# Musical passages that everyone knows or should know (with links) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612 "2010-06-26T16:46:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/41 "2010-06-28T03:02:07Z")
[Tequila](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXBLHTq390k&feature=related) by the Ventures. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/42 "2010-06-28T04:56:49Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Orff’s [O Fortuna](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrML6s1wNHk) from Carmina Burana. I found a site where people sang and posted tunes they didn’t know the name of. You could then listen and answer. O Fortuna was the answer to AT LEAST 1/2 of them. This is a good list. I’ll only add the [Dies Irae from Verdi’s Requiem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDFFHaz9GsY). ---
**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:** [June 28, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/43 "2010-06-28T05:04:04Z")
> [@KinkiNipponTourist](#): > > [Tequila](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXBLHTq390k&feature=related) by the Ventures. I would think [The Champs version (the original)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWT3y2CZXVQ) would be the iconic one. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/44 "2010-06-28T13:31:52Z")
As this extended version will show, the overture to _William Tell_ starts with another passage almost as familiar as that which will forever–for better or worse–be known as “The _Lone Ranger_ Theme” . . . : [http://www.classicsforkids.com/music/music\_view.asp?id=21](http://www.classicsforkids.com/music/music_view.asp?id=21) I’d be surprised if anyone here hasn’t heard it, but for those who haven’t, it’s very frequently used to introduce a calm pastoral scene, or indicate the passage of a storm. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/45 "2010-06-28T14:17:57Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > As this extended version will show, the overture to _William Tell_ starts with another passage almost as familiar as that which will forever–for better or worse–be known as “The _Lone Ranger_ Theme” . . . : > > [http://www.classicsforkids.com/music/music\_view.asp?id=21](http://www.classicsforkids.com/music/music_view.asp?id=21) > > I’d be surprised if anyone here hasn’t heard it, but for those who haven’t, it’s very frequently used to introduce a calm pastoral scene, or indicate the passage of a storm. PS–Whoops! Got scooped on this one. I don’t see anyone mentioning that mainstay for people who spin plates on sticks: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gqg3l3r_DRI/hqdefault.jpg "Aram Khachaturian - Sabre Dance") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqg3l3r_DRI) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/46 "2010-06-28T14:33:01Z")
What about all those songs we heard as kids? Frere Jacques Farmer in the Dell A-Tisket A-Tasket Itsy Bitsy Spider Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Heigh-Ho Bye Baby Bunting Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone? The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/47 "2010-06-28T14:50:08Z")
Brahms Hungarian Dance #5 (famous as the music to the video game Spy’s Demise) Continuing the Rossini theme, selections from _Barber of Seville_ (o/` How do? Welcome to my shop, let me cut your mop, let me shave your crop! Daintily, daintily! o/`) From Tom & Jerry cartoons: “Is you is, or is you ain’t, my baby?” “Mama yo quiero! Mama yo quiero! Mama yo quiero, Mama! Dash of pepper! Dash of pepper! BlahblahblahIdon’tknowtherest” ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/48 "2010-06-28T15:39:34Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > PS–Whoops! Got scooped on this one. > I don’t see anyone mentioning that mainstay for people who spin plates on sticks: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqg3l3r\_DRI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqg3l3r_DRI) I didn’t even have to follow the link to know you were referring to “Sabre Dance.” ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/49 "2010-06-28T21:55:39Z")
Another piece of classical music that finds its way into many movies: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/L0bcRCCg01I/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGH8gHigTMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCQVgN3pYJsCuFtw0dUta3YubcWrA "Gustav Holst - The Planets - Mars, the Bringer of War") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/50 "2010-06-28T22:42:32Z")
I’m trying to give videos for my post now that I’m home from work, but YouTube is being a bitch and a half tonight. I’ll get them up eventually… ---
**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:** [June 28, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/51 "2010-06-28T22:54:02Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > [Classical Music Most Popular Top 100 (91-100)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPq4DmmeUSw) and others nearby can help with some well-known themes. Thanx–that list was a real help to a musical near-illiterate like myself. There’s still one that I’d hoped to identify. It’s a cloying, rather twee piano number, usually used in a humorous context to indicate delicate effeminacy. Think Bugs Bunny in a dress, wafting, more than walking into a room to play out some nefarious scheme on Elmer Fudd, and it will probably spring immediately to mind. Any help on this? ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/52 "2010-06-29T00:13:01Z")
How about famous waltz’s by Strauss that most if not all know from somewhere [The Blue Danube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHFJWCCsWWQ&feature=related) [Vienna Waltz](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4J0MKsG_is&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/53 "2010-06-29T00:48:35Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > What about all those songs we heard as kids? > > Frere Jacques > Farmer in the Dell > A-Tisket A-Tasket > Itsy Bitsy Spider > Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? > Heigh-Ho > Bye Baby Bunting > Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone? > The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out Most of these are the proper names for the melodies. A couple are from Disney cartoons: _Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf_ is from “The Three Little Pigs”, and _Heigh-Ho_ is from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. We’re talking about familiar melodies that you don’t know the proper names for. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/54 "2010-06-29T00:55:36Z")
Here’s one Christmas song that I remember featured in various commercials over the years, the latest being the Garmin GPS unit ad of a few years back: [Carol of the Bells](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TFrO8c_kVQ) Everybody sing! "_Give-a Give-a Give-a Garmin…"_ Off topic, but the coolness of the SDMB is demonstrated once again - for ‘Take 5’, it was mentioned as the theme song for the late 1980s British series ‘The Secret Life of Machines’ - going to a site I won’t mention, I ended up watching 6 episodes at one sitting - yeah, maybe a bit dated here and there (I couldn’t make out why Tim was fooling with long rolls of thin paper in the fax episode, until I realized plain-paper faxes were rare in 1990) but the history parts and demostrations are very good, and the show holds up fairly well. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/55 "2010-06-29T13:49:28Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Now I’m curious. Which of the [20 (?) sections](http://books.google.com/books?id=YhYRAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22in+a+persian+garden%22+lehman&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=7AUoTLP_JMT9nQe2z4DmBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false) is used? I only know 3 and I’ve never heard any of them in that context. I’m araid I don’t really know. I am not familiar with the music and am only relying on a discussion which appeared in Straight Dope several years ago, maybe even an article by Cecil himself, which cited it as a source of “indian music”.. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/56 "2010-06-29T13:52:58Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > We’re talking about familiar melodies that you don’t know the proper names for. I guess I misread the title and the OP. Sorry. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612/57 "2010-06-29T15:22:25Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > I’m araid I don’t really know. I am not familiar with the music and am only relying on a discussion which appeared in Straight Dope several years ago, maybe even an article by Cecil himself, which cited it as a source of “indian music”.. Is this the one that starts with a basic pattern of four drum beats with the accent on the first, followed by low string music? (I’d like to be able to just hum a few bars, but this isn’t the format for such . . .) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-passages-that-everyone-knows-or-should-know-with-links/544612.md?page=2)