It’s hard to imagine anyone being upset by it, but it’s even harder to imagine people going out of their way to hear it. But today, the song plays like a parody of elevator music. It’s possible that he might’ve been hoping to incorporate bits and pieces of rock ‘n’ roll. There are handclaps in there, and propulsively strummy guitars. For Welk, I suppose, it’s a fairly sprightly song. Welk took away all the lyrics other than la la la. The son of German immigrants from the Ukraine, Welk was born in Strasburg, North Dakota on March 11, 1903. The German composer Heino Gaze had recorded the song a few years earlier, and even though it sounds nothing like anything that could’ve ever come out of India, it had German lyrics about the ladies of Calcutta. Bandleader-accordionist Lawrence Welk was the musical voice of a faraway time in America, before punk rock, hip-hop, and Lady Gaga. This show was airing on syndicated television during my lifetime, and yet Welk’s entire existence seems prehistoric to the point where these details seem utterly, completely baffling.Īlso baffling: “Calcutta” - not the song so much as the idea that anyone would’ve preferred it to “Shop Around.” Welk himself reportedly didn’t care much about the song. Tags: collections, 2000s, the, lawrence, welk, show. He was supposed to be the classier version of Dick Clark. This sister act is a sensation Appearing: Fred Armisen Nasim Pedrad Vanessa Bayer Casey Wilson. Welk would grin at his bandstand while playing accordion, and bubbles would float around him. Every episode of the show opened with the sound of a champagne bottle opening. He’d been hosting The Lawrence Welk Show since 1951, and he would continue to do so until 1982. Welk’s band focused on popular standards, polkas, and novelty songs, delivered in a smooth, easy listening style befitting his mature family-oriented audience. He earned money at the age of 13 by playing accordion and later formed two groups namely ‘The biggest little bands in America’ and ‘The Hotsy-Totsy Boys’. He came to fame as an accordionist and bandleader, playing a style of music, which he dubbed “champagne music,” that worked as a warm-milk alternative to big-bad swing. From 1951 through 1982, Lawrence Welk brought his special brand of bubbly Champagne Music, complete with an accompanying bubble machine, into the living rooms of millions of mood music loving viewers. Lawrence Welk was an American bandleader and accordion player. Welk grew up speaking German in North Dakota.