# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/41 "2014-06-26T16:56:52Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I stand by “The White Cockade.” 🙂 Stand by it all you like, but there’s really no resemblance to the tune **Johnny L.A.** and I are referring to. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/42 "2014-06-26T17:06:21Z")
Any chance Terenti is looking for “Turkey In The Straw” sound-likes? His (her) links aren’t remotely similar to Biffy’s Theme (giggle) which I also remember from 1950’s San Diego. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/43 "2014-06-26T17:30:53Z")
A couple of data points about the theme in question, both of which would place it in Los Angeles as well as San Diego: It serves as a link between the third and fourth Firesign Theatre albums, appearing at the end of \*Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers \*(causing George Tirebiter to revert to childhood and run after the truck), and at the beginning of [I Think We’re All Bozos on This Bus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmWFrMq3qNY&t=29). Sometime in the '70s or '80s I heard Dr. Demento play a novelty song \*about \*the ice cream man set to this tune. (The song was modern, and obviously the truck theme was the source for the song and not the other way around.) ---
**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, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/44 "2014-06-26T17:42:00Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > at the beginning of [I Think We’re All Bozos on This Bus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmWFrMq3qNY&t=29). That’s exactly it. ---
**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 10, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/45 "2020-07-10T14:15:36Z")
This came to mind again when a friend posted [this NPR article](https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you) that says the tune from _Turkey In The Straw_ was co-opted for use in blackface minstrel shows with lyrics that ‘dripped with racism’. So now that I’m here, I thought I’d click on **Biffy** ’s video, but it’s gone. Still wondering what the name of the song is. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/46 "2020-07-10T16:52:11Z")
If it helps, [I believe this is the Youtube clip cued up to the song you’re looking for.](https://youtu.be/lmWFrMq3qNY?t=29) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/47 "2020-07-10T16:59:50Z")
[This site claims it’s “Stodola Pumpa”,](https://dougpotter.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/a-firesign-theater-mystery-solved/)a Czech/Polish folk song. They’re quite similar, although I’m not necessarily convinced they’re exactly the same. The melody sounds like something that could have just been composed for Good Humor trucks and coincidentally resembles this song (or it could really be that Czech/Polish folk song, or it could just be a melody based on the song, but slightly modified–I guess.) It’s kind of a simple melody, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the resemblance is purely coincidental. ETA: Actually, here’s another site that does claim [“Stodola Pumpa” as the source of the Good Humor jingle.](https://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2016/08/01/50891/the-history-behind-that-ice-cream-truck-jingle/) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/48 "2020-07-10T17:08:40Z")
Actually, I’m convinced now that the source is truly “Stodola Pumpa.” I see more cites of it [here in Google Books.](https://books.google.com/books?id=XG_eAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=%22good+humor%22+%22stodola+pumpa%22&source=bl&ots=R9NoRT-YQ3&sig=ACfU3U2SgXBi0aSotVXMiy2dlvTPEnJLfg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLvJmIlcPqAhXMVs0KHcjaA1kQ6AEwAnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22good%20humor%22%20%22stodola%20pumpa%22&f=false) > “Stodola Pumpa” was proprietary to Good Humor of California until 1962, when the company’s assets were brought under new ownership and the music changed to “Danny’s Dream,” written by the company’s new owner, Dan Tropp. However, “Stodola Pumpa” had already become an iconic part of southern Californian culture. For example, it was the basis for “Come and Get It,” a 1963 single recorded by a Beach Boys side project called the “Tri-Five”; later that year, it was used again for “The Rocking Surfer,” an instrumental included on the Beach Boys’ _Surfer Girl_ album ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719/49 "2020-07-11T02:26:12Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > 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. I’m all alone, I got the clone, maybe we’ll run into each other on the Funway! … (haven’t heard that since the 70s, but it’s etched in the ol’ brain, just like Nick Danger and The Giant Rat of Sumatra) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-the-ice-cream-man-tune-from-the-60s/663719.md?page=2)