Identifying Old Tunes

In response to the inquiry about resources available for identification
of old tunes, as I have said before (although I have not posted on MMD
for a while, and there may be many current subscribers out there who
don't know this) I am a bit of a "tune detective," at least with
respect to the almost 1,200 different tunes that appeared on the 20-
note and 32-note cob roller organs made by the Autophone Company of
Ithaca, New York, between about 1885 and 1925.

My father brought home a Concert (20-note) roller organ and thirty cobs
which he bought at an auction in 1953 when I was six years old.  I
immediately became fascinated with it, and it became a plaything of
mine growing up.  I listened to each tune countless times and came to
know every note of every tune.  Later on, as an adult, I began
collecting cobs and now have what I believe is the world's largest
collection of different ones -- all but twenty-five of the 1,050+ made
for the 20-note organ and all but eight of the 159 or so made for the
32-note (Grand).

I found that I had the ability to recognize cobs by number and title
upon hearing them played and can identify hundreds of tunes on cobs by
ear.  Since much of the music that was current in the U.S. between 1885
and 1925 ended up on the roller organ, if a tune was popular in that
time frame, there is a very good chance it appeared on the roller organ
and is one that I know.  People from all over send me cobs with
missing, partial, or illegible labels for me to identify or send me
recordings of them or even play them for me over the phone.

So, although I don't mean to brag about or exaggerate my abilities, if
you have a tune from that era and would like me to try to identify it,
I would be happy to do so and may be successful.  It's at least worth a
try!  If you want to call me to play a tune over the phone, please
email first to arrange a mutually convenient time.

Best regards,
Richard Dutton