# Help ID a "song"... probably a long shot **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507 "2017-01-19T00:31:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/1 "2017-01-19T00:31:03Z")
When we were kids (I’ll guess around 1969?) we used to go to the local theater to watch movies. Before the movie started the theater would play music. I don’t know if it was real music or something owned by the chain. Anyway, one song stuck in our heads and we used to sing it a lot. The words (as I remember them - and I feel that this is pretty accurate) were as follows: "Now Louis Pasteur got it in his head to drink hot milk before going to bed He boiled his milk and to his surprise He found his milk was pasteurized Sir A Dickadee Sir A Dickadee" My google-fu failed me. Does it ring any bells for anyone? ETA: looking at the lyrics now I’m wondering if it was “serendipity”. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/2 "2017-01-19T05:32:45Z")
I remember just a bit of a song from some 1960s Disney tv show. It was sung on-screen by a small number of singers. Refrain: > [@](#): > > Se-rendipity! > Se-rendipity! > something something that Lady Luck presents > The art of happy accidents Also between verses > [@](#): > > Se-ren-dipidipidipity > Se-ren-dipidipidipity ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/3 "2017-01-19T05:39:17Z")
This must be the episode I referred to, but the bit of the song is all I remember of it. > [@](#): > > another song came about when technical advisor Professor Julius Sumner Miller (Professor Wonderful on the 1960s syndicated version of Mickey Mouse Club) explained “serendipity” as setting up a climate where things can happen logically. “Walt was fascinated with the word,” recalled Bill Walsh. “And he had the Shermans write a song about it.” Fred MacMurray performed “Serendipity” on TV’s Walt Disney Presents on March 26, 1961 and re-broadcast in Man in Flight which was modified to promote The Absent-Minded Professor. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/4 "2017-01-19T05:53:43Z")
I’ll give the melody that I remember. I’ll omit note lengths, but this should be enough for you to see if it matches. ```auto A C' A G F Se-ren-dip-i-ty! G C' G F E Se-ren-dip-i-ty! G C E G G A C G something something that Lady Luck presents E G G G G G F E The art of hap-py ac-ci-dents G F# F E F E F E D Se-ren-dip-i-dip-i-dip-i-ty G F# F E F E F E D Se-ren-dip-i-dip-i-dip-i-ty ``` ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/5 "2017-01-20T00:53:37Z")
Thanks RB , I can’t do that in my head. Let me get to a keyboard. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![EulessDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@EulessDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EulessDave)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/6 "2020-05-20T03:22:07Z")
I haven’t thought about that song in years but my brother and I used to sing that incessantly when we were kids. We had the Shaggy Dog album and it was on the flip side with the Flubber song. As I remember, it goes like this: Sere-En-Dipi-Dipi-Dipity Sere-En-Dipi-Dipi-Dipity Ser-en-Dipity, the art of happy accidents. Across the sea Columbus went to find a route to the Orient. While trying to prove the world was round America is what he found! … ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/7 "2020-05-20T04:04:44Z")
It looks to me like “Serendipity” is the flip side of the song “Flubber” on this 45, both sides sung by Fred MacMurray: [https://www.vinyl45s.com/MacMurray-Fred--Flubber-SongSerendipity-DJ-advance-pressing--NM9--45-rpm-Records\_p\_229891.html](https://www.vinyl45s.com/MacMurray-Fred--Flubber-SongSerendipity-DJ-advance-pressing--NM9--45-rpm-Records_p_229891.html) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/8 "2020-05-20T04:23:56Z")
I would just like to take this moment to note that Julius Sumner Miller ruled, and I heard the lyrics provided by **EulessDave** in his voice. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2020, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/9 "2020-05-20T08:14:22Z")
Is this the melody? Apparently it’s also “The Medfield Fight Song,” written by the brothers Sherman: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CG6HSKnqlc4/hqdefault.jpg "The Absent Minded Professor (1961)-Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson,") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG6HSKnqlc4) I remember seeing this movie when I was six years old. The cheerleaders really turned me on! :o ---
**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:** [May 20, 2020, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/10 "2020-05-20T08:21:16Z")
My Astronomy professor in college was fond of the word “serendipity.” He used it a lot in describing things like the discovery of Uranus. I wonder if he was influenced by this movie. :o ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/11 "2020-05-22T05:55:16Z")
**EulessDave** , welcome aboard, and thanks for the info. **terentii** , that’s not how I remember the song. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/12 "2020-05-22T12:44:46Z")
It looks to me that what is being referred to is the song “Serendipity” by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, as mentioned in this page of a book: > **[Catalog of Copyright Entries](https://books.google.com/books?id=UTMhAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA458&lpg=PA458&dq=Richard%2BM.%2BSherman%2BRobert%2BB.%2BSherman%2BSerendipity&source=bl&ots=BIgZBgKIUr&sig=ACfU3U3cAH6LPK_pQc0mgVX7LKICCwYqRA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiz-srXvMfpAhUSmXIEHQtEDEUQ6AEwAHoECAwQAQ#v=onepage&q=Richard%20M.%20Sherman%20Robert%20B.%20Sherman%20Serendipity&f=false)** As I said in a previous post, it’s the song on the flip side of a record that I link to a picture of in a previous post. The Sherman brothers wrote a lot of songs for Disney. They apparently wrote a song with the words given by EulessDave in a previous post. Apparently they wrote the two songs “Flubber” and “Serendipity” for Fred MacMurray to sing on the Disney TV program. Apparently Disney asked them to do this in order to advertise the Disney movie _The Absent Minded Professor_ which was just being released at the same time. They also put out a record of those two songs. Those songs weren’t in the movie itself. I can’t find anything online with someone singing the song or giving the words of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/13 "2020-05-22T16:24:12Z")
[Moderating] Two things: First, we try to respect copyrights here. A brief excerpt is OK, but not the entire lyrics of a song. Accordingly, I have trimmed **EulessDave** ’s post. Second, **terentii** , the rest of us really don’t need to know about cheerleaders turning you on, especially in a thread that has nothing whatsoever to do with said cheerleaders. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-song-probably-a-long-shot/777507/14 "2020-05-22T16:24:27Z")
[Moderating] Two things: First, we try to respect copyrights here. A brief excerpt is OK, but not the entire lyrics of a song. Accordingly, I have trimmed **EulessDave** ’s post. Second, **terentii** , the rest of us really don’t need to know about cheerleaders turning you on, especially in a thread that has nothing whatsoever to do with said cheerleaders.