What is the World News Polka?
A. Shortly before 3 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday overnights (Friday mornings), Barry Mitchell, at Peter Jennings’ desk and with the assistance of some unseen backup singers, band, and a bubble machine, fires up his accordion and lets out the defining musical event of a generation. It was first recorded on July 31, 1992; the current recording (and video) has been in use since June of 1993. The polka takes 89 seconds to perform (exactly the same length of time the Tyson-McNeely fight required [7]). The original polka, which was done with Barry alone at his accordion, has slightly different lyrics; in the middle, Barry calls for “Only people who don’t have cable” to sing instead of “Insomniacs only,” and after the instrumental break the lyrics from the first portion are repeated, instead of the different set now sung. It does include the coin and the “Gee, thanks, Mr. Jennings!” although they are not as clear. There is a version of the polka recorded in which Barry Mitchell starts it o
