sir malcolm henry arnold wrote the march for the colonol bogey song in 1914 that arnold used for his own composition in bridge on the river kwai.
sir malcolm henry arnold wrote the march for the colonol bogey song in 1914 that arnold used for his own composition in bridge on the river kwai.
who wrote the march for the colonol bogey song in 1914 that arnold use for his own composition in bridge on the river kwai?
sir malcolm henry arnold
the march was written in 1914 by kenneth j. alford, a pseudonym of british bandmaster frederick j. ricketts. the colonel bogey strain was accompanied by a counter-melody using the same chord progressions, then continued with film composer malcolm arnold's own composition, "the river kwai march," played by the off-screen orchestra taking over from the whistlers, though arnold's march was not heard in completion on the soundtrack. mitch miller had a hit with a recording of both marches.
the bridge on the river kwai
english composer malcolm arnold added a counter-march, which he titled "the river kwai march", for the 1957 dramatic film "the bridge on the river kwai", set during world war ii. the two marches were recorded together by mitch miller as "march from the river kwai – colonel bogey". on account of the movie, the "colonel bogey march" is often miscredited as the "river kwai march". while arnold did use "colonel bogey" in his score for the film, it was only the first theme and a bit of the second theme of "colonel bogey", whistled unaccompanied by the british prisoners several times as they marched into the prison camp. since the film depicted prisoners of war held under inhumane conditions by the japanese, canadian officials were embarrassed in may 1980, when a military band played "colonel bogey" during a visit to ottawa by japanese prime minister masayoshi ōhira.
colonel bogey march