When Coslow left the office he was exuberant! Needless to say, it took little time for the news of his "connection" to hit the street, and Coslow immediately became besieged by songwriters who wished to get in on the connection to Edison.
Two highly successful songwriters of the time were Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson. So when they contacted Coslow, saying they had a sure fire hit they wanted to get to Edison, he consented to listen to the song, and upon hearing CAROLINA IN THE MORNING he shared their enthusiasm and could hardly wait to play the song for the great man.
Edison listened to Coslow's enthusiastic raving about this new hit-to-be and instructed him to play it on the piano that stood in the corner of his office. Coslow had played no more than a few bars, when Edison shrieked "STOP!"
Startled, Coslow stopped playing, and Edison ordered him to play the first two notes of the song, all by themselves -" with one finger at a very slow tempo, over and over. If you know this song, you'll recall that the first two notes are used again and again and again! (DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA, etc.)
But Coslow played them slowly, and by themselves as instructed. He was interrupted when Edison shrieked:
"YOU CALL THAT BEAUTIFUL MUSIC ?! YOU'RE FIRED !!
And so ended Sam Coslow's relationship with Thomas Alva Edison!
But this tale requires more of an explanation. As you know, CAROLINA IN THE MORNING did indeed become a very big hit and there are two musical reasons why those monotonous two same notes could succeed:
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