
The "Powerhouse A" section is featured prominently duringBugs Bunny's altercation with agremlin in Clampett's 1943Merrie Melodies cartoonFalling Hare. Stalling's lengthiest adaptation of the "Powerhouse A" section is interpolated during the beginning and end of the rocket travel sequence in the 1953Merrie Melodies cartoonDuck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (directed byChuck Jones). It starts at roughly 2:20, clocking in at one minute and twenty-five seconds.
Other Warner cartoons which contain excerpts from "Powerhouse" includeBirdy and the Beast (1944),Cat-Tails for Two (1953),Early to Bet (1951),His Bitter Half (1950),House-Hunting Mice (1948),It's Hummer Time (1950),Jumpin' Jupiter (1955),Rocket Squad (1956),Sheep in the Deep (1962),Compressed Hare (1961), and dozens more.[6]
In the 1960s, producerHal Seeger and composer/arrangerWinston Sharples adapted "Powerhouse" and other Scott compositions in dozens of episodes of theirBatfink cartoon series.[7]
The original Raymond Scott Quintette recordings, including "Powerhouse", were licensed in the early 1990s forsoundtrack usage in twelve episodes ofThe Ren & Stimpy Show.[8] Various passages of the tune have been arranged for use inThe Simpsons,Duckman,The Bernie Mac Show, andThe Drew Carey Show (in a brief scene involving an animated character). An entire 1993 episode ofAnimaniacs, "Toy Shop Terror", was set to Warner Bros. music directorRichard Stone's arrangement of the composition. "Powerhouse" also served as bumper theme music forCartoon Network from 1998 to 2003,[9] and can be heard as a systematic rock theme in the 2003 feature filmLooney Tunes: Back in Action.
"Powerhouse" has been used inThe Simpsons four times, usually in reference to the Warner Bros. cartoons. The first occurs in "And Maggie Makes Three" (Season 6, Episode 13) during a montage of a bowling pin assembly line. In the episode "Bart Has Two Mommies" (Season 17, Episode 14), "Powerhouse" B is adapted in a scene that pays homage to the 1937Disney shortThe Old Mill, whenHomer Simpson gets caught in the Old Mill while trying to save his Rubber Duckie. In the episode "Little Big Girl" (Season 18, Episode 12), "Powerhouse" was used during the sequence where the fire at Cletus' farm is lit. In the episode "The Fool Monty" (Season 22, Episode 6), "Powerhouse" was adapted as background music for a construction scene in whichCharles Montgomery Burns, having lost his memory, is led to a dangerous construction site by Homer Simpson, who seeks revenge for Burns' years of cruel behavior. Burns walks along moving girders, narrowly avoids flying rivets, and other well-worn cartoon construction site gags.Simpsons creatorMatt Groening once ranked "Powerhouse" as #14 on a list of his "100 Favorite Things".[10]
In theSpongeBob SquarePants episode "Broken Alarm" fromseason 12, an arrangement plays over a scene ofSpongeBob SquarePants using aRube Goldberg machine to get to work. The arrangement uses anukulele, an instrument traditionally used in SpongeBob music.[11]
"Powerhouse," with added lyrics and a new arrangement, was used as a recurring song in the Looney Tunes animated seriesBugs Bunny Builders entitled "Hard Hat Time" by composer Matthew Janszen.[12][13]
An arrangement of the song by Joshua Moshier was also used for the "Push the Button, Pull the Crank" sequence in the 2024 filmThe Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, while Daffy and Porky work in the GoodieGum factory.[14]
In recent years,Powerhouse has been recorded by jazz clarinetistDon Byron on his albumBug Music,[15] jazz pianistTed Kooshian on his 2009 CDTed Kooshian's Standard Orbit Quartet: Underdog, and other Stories...,[16] pedal steel guitarist Jon Rauhouse, The Metropole Orchestra,The Beau Hunks Sextette,The Coctails, and jazz guitaristSkip Heller. The title, as arranged byMichelle DiBucci, has been in the repertoire ofKronos Quartet since 1994.
Therock bandRush adapted part of "Powerhouse" in their 1978 instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" (5:49 into the track) on theirHemispheres album, as didska/soul bandThe Pietasters inFactory Concerto on their 1993self-titled album. Alternative jazz groupSoul Coughing sampled it in "Bus to Beelzebub" from their 1994 albumRuby Vroom. The tune has also been appropriated byThey Might Be Giants (on "Rhythm Section Want Ad"),Devo (on "Fraulein"), and others. Other contemporary artists who have recorded versions of "Powerhouse" include Thelonious Moog,The Tiptons (withAmy Denio),Quartet San Francisco,[17] and Steroid Maximus (featuringJ. G. Thirlwell).Lee Presson and the Nails included it on their albumJump-swing from Hell: Live At the Hi-ball Lounge.
In 2006-2007, the "assembly line" theme was used in a highlychoreographed commercial for theVisacheck card. The commercial, entitled "Lunch",[18] was staged in a manner intended to be reminiscent of the tune's cartoon uses.
In August 2009, Sinking Ship Productions staged a musical portrait of Raymond Scott entitledPowerhouse at theNew York International Fringe Festival.[19] The composition "Powerhouse" was used as a recurring theme. Sinking Ship presented a revised and fully-staged version of the production at theNew Ohio Theatre in Manhattan in 2014.[20]
On August 8, 2013, the Raymond Scott Orchestrette performed an arrangement of "Powerhouse" to accompany Dance Heginbotham's choreographic workManhattan Research at New York'sLincoln Center Out Of Doors summer concert series.[21][22]
"Powerhouse" was also used in some PBS commercials in 2000 urging viewers to shop.
In 2014, theDubuque, Iowa, Colts Drum and Bugle Corps included "Powerhouse" as part of their show, "Dark Side of the Rainbow".[23] In 2016,Bethesda Softworks used the Scott Quintette's original 1937 recording in a showcase presentation forFallout 4 andFallout Shelter.[24]
In 2017,Chapo Trap House utilized the piece for their Call of Cthulhu Tabletop Game series.[citation needed]
The "assembly line" section was used onNeil Cicierega's 2020 albumMouth Dreams in the song "Whitehouse", in which it was matched up with the vocals toThe White Stripes' "Fell in Love with a Girl".
In April 2021 the tune was used in the CBS TV showYoung Sheldon, in the opening scene of the episode "Mitch's Son and the Unconditional Approval of a Government Agency" (season 4, ep. 14).[25]
