# Help finding a song. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324 "2015-01-08T15:59:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/1 "2015-01-08T15:59:03Z")
This should be an easy one! Kicking myself for not figuring it out myself. Ok, here are the hints: Sounds vaguely like a march, or possibly a drinking song that got turned in to a patriotic one. Sounds French to me, my first instinct was Le Marseillaise but that’s not it. Reminds me of the 1812 Overture. Could also sound Russian. You know, French, Russian, what’s the diff right? About 100 bpm, perhaps a little quicker. Kind of stately. Here, let me hum you some of it. Ahem: Dum, dum de dum dum, Dum de dum de dum. Dum, dum de dum. Dum dum dum. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/2 "2015-01-08T16:14:20Z")
It would be helpful if you upload a sung or whistled version to e.g. YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![Idilia\_Dubb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c2a13f/32.png) [@Idilia\_Dubb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idilia_Dubb)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/3 "2015-01-08T16:25:00Z")
WAG: “Those were the Days, My Friend” by Mary Hopkin? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/4 "2015-01-08T16:36:48Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > This should be an easy one! Kicking myself for not figuring it out myself. > > Ok, here are the hints: > > Sounds vaguely like a march, or possibly a drinking song that got turned in to a patriotic one. > > Sounds French to me, my first instinct was Le Marseillaise but that’s not it. Reminds me of the 1812 Overture. > > Could also sound Russian. You know, French, Russian, what’s the diff right? > > About 100 bpm, perhaps a little quicker. Kind of stately. > > Here, let me hum you some of it. Ahem: > > Dum, dum de dum dum, > Dum de dum de dum. > Dum, dum de dum. > Dum dum dum. Does it have a vocal part, or when you say “sounds French or Russian” are you saying more that it it from the Romantic period of music, like Tchaikovsky? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/5 "2015-01-08T16:40:01Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Does it have a vocal part, or when you say “sounds French or Russian” are you saying more that it it from the Romantic period of music, like Tchaikovsky? Not sure if there are lyrics…definitely the latter, though. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/6 "2015-01-08T16:43:21Z")
Maybe the march from “Aida”? [Triumphal March from Aida - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3w4I-KElxQ) ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/7 "2015-01-08T16:48:42Z")
Nope, but definitely in that vein! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/8 "2015-01-08T16:49:58Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Dum, dum de dum dum, > Dum de dum de dum. > Dum, dum de dum. > Dum dum dum. Sounds like [Bizet’s “Toreador Song”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=SFENybsBDRw#t=67) (starting at about 1:06)? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/9 "2015-01-08T16:51:44Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Sounds like [Bizet’s “Toreador Song”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=SFENybsBDRw#t=67) (starting at about 1:06)? YES Thanks 😃 ---
**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:** [January 8, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/10 "2015-01-08T16:58:34Z")
You might want to try, “[Toreador Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFENybsBDRw)” from Carmen (starts at 1:02). The beginning, of course, was used in, “The Bad News Bears” (among thousands of other places). ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/11 "2015-01-08T17:03:11Z")
I don’t think of that as the Toreador Song. I think of it as “that Gilligan’s Island song about money”: [Gilligan's Island Polonius' Advice to Laertes sung to the Toreador Song - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXId5jOTxdg) ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/12 "2015-01-08T17:05:37Z")
That’s definitely it; though NEVER would have suspected those two part of the song belong together. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/13 "2015-01-08T17:05:41Z")
I couldn’t identify the original, but the first thing I thought of was “[Stand Up and Fight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPQ3BD6MeTQ)” from “Carmen Jones.” Several beat me to me with the actual opera song. ☹ ---
**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:** [January 8, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/14 "2015-01-08T17:08:15Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I don’t think of that as the Toreador Song. I think of it as “that Gilligan’s Island song about money”: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXId5jOTxdg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXId5jOTxdg) Now you’ve done it. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIT_mWT-2mI) has been in my head for 40 years and now IT’S IN YOURS, BWAA-HA-HA! (start at 3:12) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/15 "2015-01-08T17:15:28Z")
> [@Idilia\_Dubb](#): > > WAG: “Those were the Days, My Friend” by Mary Hopkin? So weird. Just last night I was racking my brain trying to remember the name of this song. (I couldn’t remember any of the lyrics, I just had the melody stuck in my head.) It took me a good 10 or 15 minutes of poking around on YouTube before I finally figured it out. (And kudos to Google algorithm guys helping me hash that out. Amazing!) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-finding-a-song/709324/16 "2015-01-08T17:33:50Z")
[Also known as the boxing song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R45dsT6RWvI&t=2m5s)