# Allan Sherman's Variations on "How Dry I Am": One tune unidentified

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allan-shermans-variations-on-how-dry-i-am-one-tune-unidentified/758562>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 27, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allan-shermans-variations-on-how-dry-i-am-one-tune-unidentified/758562 "2016-06-27T21:36:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allan-shermans-variations-on-how-dry-i-am-one-tune-unidentified/758562/1 "2016-06-27T21:36:00Z")

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On this band, the first part of Side Two of the record _Peter and the Commissar_ that Sherman made with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops in the 1960s, he used the first four notes of “How Dry I Am” (following Fiedler’s “solo” hiccup), worked into a dozen or so recognizable tunes:  
\*The theme from “High Noon”  
\*“Merry Widow Waltz”  
\*Man on the Flying Trapeze"  
\*“Home on the Range”  
\*Habanera" _(Carmen)_  
\*“El Capitan”  
\*“You’re Breaking My Heart 'Cause You’re Leaving”  
(Unknown)  
\*Sherman’s Piano Solo (He plays the four notes, indicated with Scotch tape on the keys, forward then backward)  
\*“This Is the Story of a Starry Night” (a real oldie)  
\*Big Ben chimes  
\*1812 Overture, with cannon  
\*“You Are My Sunshine”  
\*“How Dry I Am,” with Fiedler hiccupping again  
The “unknown” title is a lively number apparently in can-can style. I just thought someone else who knows this album of Sherman’s might know that one title; a relative of mine identified two others I didn’t already know today. Thanks very much.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allan-shermans-variations-on-how-dry-i-am-one-tune-unidentified/758562/2 "2016-06-27T21:52:37Z")

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[Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-29YlZuqY). The song in question is at 5:51.

And the song you ID as “This Is the Story of a Starry Night” is actually from Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony.

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**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allan-shermans-variations-on-how-dry-i-am-one-tune-unidentified/758562/3 "2016-06-28T00:14:57Z")

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Found it. [Maurice Chevalier - Valentine - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_vLOFMH2SA&list=PLcGkkXtask_cthy0-gKc2HLXXamFhZSum&index=7). A Maurice Chevalier song called “Valentine” (said in four syllables).

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allan-shermans-variations-on-how-dry-i-am-one-tune-unidentified/758562/4 "2016-06-28T04:03:34Z")

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> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Found it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E\_vLOFMH2SA&list=PLcGkkXtask\_cthy0-gKc2HLXXamFhZSum&index=7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_vLOFMH2SA&list=PLcGkkXtask_cthy0-gKc2HLXXamFhZSum&index=7). A Maurice Chevalier song called “Valentine” (said in four syllables).

Merci beaucoup! Je ne l’ai pas su!  
As for the other song…I wouldn’t have known–I don’t know Tchaikovsky’s work that well.