The Loose Cannon: The origin of the bugle call taps

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While there are no official words to taps, this is the most popular verse:

Twenty plus years ago, I was listening to a PBS interview with Jari Villanueva about the bugle call taps.

From the Taps Bugler website:

“Jari Villanueva retired from the United States Air Force where he spent 23 years with The USAF Band in Washington DC. He is considered the country’s foremost expert on military bugle calls, particularly the call of taps which is sounded at military funerals.”

All veterans are entitled to have taps played at their funerals. During the interview, Jari said that with so many WWII vets dying, there was a need for many more taps buglers. (Remember, this was 20 years ago.)

Unfortunately, that led to the development of the electronic self-playing taps bugle. No experience necessary. Just put the bugle to your lips and push a button to play a “perfect” rendition of taps. That rendition was recorded by Jari. The interviewer ended with the following statement to Jari, “So Jari, you could be the first person to play taps at their own funeral,” to which Jari agreed.

So that got me thinking. I played trumpet from junior high school into high school. Maybe I should dust off the old trumpet and give it another go.

In the eighth grade, I was first seat trumpet. I got to first seat trumpet by seniority, not necessarily talent. Music teacher Leo Bardes selected me to play the bugle call reveille while the flag was raised each morning before school. It meant that when I started to play, all the playground games had to come to an immediate halt. Everybody had to stop, face the flag and scowl at me. The scowling part was voluntary, but popular.

After I had been doing that for a while, I decided that I could improve on the standard version of reveille. I just changed a few notes and felt my version flowed smoother. Nobody even noticed the new and improved version.

My morning performances continued until one day, unbeknownst to me, Mr. Bardes arrived at school early enough to hear me play reveille – well, my version anyway. That got his attention and then he got my attention. He informed me, in no uncertain terms, that I did not have the authority to edit reveille. My version was eternally laid to rest.

So, 40 years later, I got out my old trumpet and started practicing the 24 notes of taps. Rough start, but I did better with time and eventually got to a level that I thought was “acceptable.”

Lou Jefferson was proud of being the longest-serving Yountville Town Council member. He also wrote 373 profiles as a columnist for the Yountville Sun. When he passed in 2006, his wife Margret, asked me to play taps at his casual ceremony. I was honored.

Later that year, I again had the opportunity to play taps for Seth P. “Whitie” Henderson at a private gathering. Whitie was a submariner radioman and a swimmer during WWII. From his Yountville Sun obituary, Seth “showed outstanding courage by rescuing a downed fighter pilot in open water in the South Pacific.”

I was ready to offer to play taps for services at The Vet’s home, when Yogi Bear came into my life. Yogi would be my best friend and companion for the next 13 years. He was a lovable mixed heritage black lab and a music critic. When I tried practicing on the trumpet, even in the farthest corner of the house, Yogi would howl endlessly. My taps-playing trumpet days were over. Now that Yogi is gone, I could start practicing again, but my neighbors are even closer here and I just can’t submit them to that punishment.

I still have that trumpet with the hope that one of my four grandchildren might play taps at MY funeral. If not, maybe George Rothwell can help me out (bad pun, I know). George is that Yountville old-timer who often supplies stories and background information about Yountville’s wild days.

When I asked George if he had been asked to perform taps, he replied, “Yes, I’ve done taps a zillion times since I was 11.”

There are many moving stories about the origin of taps. Most are not true.

In this 6:50 minute YouTube video, Jari tells the true story of taps: