Some MP3's by Tom Digby, supplied by Barry Gold.
Note: These are all at 128,000 bits/sec which means the playing time is just over one minute per MB. MB here means one million bytes.
Tom Digby is an electrical engineer, poet, and creative genius. You can find his website at http://www.well.com/~bubbles/
Historical Note: In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Tom owned a chord organ. He also had a simple rhythm machine which he had built himself. It had 32 positions and could generate any of four different percussion sounds ( or silence) at each position. He used these devices to play his instrumental compositions and to accompany his spoken word pieces and songs. He recorded many of these pieces on 3.5" reels (sometimes called "tape letters" because they were small enough to mail conveniently). At one point, he lent these to Barry and Lee Gold, who copied them onto a single 7" reel of tape. That reel was eventually converted to a .wav file, edited into individual pieces, and eventually "ripped" to MP3 format. The instrumental and spoken-word pieces and songs performed by Tom on this website came from that process.
When Ted Johnstone's wife Joyce moved to the Philadelphia area for a new job, Ted remained in Los Angeles for some months. During that time, he would visit the Golds for dinner once a week and "sing for his supper" by recording one of his extensive repertoire of filk songs. Some of those were written by Tom Digby and appear on this website.
| Title | Size (MB) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 43 Man Squamish | 0.53 | "43 Man Squamish" was a set of "rules" for a ball game, designed by George Woodbridge and Tom Koch. It was published in issue #95 of MAD Magazine. This inspired Tom Digby to create an instrumental piece with exactly 43 beats. |
| A Martian's Complaint | 2.44 | A whispered narrative about what it's like to be a Martian, with musical background. |
| Dark Carousel | 2.12 | Another instrumental. |
| Do You Envy The Wind | 5.04 | Sung by Ted Johnstone |
| How Crazy Are You | 4.94 | Spoken word piece |
| Improvisation in 5/4 time | 1.83 | Another nice instrumental, sounds sort of like a Turkish march being played by a kazoo band. |
| Little Teeny Eyes | 1.55 | You need these for reading little teeny print! Sung by Ted Johnstone. |
| Mary O'Meara | 1.03 | Instrumental only, played in a bouncy style. |
| Mary O'Meara (vocal) | 4.11 | Vocal version sung by Ted Johnstone. This vocal requires the notice: "Used by permission of Karen Anderson and the Trigonier Trust." |
| Miscellaneous Improvisations | 3.71 | Instrumental |
| Miscellaneous Improvisations II | 5.75 | Instrumental |
| Monster III | 1.89 | Instrumental |
| Moon??? | 3.27 | Yes that's the title, including the three question marks. Sung by Tom Digby. |
| Quarter Million Sunsets Worth of Lonely | 2.91 | Sung by David McDaniel aka Ted Johnstone. |
| Shottle Bop | 2.34 | Sung by Ted Johnstone. |
| Spell | 2.90 | Poem (whispered, with sound effects) |
| Store Room | 4.12 | Instrumental |
| Time Winds | 1.01 | Instrumental |
| Time Winds II | 1.36 | Instrumental |
| Tinny Tim, Rock And Roll Star | 2.44 | Sung by Tom Digby |
| Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out | 0.88 | Poem |
| Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out, with Reverb | 1.17 | Spoken word, with rhythm machine and sound effects |
| Unicorns | 3.06 | Instrumental |
| Xanadu | 1.08 | Instrumental |
| Xanadu 5/4 | 1.78 | This is the theme that Tom Digby calls "Xanadu", done in 5/4 time. |
| Xanadu Scale Improvisations With Rhythm Machine | 5.71 | Instrumental |
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