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Rimsky-Korsakov — The Flight of the Bumblebee
Album: Minnesota Orchestra/Eije Oue (1998)
Avg rating:
8.2

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1319









Released: 1899
Length: 1:31
Plays (last 30 days): 1
(Instrumental)
Comments (118)add comment
This will always remind me of my Dad. He always referred to it as the Bum of the Flightal bee
WHAT!!!!!!  No Lyrics?????
If you actually watch a  bumblebee, its flight is not as frenetic as the music suggests. Just sayin’…
Thanks for playing my favourite classical piece. 😗
24 bit! Way better than the 23-bit version.
 justlistening wrote:

This is soooooooooo much better than the Kings of Leon.



I disagree. That's like saying a rose is much better than whiskey... 
Am I missing something? The album was released in 1899, before the members of the orchestra were even born to play this in 1998

Album: Minnesota Orchestra/Eije Oue (1998)
Released: 1899

I've seen a guitarist play this behind his head. Impressive.
In performing this piece, there is definitely a disparity in the degree of diffilty between the lower register instruments and those of the higher.
PSDed from Radiohead to this. Talk about going from the ridiculous to the sublime. 
 GarageDragon wrote:
You just went from Elephant Revival to Flight of the Bumblebee and the to Tuesday Afternoon. I think I now have whiplash.
 
Five years on... whiplash strikes again!
Load of rubbish... trash!   unimaginitive and boring.  oh and needs more cowbell.     9 ;)      
 Ginetta wrote:
A great piece, specially to teach children dance ;-).

 
And spatial-temporal reasoning...
 
A great piece, specially to teach children dance ;-).
 tovarisch wrote:
I told my wife I wanted to have this song as the processional at our wedding.... to this day I don't think she knows I was serious.


 
I was at a wedding once where they played this song as the bride and groom went sprinting back up the aisle at the end.  It was fun at the time.  I don't think that marriage lasted all that long.
 WonderLizard wrote:
Okay, let's follow this with "Bumble Boogie" by B. Bumble and the Stingers. I loved the '60s.

 
The 1860s?
Oh! yey-az!
Yes Yes Yes.
 Isabeau wrote:
THIS is why I LOVE RP!!

 
I was just about the say the same thing.

Thank you RP for being so awesomely eclectic! 
THIS is why I LOVE RP!!
That's a ladybug on the album cover.
Okay, let's follow this with "Bumble Boogie" by B. Bumble and the Stingers. I loved the '60s.
Love this and just love this evening's stream. Two thumbs up. 
Aw, who doesn't have a soft spot for the Bumblebee?
 Baby_M wrote:
The original "buzz track."  Always makes me break out in hives.  Didn't Sting do a cover version?  Wasn't it on the soundtrack of Full Yellow Jacket?

DanO-1 wrote:

Makes me want to polish my stinger.        {#Lol}
 

 
Baby_M wrote:

Not now, honey.
 
Enough of this bumbling about—let us take flight! 
 Baby_M wrote:
The original "buzz track."  Always makes me break out in hives.  Didn't Sting do a cover version?  Wasn't it on the soundtrack of Full Yellow Jacket?
DanO-1 wrote:

Makes me want to polish my stinger.        {#Lol}
 
Not now, honey.
 Baby_M wrote:
The original "buzz track."  Always makes me break out in hives.  Didn't Sting do a cover version?  Wasn't it on the soundtrack of Full Yellow Jacket?
 
Makes me want to polish my stinger.        {#Lol}
The original "buzz track."  Always makes me break out in hives.  Didn't Sting do a cover version?  Wasn't it on the soundtrack of Full Yellow Jacket?
 tovarisch wrote:
I told my wife I wanted to have this song as the processional at our wedding.... to this day I don't think she knows I was serious.

 
Were you unable to find the right tuba player to perform it?

You just went from Elephant Revival to Flight of the Bumblebee and the to Tuesday Afternoon.

I think I now have whiplash.
Green Hornet theme (TV version with Bruce Lee) ... right?
Cover of the book "Go the Fuck to Sleep" Tagish_girl wrote:
When we were little kids, dad would play this REALLY LOUD, and tell us to run outside and be bumblebees.  We thought it great fun... but now I realize he did it just to get us out of the house......
 

Bastard! 

No doubt he would have been a fan of this book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_the_Fuck_to_Sleep

Cover of the book  

 Tagish_girl wrote:
When we were little kids, dad would play this REALLY LOUD, and tell us to run outside and be bumblebees.  We thought it great fun... but now I realize he did it just to get us out of the house......
 
This comment had me laughing out loud...

Bill's been tothe yard sales again
This is soooooooooo much better than the Kings of Leon.
Bill, you're just playin' with everyone's head now.  Peter Gabriel followed by this!  Amazing...
I told my wife I wanted to have this song as the processional at our wedding.... to this day I don't think she knows I was serious.

One song removed on the playlist from The Bird and the Bee - now that's restraint!
 lewie221 wrote:
Basement Jaxx to this.

From the ridiculous to the sublime.
 
Now Bill's just f*ckin' with us— at least it got the Basement Jaxx song out of my head.

 Tagish_girl wrote:
When we were little kids, dad would play this REALLY LOUD, and tell us to run outside and be bumblebees.  We thought it great fun... but now I realize he did it just to get us out of the house......
 
Homer to crowd: "And we're going to take a whole five minutes!"
Basement Jaxx to this.

From the ridiculous to the sublime.
what a pleasant surprise
 Pyro wrote:
I was just PMing ScottfromWyoming about how cute his son Charlie looks in his bee costume for Halloween....and this came on.  Too cool.  Thanks for the GREAT diversity — from Mari Boine to Rimsky-Korsakov.  Terrestrial radio, eat your heart out....
           
 Where's the picture?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL9pFj4zowE
the 5 browns version I spoke of below.
 Tagish_girl wrote:
When we were little kids, dad would play this REALLY LOUD, and tell us to run outside and be bumblebees.  We thought it great fun... but now I realize he did it just to get us out of the house......
 
So then — everybody had fun, right?



I was just PMing ScottfromWyoming about how cute his son Charlie looks in his bee costume for Halloween....and this came on.  Too cool.  Thanks for the GREAT diversity — from Mari Boine to Rimsky-Korsakov.  Terrestrial radio, eat your heart out....
Wow! Thanks, Bill. This is great! I haven't heard "Flight" in years.
When we were little kids, dad would play this REALLY LOUD, and tell us to run outside and be bumblebees.  We thought it great fun... but now I realize he did it just to get us out of the house......
Damn it, I think there's an insect in my room.
I agree with the previous comment—great change of pace. And it's even an audiophile recording which, with RP's high quality streams, sounds great. Few internet radio stations can touch RP for the quality of the music OR the quality of the sound.
I heard Rimsky-Korsakov broke up
this is why i ♥ radio paradise.. no commercial radio station would dare play this (in a set with moody blues and mari boine!) and it is fabulous..
is it that short or did it get chopped off today?
NICE PIECE - P.O.S.
Nice fit between Imogen Heap & Genesis — go Bill.
A ten only because I'm a homer.  If I lived in say Wisconsin, then maybe a 8.5.  Nice addition to the play list.

This reminds me that I gotta go do some work in the garden...
The Brown sibs do a great version of this. but then, any one of the sibs is amazing on piano, so the group of them hammering away is most excellent.
More classical to break up the music, man! Lov'n it! This is a nice change. There's some pretty eclectic stuff in the archives...
Saw him in concert last year...thought he was going to do this one for an encore, but did Van Halen's "Panama" instead, bitter disappointment....he wore cool shoes with big silver buckles though.
Perfect relief. It could have been an ad for the "Smell-Good Plumber". I love Radio Paradise!
jenakle wrote:
dude? are you serious? lol awesomeness everytime I hear this I think of looneytunes or full house
lol, yeah I always think of Full House too.
Makes all the arguments about musical tastes superfluous
Wheee!!
Ahhh.... The Bum of the Flightlebee
Love this thing...
the issue of versions aside, this is a brilliant work. it just *sounds* like a bumblebee! i love it.
dude? are you serious? lol awesomeness everytime I hear this I think of looneytunes or full house
LETS ROCK - BRING IT ON BILL
I prefer James Galway's rendition...
But have you heard Nuno Bettencourt's version, called "Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee"? OK... it might be a little too "metal" for Radio Paradise. But I think most RP listeners would appreciate the musicianship. He is one of the all time great rock guitar players - right up there with Joe Satriani, for instance.
not down with it sorry:(
g-rod wrote:
I saw a guy once that played this on his church organ - but just on the bass pedals. Vid's probably out there somewhere...
Just to note; the pedals can usually play anything the manuals (keyboards) can, depending on how you register the organ. Still, it's like tap-dancing every note in a song. An amazing feet if you ask me (ahaha!). I'll have to go search youtube for it.
AliGator wrote:
Excellent segue from Massive Attack!
NO KIDDING! That's why I listed to RP... I would't be surprised to hear the mighty Led Zeppelin follow those two songs and then something I've never heard before...
Yes. Yes. Yes!
The funniest thing I have ever seen in my life was an orchestra audition where a guy played "Flight of the Bumblebee" on.... wait for it..... a tuba. A tuba. BWAH!
Excellent segue from Massive Attack!
I despise classical music. Well, maybe except for this piece.
DebateG wrote:
I always thought that Rimsky-Korsakov would be a great name for a mathematical theorem. With that said, see the piece played on guitar (not me, I wish it were) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1LN685YH7s
I saw a guy once that played this on his church organ - but just on the bass pedals. Vid's probably out there somewhere...
That was another incredible transition from Massive Attack - Sly, even if it only took one second.
DebateG wrote:
I always thought that Rimsky-Korsakov would be a great name for a mathematical theorem. With that said, see the piece played on guitar (not me, I wish it were) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1LN685YH7s
As in: I just worked out this amazing bit of math-theory, just wish i could remember it?
I'm planning on learning to play this on the piano someday (there is a piano arrangement available). That's one of the reasons I play scales for an hour a day - it's gradually enabling me to play faster and faster.
I always thought that Rimsky-Korsakov would be a great name for a mathematical theorem. With that said, see the piece played on guitar (not me, I wish it were) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1LN685YH7s
There is a really eclectic coffee house in Portland Or., called Rimsky-Korsakoffee, for which this would be a great theme song.

My nephew (3 yrs old) loves this - he calls him "Richie Coffeecup"
Fitting song for this time of year.
godlike....thanks bill!x3n0b07 wrote:
Rimsky Korsakov is my favorite clasical composer. Godlike... because.. it's from... a god!
Rimsky Korsakov is my favorite clasical composer. Godlike... because.. it's from... a god!
Oh how I love Romantic-era Russian composers! Thank you Beethoven for starting the Romantic era with your third symphony. Come to think of it, Beethoven's birthday is in 9 days...
Oh, those Russians!
Every time I hear this, I think "In the Hall of the Mountain King" should be on right after. Though it probably would be an overdose of classical. Maybe if it was Apocolytica's version...
I love that I am hearing this here!
Growing up when I did, all of this kind of classical music reminds me of Bugs Bunny cartoons!
Abulafia wrote:
Ahh... this completely fits the pace of work today. So many projects, so little time.
What the world needs is a Leonard Cohen version of this tune!
Only on RP would one hear a tune like that mixed into the soup...I love you guys!!!! and girls!!
Wow! The Green Hornet theme! COOL!!
this is the first time i have heard anything classical on rp. sweet. unfortunately, i can't hear this particular piece without picturing joey gladstone from full house, since he does this as part of his "act."
this is just too silly...
Bill you crack me up!!!
Radio Paradise...The definition of eclectic...Well Done!
Ahh... this completely fits the pace of work today. So many projects, so little time.
outstanding segue!
Perfect end-of-the-day-get-my-desk-cleared-off music!
Shimmer wrote:
I enjoy this piece, but this performance lacks the requisite onomatopoeic buzzing of, say, Bobby McFerrin's version.
I was going to say Black Sabbath
Yay, MN! I remember when Eiji Oue came to the orchestra and all of the local media made silly jokes about his name.
I feel like I should have a movie on - soundtrack.
Perfect for the way my work day is going!
I enjoy this piece, but this performance lacks the requisite onomatopoeic buzzing of, say, Bobby McFerrin's version.
It's one perfect tune that cannot be played whistling.
a classic ? hay I was first - never did that
Always reminds me of the old Green Hornet radio series.
Magnificient!