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There is some debate in music circles about who exactly has the largest Organ in the world. The largest Pipe Organ, that is. It is regrettable that I'm approaching this blog without my trademark Compendium of Phallic Jokes, References and Innuendos, but somehow or another we'll get by.

The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ of Atlantic City is one big mother. The Guinness Book of World Records has officially deemed it the largest and loudest organ in existence, as well as the largest musical instrument ever. Consisting of 32,000 pipes (8 of which are large enough to require 10,000 square feet of lumber to construct), enough electrical wiring to encircle the Earth in excess of five times and - I swear to you I'm not making this up - a 600 horsepower engine just to create enough air pressure, just looking at this organ is enough to give anyone organ envy. I'll also pretend to know the significance of a quoted 1,235 stop tabs on the organ's console. The largest pipe stands 64' 9" tall and weighs a spare 3,350 pounds, meaning the total weight of this musical behemoth would probably approach that of everyone currently eating in a Luby's dipped in lead and multiplied by four (you can come up with your own numbers). Unfortunately, this puppy is not currently playable. Having fallen into disrepair (including some remarkably careless partial renovating that destroyed the internals of just about everything else not being renocated), the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium is sadly impotent.

With that in mind, the World's Largest PLAYABLE Organ waddles into the fray. The Wanamaker Organ of Philadelphia with its 28,482 pipes (the Atlantic City crowd can't seem to get an exact count on theirs... try counting sheep after 32,000 and you'll see why) is played twice a day six times a week, a fact cheerfully emphasized by the anti-Boardwalk crowd. Put together in 1904, it made its way to a department store owned by a certain John Wanamaker. Incidentally, the store was dedicated by none other than President William Howard Taft (I'm not kidding).

And now, The Wanamaker Organ in action (just sit really still and be quiet if you want to hear the other one).