# Music Title Help Needed! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210 "2006-05-10T12:12:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/1 "2006-05-10T12:12:47Z")
Anyone know what the title of the piece of music you often hear in old cartoons from the '30s, '40s, and '50s when a piece of complicated (and often absurd) machinery is working (usually after one of the protaganists has fallen into it and comes out the other end looking like tin cans or other manufactured goods)? I recall it being used in an old cartoon (Warner Bros, maybe?) in which it showed how bowling pins were made- by taking an entire log, lathing it down, and having robot hands paint the stripes on it (obviously that’s not how they really do it, of course!). It’s been bothering me for years- anyone know the music I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/2 "2006-05-10T15:19:23Z")
[Here’s](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002LJE/103-2085306-9735048?v=glance&n=5174) a collection, and it looks like there is a sequel album. Maybe one of these clips sounds familiar?? [And](http://www.thomasvillecentral.com/musWB.htm): “Using Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody, a construction crew builds a skyscraper. Freleng often used a classical/musical background to orchestrate an action piece, seen below in several cartoons.” It looks like the Hungarian Rhapsody was used a lot; of course I don’t know what that sounds like! ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/3 "2006-05-10T15:26:36Z")
I think you’re thinking of [“Powerhouse”](http://raymondscott.com/Powerhse.wav) by Raymond Scott, who performed a lot of music with his Quintet which was used in early Looney Tunes cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/4 "2006-05-10T20:55:14Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > I recall it being used in an old cartoon (Warner Bros, maybe?) in which it showed how bowling pins were made- by taking an entire log, lathing it down, and having robot hands paint the stripes on it (obviously that’s not how they really do it, of course!). That wasn’t an old Warner Bros. cartoon- that was a _Simpsons_ gag which was sort of a tribute, although it did use _Powerhouse_ as the musical accompaniment. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/5 "2006-05-10T21:03:16Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > It looks like the Hungarian Rhapsody was used a lot; of course I don’t know what that sounds like! You’d know it if you [heard it](http://encarta.msn.com/media_701504823/Liszt%E2%80%99s_Hungarian_Rhapsody_No_2.html). The cartoon you mention is Friz Freling’s _Rhapsody in Rivets_. Freling used it a lot, most memorably in 1946’s _Rhapsody Rabbit_ (which lost the Oscar to another cartoon with a similar plot, MGM’s _The Cat Concerto_ starring Tom and Jerry). And of course, who can forget the duel-et between the two famous ducks- Donald and Daffy- playing this song in _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/6 "2006-05-11T07:54:29Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > I think you’re thinking of [“Powerhouse”](http://raymondscott.com/Powerhse.wav) by Raymond Scott, who performed a lot of music with his Quintet which was used in early Looney Tunes cartoons. That’s the one! Thanks very much… I can finally put my mind at rest. Thanks, everyone! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/7 "2009-11-11T02:56:30Z")
You know which cartoon music always stumps me? The “other” sailor song they play during Popeye cartoons. The one that ISN’T “I’m Popeye the Sailor Man.” I think it’s a sailor dance song or something. But I have NO idea what its title is. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/8 "2009-11-11T03:08:37Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > I think it’s a sailor dance song or something. > But I have NO idea what its title is. Eh. . . sound anything like [this???](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tfy6MZtGTE) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-title-help-needed/356210/9 "2009-11-11T19:43:00Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Eh. . . sound anything like [this???](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tfy6MZtGTE) In fact, it sounds **EXACTLY** like that. (Heck, the first YouTube comment when I viewed that page was “It sounds like Popeye the Sailor Man”.) So, that little ditty is called “Sailor’s Hornpipe”, then? I hope I can still remember that a year from now, when I wanna know what that tune is called again.