I’d like to identify the tune played by the ice cream man’s truck when I was a small child in the '60s. Unfortunately, I can’t write music.
I started typing out detailed instructions on how to play the notes on an interactive keyboard. I think it might work if I just looked up which notes go with which keys. It goes something like this:
B-B-A-A-G-B-D-G-F#-A-D-G-G-B-D
I can’t ID it with your notation, but check this ice cream truck video. It’s playing “Turkey in the Straw”, which is sort of the standard ice cream truck song. Is that it?
No, I know Turkey In The Straw. That’s not it.
Here is a flash keyboard. And here are the notes on a keyboard. The notes are evenly spaced, and the tempo is about the same as Old Joe Clark. (The tune is nothing like Old Joe Clark. Just the tempo.)
Turkey in the Straw was a friend of his. That’s no Turkey in the Straw.
Is it the “Mr. Softee Song”?
That’s not it either. It actually goes (as near as I can figure out a keyboard) B-B-A-A-G-B-D-G-F#-A-D-G-G-B-D.
hmmm… Ok, if you say so. playing that on a keyboard does remind me of the mister softee jingle though.
Yes, that’s the song I remember when I was a kid in the 50s.
Unfortunately, I can’t read music so I have no idea what the OP’s notes translate to. But here’s a previous threadon the topic, Music Box Dancer and Turkey in the Straw seems to be popular ones.
Could you tell us which notes are the highest and lowest? The tune jumps around and it’s a bit ambiguous as listed, e.g. is that a high F# or a low one?
It would also be nice to know which notes the beat falls on.
It’a a commuting day, so I need to hit the road. I’ll go back to my original plan of detailing which keys are played. For example, the first two notes are the white key immediately to the right of the third black key in the second set of three black keys depicted on the flash keyboard. The second two notes are played on the white key immediately to the left of the white key that was just played. And so on…
Oh, before I go: The F# is the first black key in the second set of three black keys depicted on the flash keyboard.
Yes it is, though I admit it’s an unusual arrangement.
No. The tune Johnny L.A. notated is nothing to do with “Turkey in the Straw.” It’s the standard ice cream truck song I heard growing up in San Diego, and in various threads like this one I’ve never seen anyone put a name to it.
Sorry, I misunderstood what he was referring to.
Why don’t you whistle it into a Youtube video?
Yeah, San Diego, '60s and '70s.
Not sure if some of the links on this page might help:
I’m sure most of those sites are geared towards “real” music (not ice cream man tunes) but maybe something there might help. If nothing else, maybe there is a virtual keyboard site out there where you could record your version and link to it so we could listen to that? There is no rhythm to your list of notes, does that matter? Or would we recognize it just playing that melody as a bunch of say, quarter notes?
Number 2 on that link is the flash keyboard I linked to earlier. I was unable to find the tune using that tool.
As for the rhythm, it’s regular. Like ‘ONE and TWO and THREE and FOUR, and ONE and TWO and THREE and FOUR…’
It’s not the tune that includes “4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie” is it?