Time Out Ten
Anyone Can Whistle
Ian Shaw
For this item you need to be able to stop for ten minutes.
We are often moving on to the next job, the next meeting, scrolling down social media, taking the next call ......'Time Out Ten' asks you to stop for ten minutes and listen to a particular piece of music; to find a time when you won't be interrupted, when you can put in/on your headphones and chill out. Ten minutes isn't long.
Anyone can whistle, That's what they say - Easy
Anyone can whistle, Any old day - Easy
It's all so simple, Relax, let go, let fly
So someone tell me why can't I?
Ian Shaw is one of the UK's finest jazz vocalists in the way that he interprets and conveys a song. With his new album Stephensong and with Stephen Sondheim's personal blessing dating back to the 1990s, Ian brings a personal perspective to the songs he has chosen, informed by his life, his activism and his artistic journey. He says: "I've known these songs for years, but always through an actor's eyes and ears. It took me a long time to feel ready to record them."
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Stephen Sondheim, who sadly died in 2021, left a legacy of distinctive music and lyrics from West Side Story to stage musicals such as Into The Woods, Sweeny Todd and Company, but he also composed other songs for less prominent musicals and Ian Shaw has included some on this album.
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Anyone Can Whistle is one of them. It is the title song of a musical originally described as "a satire on conformity and the insanity of the so-called sane," It told a story of an economically depressed town whose corrupt mayor decides to create a fake miracle in order to attract tourists. The phony miracle draws the attention of an emotionally inhibited nurse, a crowd of inmates from a local asylum, and a doctor with secrets of his own. Following a tryout period in Philadelphia, Anyone Can Whistle opened on Broadway in 1964, but closed after a run of twelve previews and nine performances. Thankfully the title song survived, and the lyrics have ideas to think about in our ten minutes time out.
I can dance a tango, I can read Greek - Easy
I can slay a dragon, Any old week - Easy
What's hard is simple, What's natural comes hard
Maybe you could show me How to let go
Lower my guard, Learn to be free
Maybe if you whistle
Whistle for me
Stephensong, Ian Shaw Sings Stephen Sondheim was released on Silent Wish Records on 28th November 2025 and will be a delight for those who admire both Ian Shaw and Stephen Sondheim, and the piano of Barry Green is ideal for these arrangements.
The eleven tracks bring a fine variation of music : When you have a few more minutes to spare, try Everybody Says Don't, (also from Anyone Can Whistle), or the two songs from Evening Primrose; the poignant I Remember (Sky) and the hopeful Take Me To The World.
Evening Primrose was another lesser known musical TV film in which poet Charles Snell takes refuge from the world by hiding out in a department store after closing. Once there he finds a secret group who have lived in the store for years. The leader of the group, Mrs. Monday, permits Charles to stay after he convinces her that he is a poet. Charles meets and is smitten with a beautiful young girl, Ella Harkins, Mrs. Monday's maid. Ella, who is now 19, has lived in the store since she was separated from her mother at age six, falling asleep in the women's hat department. Charles realizes Ella has not seen the sun for thirteen years. Ella tries to tell Charles about her life before, but realizes that most of her memories from outside are being replaced with memories of living in the store.
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So, at some time, whether you like Somewhere from West Side Story or want to discover Stephen Soidheim's songs that are less familiar, details and samples of the album are here.​
© Sandy Brown Jazz 2026.1