A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Carillon script
Saturday, June 14, 2008

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GK: A stone's throw from here is the Charles Baird carillon so let's take a walk up campus (FOOTSTEPS, VOICES IN PASSING, BICYCLE IN PASSING, DOG, BOOMBOX IN PASSING) and (CARILLON) here is the carillon, which by the way is the third heaviest in the world — 55 bells the smallest weighs 21 pounds, the largest weighs 12 tons — and here is our carilloneur here — (FN IGOR: I am here, master, ready to ring the bells.) and before we do that, just to illustrate what damage 12 tons can do, we're going to drop that largest bell a hundred feet onto a schoolbus filled with cream-filled croissants — (FN: Ready, master) — let 'er go, Igor — (PULL LATCH, CABLE UNREELING, BIG CRUNCH AND SPLAT AND SQUIRTING OF CREAM SQUEEZED OUT) — okay, now let's haul the bell back up (FN IGOR STRAINING, RATCHETING) — while he's hauling the bell back up, let me explain that the carillonneur plays the carillon by pushing long wooden batons which are arranged like the keys of a piano keyboard — there is also a vibrato attachment, which actually shakes the entire bell tower — and here is a little bit of a song played on the carillon. (SONG)

THE END