Transcription Mystery Disc #163

This disc (and the rest of the set) spin at 78 rpm  and are 10-inches in diameter. Most of the discs have Audiodisc brand sleeves indicating the brand of blank beneath the logo. This song cannot be used for correlative dating as it was composed by Sir Edward Elgar in 1909, more here.  These thankfully are dated. The set of discs all date from different months in 1950. Online I have also seen discs bearing the Ely logo from 1952 and 1954. That makes for a nice tight grouping indicating an era in which he was active.

Ely recordings were made by Mr. George Ely of Mt. Holly Springs PA. I suspect he was the same George Ely that played drums for the band the PA Turnpike, also known as The Shades. But it's hard to say it could just as easily been a relative or George Sr. or an unrelated George Ely.

Go Song Of Mine


This George Ely made the rounds recording school bands around new England. His recordings noted online include bands from as far west as the Michigan Marching Band, and as far north as the University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School Chorus. He probably didn't travel as much as that sounds. It appears from the sets of discs that are being found together that he was recoding school band concerts with multiple bands and conductors performing.