Remix Of Harlem Globetrotters' Theme Song, "Sweet Georgia Brown," Now Available On iTunes Remix Of Harlem Globetrotters' Theme Song, "Sweet Georgia Brown," Now Available On iTunes Tweet Share ATLANTA, May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of their 90th year celebration, the world famous Harlem Globetrotters commissioned Grammy Award-winning producer/songwriter Teddy Riley to remix the team's legendary theme song, "Sweet Georgia Brown." That remix is now available for purchase for the first time ever on iTunes . View photos Grammy Award-winning producer/songwriter Teddy Riley, No. 8, poses with the Harlem Globetrotters. More The instantly recognizable whistling of "Sweet Georgia Brown" is known worldwide as one of the greatest sports anthems ever. The team's official theme song since 1952, "Sweet Georgia Brown" is played before the start of every Harlem Globetrotters' game during the famous Magic Circle where star players take turns in a mesmerizing showcase of blazing ball handling prowess. The original tune was performed by Brother Bones. "We are very excited to have the wonderfully talented Mr.

Riley create an upbeat, modern version of our legendary theme song," said Howard Smith, President of the Harlem Globetrotters. "Hopefully the remix will inspire a new generation of Globetrotter fans to learn about the organization's illustrious history and come enjoy our show." "It was a great experience, especially being from Harlem, to work with Harlem Globetrotters," said Riley. "It was a dream come true because I have been a fan for so long. I feel honored to be a part of their continuing legacy as they celebrate their 90th year. Because the original song is so world renowned, my intention with the remix was to add my personal sound to it and modernize it for a whole new generation of fans." The Harlem Globetrotters® are legendary worldwide, synonymous with one-of-a-kind family entertainment and great basketball skills for the past 90 years. Throughout their history, the Original Harlem Globetrotters have showcased their iconic talents in 122 countries and territories on six continents, often breaking down cultural and societal barriers while providing fans with their first-ever basketball experience.

Proud inductees of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Globetrotters have entertained hundreds of millions of fans – among them popes, kings, queens, and presidents – over nine thrilling decades. Sponsored by World Vision, Greyhound Lines and Baden Sports, Harlem Globetrotters International, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Herschend Enterprises, the largest family-owned themed entertainment company in the U.S. For the latest news and information about the Harlem Globetrotters, visit the Globetrotters' official Web site: and follow them on Twitter @Globies . View photos To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit: Reblog Mark Zuckerberg is suing hundreds of Hawaiians to protect his 700-acre Kauai estate Business Insider How 149-year-old Campbell's Soup is 'embracing disruption': CEO Yahoo Finance Mark Zuckerberg is suing hundreds of Hawaiians to protect his 700-acre Kauai estate Mark Zuckerberg paid close to $100 million for 700 acres of beachfront property on the island of Kauai in 2014.

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The segment benefited, however, from increased Remix Of Harlem Globetrotters’ Theme Song, ’Sweet Georgia Brown,’ Now Available On iTunes Remix Of Harlem Globetrotters' Theme Song, "Sweet Georgia Brown," Now Available On iTunes Iconic song remixed by Grammy Award-winner Teddy Riley News provided by May 17, 2016, 09:34 ET Share this article ATLANTA, May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of their 90th year celebration, the world famous Harlem Globetrotters commissioned Grammy Award-winning producer/songwriter Teddy Riley to remix the team's legendary theme song, "Sweet Georgia Brown." That remix is now available for purchase for the first time ever on iTunes . The instantly recognizable whistling of "Sweet Georgia Brown" is known worldwide as one of the greatest sports anthems ever. The team's official theme song since 1952, "Sweet Georgia Brown" is played before the start of every Harlem Globetrotters' game during the famous Magic Circle where star players take turns in a mesmerizing showcase of blazing ball handling prowess. The original tune was performed by Brother Bones.

Grammy Award-winning producer/songwriter Teddy Riley, No. 8, poses with the Harlem Globetrotters. The Harlem Globetrotters logo "We are very excited to have the wonderfully talented Mr. Riley create an upbeat, modern version of our legendary theme song," said Howard Smith, President of the Harlem Globetrotters. "Hopefully the remix will inspire a new generation of Globetrotter fans to learn about the organization's illustrious history and come enjoy our show." "It was a great experience, especially being from Harlem, to work with Harlem Globetrotters," said Riley. "It was a dream come true because I have been a fan for so long. I feel honored to be a part of their continuing legacy as they celebrate their 90th year. Because the original song is so world renowned, my intention with the remix was to add my personal sound to it and modernize it for a whole new generation of fans." The Harlem Globetrotters® are legendary worldwide, synonymous with one-of-a-kind family entertainment and great basketball skills for the past 90 years.

Throughout their history, the Original Harlem Globetrotters have showcased their iconic talents in 122 countries and territories on six continents, often breaking down cultural and societal barriers while providing fans with their first-ever basketball experience. Proud inductees of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Globetrotters have entertained hundreds of millions of fans – among them popes, kings, queens, and presidents – over nine thrilling decades. Sponsored by World Vision, Greyhound Lines and Baden Sports, Harlem Globetrotters International, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Herschend Enterprises, the largest family-owned themed entertainment company in the U.S. For the latest news and information about the Harlem Globetrotters, visit the Globetrotters' official Web site: and follow them on Twitter @Globies . Ben Green, author of Spinning the Globe: The Rise, Fall, and Return to Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters - Jerry Jazz Musician Jerry Jazz Musician Before Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Julius Erving, or Michael Jordan — before Magic Johnson and Showtime — the Harlem Globetrotters revolutionized basketball and spread the game around the world.

In Spinning the Globe: The Rise, Fall, and Return to Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters, author Ben Green tells the story of this extraordinary franchise and iconic American institution. Green chronicles the Globetrotters’ rise from backwoods obscurity during the harsh years of the Great Depression to become the best basketball team in the country and, by the early 1950s, the most popular sports franchise in the world. Through original research, Green also uncovers intriguing controversies about the Globetrotters’ origins, their image in the African American community, and how they were used as a propaganda weapon during the Cold War. Green renders captivating portraits of founder Abe Saperstein and the players who defined the Trotters’ legacy, including Inman Jackson, Goose Tatum, Marques Haynes, Meadowlark Lemon, and Curly Neal.

He also describes the Trotters’ struggles to overcome racial discrimination and internal dissension on their long road to glory as well as details their fall from grace to the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1990s, and the ultimate rebirth under owner Mannie Jackson.# Green talks about the Globetrotters with Jerry Jazz Musician publisher Joe Maita in a September 26, 2005 interview. ______________________________________________ A note about the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters, from The Online Guide to Whistling Records Brother Bones * Brother Bones recorded one of the most instantly recognizable songs of the 20th century, yet remains a virtual unknown, overshadowed by his own hit record and the world famous basketball team that adopted it as their official theme. Born Freeman Davis in Montgomery, Alabama, Brother Bones was a one-time shoe shine boy, working at stands in the vestibules of local barber shops. While shining, he would whistle, snap his shoeshine rag and pop his brushes in rhythm to records being played on an old Victrola.

Brother Bones became known around town as “Whistling Sam.” He would also tap dance and play the bones and knives, perfecting a style which used four bones in each hand whereas most bones players used only two. According to Tempo Records, Brother Bones was discovered by their president while playing in a Chinese restaurant in downtown Los Angeles and shortly after, “Sweet Georgia Brown” was playing on the radio across the nation. “Sweet Georgia Brown” has been recorded by everyone from Bing Crosby to Louis Armstrong — even The Beatles! But by far, the most famous variation was the whistling, bone-clacking version recorded by Brother Bones and his Shadows in the late 1940’s. Adopted in 1952 as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters, the catchy tune has been played during their pre-game warm-ups and throughout their games for decades. Millions around the world have heard it and it is probably in the top ten most listened to recordings in history. So important to the Harlem Globetrotters is “Sweet Georgia Brown” that it has become their aural trademark, much like MGM has it’s familiar lion’s roar.

Brother Bones went on to record over a dozen songs, appear in at least three movies, perform at Carnegie Hall and was on The Ed Sullivan Show. He died in 1974 at the age of 71 and was survived by his wife, Daisy, a daughter and two grandsons. Ethel Waters , c. 1925 JJMYou wrote, “Abe Saperstein is the most incongruous figure that one could conjure up to be the owner of this team. He and his players are a juxtaposition of opposites, as different as any human beings could be.” There are varying stories about how the Harlem Globetrotters began, aren’t there? BG That was the big mystery going into this book, and I think I have come the closest anyone has in answering this question. It became clear early on in my research that the official story Abe told for thirty years was complete nonsense. He claimed that the team grew out of Chicago’s Savoy Ballroom, but that couldn’t have possibly happened because the dates were all off — for example, the Savoy didn’t even exist at the time he said the team began playing.

The New York Globetrotters * “Something new in basketball was displayed last night when the New York Globe Trotters bewildered the local cagers with the best short passing game ever witnessed here. The invading colored boys amazed local fans with a clever handling of the ball passed with dazzling speed and enlivened the program with some antics in handling the ball which demonstrated that the colored players were too hot to handle.” – Mason City [Iowa] Globe-Gazette, 1929 _____ Earl Hines , c. 1934 There is a version that makes sense, however. There is no doubt that a black basketball team called the Globetrotters existed in Chicago, begun by a man named Tommy Brookins. The team was in fact listed in the Chicago Defender as “Tommy Brookins’s Globetrotters.” Brookins’ story, told years later, is that his team needed a white booking agent because they wanted to get out of town and play in places like Minnesota and Wisconsin. Since Saperstein had done bookings for Negro League Baseball, they hired him.

It is at this point in the story where it gets a little controversial because Brookins claims that Abe, in essence, stole the team because he started double booking the team — the second team of which was being booked under his name. But since Brookins didn’t want to be a player on the road anymore, he reconciled with Abe, gave him his uniform, and went back to Chicago. JJM Your book reminded me that the Harlem Globetrotters were not from New York, but from Chicago. BG When I started the book, I didn’t know any more about the Globetrotters than anyone else — all I knew was Meadowlark and Curly and, as a kid, watching them on CBS Sports Spectacular, Wide World of Sports, or Ed Sullivan. I just assumed they were from Harlem, and I also had no understanding about how long they had been around. I figured they were somewhat contemporary with my childhood, and was quite surprised to find out that they started in the late twenties. The Harlem Globetrotters * “Although set comedy routines would not appear until a few years later, from the beginning the Trotters melded basketball with showmanship.

In 1929, one Midwestern reporter wrote that the Globe Trotters handled the ball like a Scotchman handles currency.'” – Ben Green “The Globe Trotters knew exactly where each man was on every play, and they passed without even looking. At times they tossed the ball around in an uncanny manner, and always there was at least one man open, usually under the basket.” – The Aurora Beacon, 1929 JJM Why did Saperstein choose to attach the name “Harlem” to them when they were actually from Chicago? BG. The most famous black barnstorming team at the time was the Harlem Rens, who were alternately known as the New York Rens. It is likely that Saperstein was trying to tag along on their glory a little bit. But more importantly, he wanted to be sure that when his team showed up in the little towns of Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Iowa and other states, everyone would know the Globetrotters were a team made up of black players. Because Harlem was the capitol of black America at the time, people would automatically know they were a black team.

House of David basketball team (date unknown) * “[Basketball put a premium on] the characteristics inherent in the Jew: mental agility, perception imagination and subtlety. If the Jew had set out deliberately to invent a game which incorporates those traits indigenous in him he could not have had a happier inspiration than basketball.” – Stanley Frank Benny Goodman JJM You wrote that in the early twentieth century, basketball was known as “the sport of Jews.” Talk a little bit about that, would you? BG That was another interesting thing I learned while writing the book. When the Globetrotters started in the late twenties, and all through the sixties, baseball was considered America’s national pastime, while basketball was probably the third or fourth most popular sport behind horse racing and boxing — at least during the thirties. Baseball had a rural, pastoral ethos that required a lot of land on which to play it. Basketball, on the other hand, was a city game, and when waves of Jewish immigrants began arriving in New York and Chicago, the Jewish settlement houses and community groups who wished to assimilate young Jewish boys and girls into America through sports did so by playing basketball. All you needed to play the game was a makeshift hoop and a round ball.

The game quickly caught on in the urban neighborhoods, particularly where Jews lived. Jewish community groups promoted it as a sport that Jews could play because a participant didn’t have to be some hulking Bronco Nagurski type — a player could be short, fast and quick. They were also very deliberately trying to counter the stereotype of Jews being people of books, and as intellectuals who couldn’t play sports. As a result, basketball became very popular. It is interesting that the most famous of all the basketball teams during the twenties was the original Celtics from New York, on which all the players were Jews. Abe Saperstein * “If space travel to the moon were available, Abe Saperstein would have the Harlem Globetrotters on the first ship. He is a complicated, multilayered personality  a pioneering humanist to some (the Abe Lincoln of basketball) and a racist huckster to others, the purveyor of a demeaning minstrel show for whites.” – Ben Green , c. 1939 JJM Did Abe Saperstein immediately see the business possibilities in basketball? BG I really give Abe a lot of credit — he may have been one of the best sports promoters in history.

He had a vision to see way beyond this little team from the south side of Chicago that traveled around in his Model T, struggling to survive for years and years. I think he realized that there was money to be made out there in the heartland, and it is a reason why the Globetrotters got in to the showmanship — he understood the importance of having a marketing angle that distinguished his team from any other run-of-the-mill barnstorming team. JJM Given the era in which they began, it is pretty safe to assume the Trotters needed a white manager in order to set up games in rural America BG Yes, I don’t think they could have ever survived in white America trying to book their own games. Abe was the front man who marketed and booked the team. In some sense, he was a one-man show for a long time as the team driver, promoter, and manager. For a while, he was even the sixth man off the bench when they needed him.

An interesting thing about this is that from the time he started the team in 1928, and until 1934, the Globetrotters were not his team — it was a cooperative deal and they lived purely on the gate receipts that they split. The first big crisis in their history came in 1934, when Abe decided to make it his team, and make the ballplayers employees instead of partners. JJM As a result of this move, the players went from making about fifty dollars apiece per game to around eight BG Yes, and the entire team blew up on him. His star quit, the players quit, and Abe was forced to fold their tour and return to Chicago to recruit new players before going back out. A Globetrotter game poster, 1933 * “ entire towns came to depend on the Globe Trotters annual appearance.

No matter how desolate the winter had been on the prairies, no matter how many blue northers had come howling down from Canada or how many interminable weeks of arctic gloom, the people in those little towns knew that on the appointed night the Globe Trotters would show up at the high school gym and put on a show that made the winter more tolerable. It was the highlight of their year ” – Ben Green _____ Red Nichols , c. 1929 JJM When they went to these small towns of the Dakotas and Minnesota and Iowa and Montana, who did they play against? BG The local team made up of guys from the local brake factory, the teacher’s school, the men from the Kiwanis Club. Whoever was there, the Globetrotters showed up to play them. The amount of territory this team covered is so very fascinating to me. I got an old United States highway map from the thirties just to see the back roads that they had to travel just to get to the towns in which they played.

They played one hundred fifty games a year, non stop between November and April, traveling these back roads in an unheated Model T, in the dead of winter in the coldest part of the country. It is just unbelievable to think of how they lived, except when you put it in the context of the times — which was during the middle of the depression — and playing basketball seems like a pretty good way to try to survive. They could have been standing in some bread line instead. JJM It is amazing that they survived the economic challenges of the Depression, not to mention that era’s racism. BG That’s right. While they weren’t playing in the deep South, they still had incredible challenges. Where do they eat? Where do they sleep? There were not many hotels or restaurants to begin with in the middle of the wilderness in which they traveled, and quite often they couldn’t find a place to eat or sleep. They would have to find a grocery store, enter it through the back door, and quite often all they would get to eat was some cheese and crackers and sardines, and then get back out on the road. They called this way of life “living off the grocery.” JJM Add to that the challenges of finding dependable transportation.

As you said, driving in the dead of winter couldn’t have been easy. BG I cant even imagine. Last October I went out to the Globetrotter training camp and asked five of the current players to simulate the experience of what it would be like for five of them — and a sixth in the form of Saperstein — to ride in a vehicle the size of a Model T. I measured out the dimensions and then stuffed them all basically into a chair. You can imagine the difficulty of that. The car’s top speed was about thirty-five miles per hour, there was no heat, no defroster, no shocks, no springs, and they were stuffed into it for hours and hours. When they finally got to their destination, they had to pile out of the car and play a basketball game, and when it was over, piled back in and take off to the next town. It was an incredible life. Harlem Globetrotters | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE DETROIT PISTONS The Harlem Globetrotters. HarlemGlobetrotters.com For nearly 80 years, the Harlem Globetrotters have entertained millions of fans around the world with their unique mix of basketball skill and humor.

They have played the world over, in front of popes and kings. They have made thousands of television appearances. We all know the names “Meadowlark” Lemon and “Curley” Neal and everyone has heard the Globetrotters theme music “Sweet Georgia Brown.” But who are the Globetrotters and where did they come from? In celebration of Black History Month, we will try to answer some of your questions about the world’s winningest professional sports team. Did you know that the Globetrotters actually started in Chicago and were formed from the Wendell Phillips High School? The team played in the Negro American Legion League under the name Giles Post. In 1927, the team turned professional as the Savoy Five. Later that year, promoter Abe Saperstein purchased the team and renamed them the “Saperstein’s New York Globetrotters.” In 1930, Saperstein again changed their name to the Harlem New York Globetrotters. Did you know that the team has never had any affiliation with Harlem, New York? Their original owner, Abe Saperstein wanted to give the impression that the team of all-black players represented the mostly black borough.

Saperstein was also so infatuated with New York that he rented an office in the Empire State Building just so he could have a New York address. Did you know that in the early days of the team, they had only five players, forcing Saperstein to wear a uniform under his suit in case of an injury? The team even traveled in Saperstein’s Ford Model “T”. Did you know that the Globetrotters made their Detroit debut on Thanksgiving 1932? It was the first time the team had played in a major city. Did you know that the team’s 1,000th game was played in Iron Mountain, MI? Harlem Globetrotters (1940) HarlemGlobetrotters.com Did you know that the clowning around on the court did not begin until 1939? With the Globetrotters leading the game 112-5, the players began to amuse the crowd with their antics. Saperstein gave the team permission to add more clowning around…but only when the game was safely in hand. It was during this game that Inman Jackson created the high-post pivot position still used by teams in today’s game.

Did you know that Abe Saperstein also owned the Negro League’s Birmingham Black Barons? The Black Barons were the baseball antithesis of the Globetrotters. There was no hot-dogging or goofing around on the baseball diamond. Unlike other teams in the Negro Leagues, the Black Barons were about tough, hard-nosed baseball. Saperstein was one of the most popular men in the league, always managing to fill the stands and handsomely pay his players on time. Harlem Globetrotters (1942) HarlemGlobetrotters.com Did you know that the Globetrotters’ color barrier was broken in 1942? Bob Karstens from Dubuque, Iowa becomes the first Caucasian player under contract with the team. Original owner Abe Saperstein was the first white player to play with the team, but Karstens was the first under contract. Did you know that the Globetrotters played in the original “Game of the Century?” On February 20, 1948, the Globetrotters defeated George Mikan’s World Champion Minneapolis Lakers 61-59 on Ermer Robinson’s last second shot.

The Globetrotters also defeated the Lakers in 1949. Did you know that the Globetrotters played in front of the largest and smallest crowds in their history in 1951? On August 21, they played in front of 75,000 in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. The game was highlighted by a 15-minute standing ovation when 1936 Olympian Jesse Owens was announced as a special guest of the team. Later that year, the team played in front of Pope Pius XII and only Pope Pius XII at his summer home in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Did you know that Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein had a hand in creating teams like the New York Nationals and the Washington Generals, the perennial Globetrotters opponents? Finding it more and more difficult to find quality competition, Saperstein contacted basketball expert Louis “Red” Klotz to develop a team to oppose the Globetrotters. Klotz developed teams that would become known as the Washington Generals, Boston Shamrocks, Baltimore Rockets, New York Nationals, Atlantic City Seagulls, and the New Jersey Reds.

Did you know that the Globetrotters were actually the first sports attraction to play under the lights at Wrigley Field? In 1954, Saperstein arranged for portable lights to be brought in and used for a night game. Did you know that in 1954, battling factions in Peru halted their civil war for four days so the Globetrotters could play in Peru? When the team’s plane left the country, the war resumed. Did you know that in 1968, the Harlem Globetrotters made their Harlem debut? Forty-one years after making their debut in Hinckley, IL, the team finally played in Harlem. Mannie Jackson HarlemGlobetrotters.com Did you know that in 1993, Mannie Jackson became the first African-American to own a sports/ entertainment organization with his purchase of the Globetrotters? Did you know that The Harlem Globetrotters cartoon was the first Saturday morning cartoon to feature African-American characters? The show ran on CBS from September 1970 through May 1973.

The Globetrotters have appeared in several other television shows and movies, including The Go-Go- Globetrotters, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, The Super Globetrotters, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island, and Futurama. Did you know that five Pistons have played for the Globetrotters? Cedric Ceballos, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, Walter Dukes, Tremaine Fowlkes, and Oliver Miller have all donned the red, white, and blue of both the Pistons and Globetrotters. Did you know that the Globetrotters have had 36 players from Michigan high schools or colleges? Sixteen players have gone straight from Michigan high schools to the Globetrotters, while 20 Globetrotters played in colleges in Michigan. Included in those lists are four players from Miller H.S., three each from Cass Tech and Northern H.S. Seven players have matriculated from Michigan State, four players from Detroit Mercy, and four from Wayne State University. Did you know that the Globetrotters have played in and won more games than any other professional sports team?

The club has played in over 22,500 games. The team is on pace to win its 22,000th game on February 26 in Hartford. Coincidentally, they have never lost to the New York Generals in over 8,000 games. Ticket Center

Question: What is the theme tune of the US basketball team, the Harlem Globetrotters?
Answer: Sweet Georgia Brown