Photo: Hennepin Cty Library

The bells atop the Minneapolis City Hall tower rang out Michael Jackson tunes on Friday in memory of the pop star who died on Thursday. Dan Wascoe performed five Jackson songs: “We Are the World,” “Ben,” “You Are Not Alone,” “I’ll Be There,” and “Gone Too Soon.” Audio and video after the jump.

Friday carillon concerts at midday are a weekly tradition, but such memorials are rare. Frank Sinatra’s death in 1998 inspired a similar program of signature tunes, and the bells played “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” after Kirby Puckett died in 2006.

Wascoe, a former Star Tribune writer, explained to the Minnesota Independent (via a Facebook message) how he came to select those five songs from Jackson’s oeuvre:

For the bells concert, I developed a list of potential songs from several folks who know Jackson’s hits, including Tony Hill, the producer of the bells concerts; Baibi Vegners, my musical partner in a duo we call Nuance/a duo, and Nicole Wascoe Bauman, my elder daughter.

I culled that list using two main criteria: First, would they be recognizable when played on the bells? (The overtones of the 15 bells can turn some tunes, particularly uptempos, into musical mush.) Second, could I learn them well enough overnight to render decent versions during Friday’s concert?

I knew a couple of the tunes already and listened to the rest on YouTube. Because of the limits of the bells and the tiny keyboard from which they’re played, I had to determine which keys I could transpose the song into. I summoned the lyrics to the songs on the internet, then wrote above the words the letter name for each note  as heard on YouTube. Then I went to the piano to figure out how to transpose them for the bells.

It was something of a scramble because I am more of a Sinatra/Nat Cole fan than an MJ fan. But I guess folks who listened on Friday did recognize the tunes, so I consider that a small victory given the time pressure.

In a way it was fun to work against a tight deadline again. I was a Star Tribune reporter and columnist for 40 years before retiring two years ago this week.

Wascoe mentioned that there’s a great YouTube video of Jackson performing “Gone Too Soon” at President Clinton’s 1992 inaugural gala.

Here’s audio of Wascoe playing “I’ll Be There” on the City Hall bells, as recorded on the street (you’ll hear the passing traffic) by Jake Mohan and posted at his blog, The Dependent Clause:

And here’s a KARE-11 news report that shows Wascoe playing the tiny keyboard that controls the tower bells:

Minneapolis’ City Hall bells playing Jackson and Sinatra is reminiscent of the old nursery rhyme ”Oranges and Lemons“ about the bells of London, which ring out pop tunes as re-imagined in the Clash song “Clash City Rockers“:

You owe me a move, say the bells of St. Groove
Come on and show me, say the bells of Old Bowie
When I am fitter, say the bells of Gary Glitter
No one but you and I, say the bells of Prince-Far-I

(Prince-Far-I being a reggae DJ, not the Minneapolis-born pop star currently known as Prince, or the son of Michael Jackson who is also named Prince.)

Roberts’ advice to Reagan included this:

It is also important to consider the precedent that would be set by such a letter. In today’s [Washington] Post there were already reports that some youngsters were turning away from Mr. Jackson in favor of a newcomer who goes by the name “Prince,” and is apparently planning a Washington concert. Will he receive a Presidential letter? How will we decide which performers do and which do not?

“The whole thing’s a scream,” observes David Weigel at our sister site, The Washington Independent. It’s well worth reading the Post’s full account for other delicious tidbits. For example, while dissing Jackson, Roberts judged Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” tour to be commendably “patriotic” —  suggesting that Roberts completely missed the album’s undercurrent of cynicism and doubt about the country under Reagan.

Strange that he would miss that, considering that he’s apparently a close reader of Springsteen’s hero, Dylan. In what’s thought to be the first occasion on which pop music invaded the sacrosanct realm of high court opinions, Roberts cited a Dylan lyric in an opinion last June:

The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing. “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965).

Roberts’ predecessor as chief justice, William Rehnquist, liked light-opera legends Gilbert and Sullivan so much so that he not only quoted them in opinions but added fussy accessories to his judicial robes that looked like knock-offs from Gilbert and Sullivan costumes.

No word on whether Roberts wears a mid-’80s-style Springsteen bandana tied around his head while crafting opinions in chambers. Actually, Prince has provided a more judicial look in some phases of his career.

And Prince also gets political from time to time, most recently working federal bailouts and North Minneapolis’ progress (or lack thereof) into a jam on his latest CD. Indeed, at the time Roberts began writing his Jackson briefs, “Purple Rain” was days away from being released (the release date was June 25, 1984 — 25 years to the day before Jackson’s death) so youngsters would still have been digging earlier songs off his previous record, “Controversy”, including one called “Annie Christian” that mentions Reagan:

Annie Christian was a whore always looking for some fun
being good was such a bore, so she bought a gun
she killed John Lennon, shot him down cold
she tried to kill Reagan, everybody say gun control (gun control!)

Here’s a video of Prince, hand in pocket, performing a punked-up version of “Annie Christian” at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 21, 1981.