There is a tune they play in cartoons, usually when there is a assembly line going, or some complicated big machine. Anyone? Bueller?
You might be thinking of Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse.”
This has come up a few times before. This is the only one I can find, though.
It’s a piece called Powerhouse by Raymond Scott.
Powerhouse by Raymond Scott. In the links at the top of the page, there’s a wav clip labeled “section B only,” which ought to sound familiar despite the different arrangement. The .mp3 clip has an opening section, which in fact I’ve heard before but didn’t know I knew.
Shoot. You guys weren’t there when I previewed.
Wow! My first simulpost!
Well, Jenaroph, you were the only one to link to a sound file, so you should be an honorary member of the simulpost.
That’s the one!!! Thanks! 
I could’ve sworn I played the latter section in band, but the name isn’t familiar at all, so maybe I’m misremembering.
Listen to the other files too! The seem to have used these others too! :eek:
“The Scare Floor” from the Monsters Inc. soundtrack has a similar style. It’s a fun big-brass variation on the theme.
About 10 years ago a Carl Stalling music tribute CD http://www.bestprices.com/cgi-bin/vlink/musicartists/cds-by-artist-Carl-Stalling.html was put out and Powerhouse is on there. Stalling was the music director for all the classic WB cartoons.
Another version of this piece is embedded in the middle of “La Villa Strangiato”, by Rush. They call it “Monsters.”
The piece was composed and originally recorded by Raymond Scott, but the cartoon scores were all done by Carl Stalling for WB. I highly recommend getting “The Carl Stalling Project” and also “Reckless Nights & Turkish Twilights” by the Raymond Scott Quintette, both are excellent.
There are several Raymond Scott albums over on Amazon, & his versions are much, much better than the crappy house bands & second tier session musicians used in the cartoons.
Raymond Scott was really ahead of his time. He was a pioneer in electronic music, a great jazz composer and bandleader, and a major influence on everyone from Spike Jones to Frank Zappa.
I’ve heard it in a lot of old WB cartoons too. The bit where it gets higher and higher is usually used when someone is on a roller coaster or running up a long set of stairs or something similar.
I’ve heard it in a lot of old WB cartoons too. The bit where it gets higher and higher is usually used when someone is on a roller coaster or running up a long set of stairs or something similar.
Soulcoughing sampled it on their album Ruby Zoom - it’s either the 3rd or 5th track, can’t recall. Something about a bus and Beelzebub.
You’re calling the Warner Brothers Studio Orchestra a “crappy house band”? Because it was the studio orchestra that recorded decades worth of WB cartoon shorts under the wand of Carl Stalling.
The Pietasters, a ska band, also borrowed “Powerhouse” in their instrumental song “Factory Concerto.”