# ID the ice cream man tune from the '60s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719 "2013-07-17T02:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/21 "2013-07-18T18:01:29Z")
Nope, but I can see how it might appear that way. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/22 "2013-07-18T18:08:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Nope, but I can see how it might appear that way. [Here’s an icecream truck- at about 2:35.](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4ilpg_tex-avery-dixieland-droopy_shortfilms#.UeguKm3YElw) Is that close? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/23 "2013-07-18T18:22:26Z")
[Here is the tune in question.](http://youtu.be/HZzxQ8fxI9Y) ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/24 "2013-07-18T18:22:48Z")
Hmm, if you use the JavaScript search on that site it looks like maybe it saves your search. Does this link work for you? > **[Musipedia: Musipedia Melody Search Engine](https://www.musipedia.org/err404.0.html)** > > A search engine for tunes and musical themes and a collaborative music encyclopedia. Only the melody needs to be known to search Musipedia or the Web. The melody can be played on a keyboard or whistled or sung to the computer. The Musipedia... And if so, does that sound anything like your song? I just punched the notes you have above. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/25 "2013-07-18T19:06:12Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > [Here is the tune in question.](http://youtu.be/HZzxQ8fxI9Y) That’s it! 🙂 Now we just need a name! (FWIW, the truck played it a little faster.) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/26 "2013-07-18T23:04:21Z")
I just listened to it. I don’t recognize it. I’m thinking maybe it was a tune written just for the ice cream trucks. Oh, and **Biffy** , I like the fact that you went through the trouble of making a YouTube video, complete with ice cream picture. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/27 "2013-07-18T23:14:00Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > Oh, and **Biffy** , I like the fact that you went through the trouble of making a YouTube video, complete with ice cream picture. 🙂 I didn’t notice **Biffy** made that! I like the Creamsicle. There’s a cat in the neighbourhood we call ‘Creamsicle Kitty’ because he’s orange and white. (A local shelter had an orange-and-white cat named Creamsicle, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/28 "2013-07-18T23:41:19Z")
Don’t recognize the subject tune. “Mr Softee,” though, had lyrics that I can still remember more than fifty years later!: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_0rGNLd6tdw/hqdefault.jpg "Mister Softee vintage commercial") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0rGNLd6tdw) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/29 "2013-07-18T23:56:29Z")
Around here, the ice cream men play _La Cucuracha_ for no apparent reason. Anyway, I recognize the OP’s tune because when I was a kid visiting relatives in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, that’s the tune the ice cream men played out there. (Back at home in Virginia at that time, the ice cream trucks didn’t play tunes - they just had a rack of bells over the windshield, and would pull on a string to ring them from time to time. How primitive, huh? It still got our attention, though.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/30 "2013-07-19T01:08:40Z")
That’s the Firesign Theatre ice cream truck from the end of [Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGTY_jTZ-Zo) and the beginning of [I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmWFrMq3qNY) An ice cream truck here was playing it one day and I thought I’d be able to go to the Future Fair. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/31 "2013-07-22T16:54:51Z")
Another San Diego 50’s kid with a less often heard Ice Cream Truck tune from 1971. I drove a Good Humor truck for a few weeks, during which ordeal I heard this song about a million and six times. You have to imagine it sped up a little, played in a very basic 4/4 time, in those moronic bell tones. “Oh Donna Clara” [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOyp58WsNE8) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/32 "2014-06-25T00:37:05Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > [Here is the tune in question.](http://youtu.be/HZzxQ8fxI9Y) There’s another ice cream truck thread that was started today. Thought I’d resurrect this one to see if anyone can identify the name of the tun in **Biffy** put up. (The tempo was faster on the actual truck.) ---
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/33 "2014-06-26T14:04:01Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I just listened to it. I don’t recognize it. I’m thinking maybe it was a tune written just for the ice cream trucks. I recognize it, sort of. It sounds like a simplified version of a reel that I remember from my days of Scottish country dancing. The rhythm I know is a bit more complex: 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4, and 1 & 2 & 3 & 4, and a 1 & 2 & 3 & 4, and 1 & 2 and a 3–4. I don’t recall the name of the reel, but if you listen to some of the country dancing collections on YouTube, you’re bound to hear it. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/34 "2014-06-26T14:12:54Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The rhythm I know is a bit more complex: > > 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4, and 1 & 2 & 3 & 4, and a 1 & 2 & 3 & 4, and 1 & 2 and a 3–4. The stress (beat) always falls on 1 and 3 (and the half note at the end). ---
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/35 "2014-06-26T14:28:24Z")
You can hear it starting at 3:08 in this video. Unfortunately, the name of the dance is not the name of the tune: https://www.youtube.com/embed/g5Axpo-FHac?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=PLJWFCtk6IMi6_ZSDo3PyvB1ehjXeNuOHv ---
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/36 "2014-06-26T14:31:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You can hear it starting at 3:08 in this video. Unfortunately, the name of the dance is not the name of the tune: > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Axpo-FHac&list=PLJWFCtk6IMi6\_ZSDo3PyvB1ehjXeNuOHv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Axpo-FHac&list=PLJWFCtk6IMi6_ZSDo3PyvB1ehjXeNuOHv) Amazing how all this crap comes back to you once you start thinking about it! The name of the tune is “The White Cockade”: Takes me back to my fife and drum days.... :o ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/37 "2014-06-26T14:56:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You can hear it starting at 3:08 in this video. Unfortunately, the name of the dance is not the name of the tune: > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Axpo-FHac&list=PLJWFCtk6IMi6\_ZSDo3PyvB1ehjXeNuOHv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Axpo-FHac&list=PLJWFCtk6IMi6_ZSDo3PyvB1ehjXeNuOHv) > [@terentii](#): > > Amazing how all this crap comes back to you once you start thinking about it! The name of the tune is “The White Cockade”: > > Takes me back to my fife and drum days.... :o Not the tune I’m looking for though. **Biffy** has it, but the name is elusive. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/38 "2014-06-26T15:03:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Not the tune I’m looking for though. **Biffy** has it, but the name is elusive. It sure sounds like the same tune to me, just more elaborate. :dubious: Did you listen to it all the way through? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/39 "2014-06-26T15:10:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It sure sounds like the same tune to me, just more elaborate. :dubious: > > Did you listen to it all the way through? I listened to the first link starting at 3:08, and enough of the second one to determine it doesn’t sound the same to me. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/40 "2014-06-26T16:51:48Z")
I stand by “The White Cockade.” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719.md?page=3)