# Actual Names of Some Well-Known 'Cliché' Songs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178 "2014-04-02T16:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/41 "2014-04-02T20:39:12Z")
[Toccata and fugue in D minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9rZjlsyYY)? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/42 "2014-04-02T20:39:20Z")
Organ music ninjas! The very worst kind! > [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I’m racking my brain trying to remember that stereotypical spooky organ music. > > The one that opens with a long held chord, then a series of quick, mostly rising ones. This isn’t the one you’re thinking of, but [Toccata and Fugue in D Minor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor,_BWV_565) is also a staple of the Famous Creepy Organ Music genre. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/43 "2014-04-02T20:56:37Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This isn’t the one you’re thinking of It is, actually, I just conflated the bit about 30 seconds in with the opening in my head. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/44 "2014-04-02T22:11:01Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The “[oriental riff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_riff)” isn’t a song with a proper name, but it’s been used in a lot of songs with names…and the riff has a name. (man that was a hard sentence to write and I still messed it up) Didn’t part of _Devil in the White City_ deal with the writing of that? It was the person who put together the Midway. ETA: Opps, my mistake. I meant the “There’s a place in France…” melody. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/45 "2014-04-02T22:30:51Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Also, Edvard Grieg’s [Morning Mood](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCEzh3MwILY&feature=kp) from his _Peer Gynt_ is a stereotypical “morning song”. > > Speaking of Peer Gynt, if you were a big gamer in the 1990’s you might recognize the [Death of Ase](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aKxf1h5r4g). > > _Descent_, level 8 level music Grieg’s most cliched work has to be [“In The Hall of The Mountain King”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRpzxKsSEZg) I count 45 uses in film and television alone on this [wikipedia page.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grieg%27s_music_in_popular_culture) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/46 "2014-04-02T23:29:55Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > \ > [“Theme from ‘A Summer Place.’”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_from_A_Summer_Place) That’s the one! [Here’s a link to a video so you can all go, “Oh yeah! That song!”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSsiS-v6_6M) 🙂 Another very familiar, clichéd song - [Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os6raCCmAFk) (Music starts at around 0:50.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/47 "2014-04-02T23:39:21Z")
Does anyone know the name of that theme with kettle drums that plays in old Westerns when the Indians come on the scene? “DUUMMM dum dum DUM dum dum dum”? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/48 "2014-04-02T23:40:38Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Also, Edvard Grieg’s [Morning Mood](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCEzh3MwILY&feature=kp) from his _Peer Gynt_ is a stereotypical “morning song”. > [@lisiate](#): > > Grieg’s most cliched work has to be [“In The Hall of The Mountain King”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRpzxKsSEZg) > > I count 45 uses in film and television alone on this [wikipedia page.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grieg%27s_music_in_popular_culture) I might have **The Ultimate Grieg Cliche** : **lisiate** ’s list has ELO covering ITHotMK, however, they start that version with a short bit from MM. Jeff Lynne must have been on an EG binge that week. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/49 "2014-04-02T23:51:21Z")
For when the magician or tightrope walker is performing, [Over the Waves](http://youtu.be/QzCCQZFDkJk) by Mexican composer Juvenitas Rosas. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/50 "2014-04-03T00:03:09Z")
Is “[Sabre Dance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqg3l3r_DRI)” still a cliche, or has it been retired to Cliche Parnassus? ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/51 "2014-04-03T00:13:28Z")
There are many Gypsy themes… The quintessential sad and poignant one: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xir-5oAWxXE&feature=youtu.be&t=4m45s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xir-5oAWxXE&feature=youtu.be&t=4m45s) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/52 "2014-04-03T01:13:50Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Answered my own question by using Google: it’s called [Powerhouse](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9-7uLg-DZU), and it was apparently written by Raymond Scott for Warner Brothers cartoons. I have a couple of Raymond Scott collections, and my impression from liner notes is that he wrote Powerhouse and most (all?) of his other pieces years before his publishing rights were sold to Warner Brothers. I’m too lazy to look any of this up, and agree to be wrong if I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/53 "2014-04-03T01:23:58Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The “[oriental riff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_riff)” isn’t a song with a proper name, but it’s been used in a lot of songs with names…and the riff has a name. (man that was a hard sentence to write and I still messed it up) I now think of it as “Gonna Tell Us All about the Rain.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/54 "2014-04-03T01:32:15Z")
> [@K364](#): > > There are many Gypsy themes… > > The quintessential sad and poignant one: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xir-5oAWxXE&feature=youtu.be&t=4m45s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xir-5oAWxXE&feature=youtu.be&t=4m45s) Music starts **here** at about 1:35: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FcJG1Anqe9k/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGogaihqMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDL_QR7uwcivhGjRIGFrKb-eOgV-A "Golden Earrings Marlene Dietrich 1947 originl Zoltan Gypsy camp scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcJG1Anqe9k) ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/55 "2014-04-03T01:53:57Z")
When there’s a party at a country club or some similar high society gathering, and they want to convey just how sophisticated everybody is, you often hear Vivaldi’s _[Spring.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA)_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/56 "2014-04-03T02:00:21Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Is “[Sabre Dance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqg3l3r_DRI)” still a cliche, or has it been retired to Cliche Parnassus? You mean “The Ed Sullivan Show’s Plate-Spinner’s Theme”?\* 😃 \*Yes, I see it's been dubbed, but it proves I'm not the only guy who thinks this way! ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/57 "2014-04-03T02:14:03Z")
The Nokia ring tone, which is played world-wide at least twenty times per second, is actually the Francisco Tarrega “[Gran Vals](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSQzUx3QW2Y)”. Listen at 0:11. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/58 "2014-04-03T02:14:53Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You mean “The Ed Sullivan Show’s Plate-Spinner’s Theme”?\* 😃 > > \*Yes, I see it's been dubbed, but it proves I'm not the only guy who thinks this way! Yep, the very one–HEY! I can’t be watching this; I’m getting ready for bed. That’s worse than coffee. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/59 "2014-04-03T02:22:13Z")
Not certain if this has become “cliche” as of yet but this _ **Miserlou** _ from Pulp Fiction:[- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5OHrQYwRac) Is actually a variation of this Greek song:[The original Misirlou - Μισιρλού (Τέτος Δημητριάδης -1927) - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW6qGy3RtwY) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178/60 "2014-04-03T02:41:18Z")
[This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1088E6E2fY) is certainly cliche at weddings, and I would think heraldry movies (and Masterpiece Theatre), as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-names-of-some-well-known-cliche-songs/685178.md?page=4)