# Perky 1950's Music
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 28, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999 "2008-03-28T01:32:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/1 "2008-03-28T01:32:14Z")
Sorry, don’t have a sound file-but you know what I’m talking abot-that kind of mindless elevator music that accompanied all kinds of ad (for banal products), in the 1950’s and 60’s . My question: who composed thsi crap? Has anyone ever issued a collection of this “music”?
Inquiring minds want to know (and ruin their ears!)
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/2 "2008-03-28T01:53:49Z")
Do you mean the “Latinesque” music of [Esquivel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Garc%C3%ADa_Esquivel) and [Perez Prado](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perez_Prado)?
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/3 "2008-03-28T01:55:07Z")
Sorry can’t help, but just seconding your OP. I absolutely LOVE that stuff. Optimistic, buzzy 50s background music is great.
Zinc! come back, Zinc!
(Wasn’t born in the 50s, but I lived through enough twenty year-old school films in the 70s to be able to totally grok this stuff).
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/4 "2008-03-28T02:21:15Z")
It’s those swingin’ bongos, baby!
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/5 "2008-03-28T02:30:22Z")
[QUOTE=lissener]
Do you mean the “Latinesque” music of [Esquivel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Garc%C3%ADa_Esquivel) and [Perez Prado](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perez_Prado)?
[/QUOTE]
That’s definitely lounge.
When I saw the OP, I was thinking of the [Typewriter Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vuDMInQMYQ), and the music so often heard in [1950s progress-themed propaganda films with subjects like the virtues of suburban living](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osl-24MDOwA). What’s the name of that style of music?
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/6 "2008-03-28T02:42:36Z")
Since this OP will pretty much be discussing music, let’s flip it over to Cafe Society, where they can answer questions factually and are pretty smart along these lines.
**samclem** General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/7 "2008-03-28T02:44:41Z")
A lot of the collections in the [Ultra Lounge series](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_m/105-7148591-2172455?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=Ultra+Lounge) have this stuff as welll.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/8 "2008-03-28T02:48:20Z")
This stuff is a guilty pleasure for me. Lounge music like Esquivel comes close, but the best collection of the very 1950s-sounding production music the OP refers to is the [Music For TV Dinners](http://www.amazon.com/Music-TV-Dinners-Various-Artists/dp/B000000IAW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1206672283&sr=8-3) compilation album.
While you’re at it, get some [Raymond Scott](http://www.amazon.com/Reckless-Nights-Turkish-Twilights-Raymond/dp/B00001R3H7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1206672420&sr=1-1), a composer who created some truly bizarre and quirky music many of you will have heard in old cartoons.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/9 "2008-03-28T02:52:06Z")
Often referred to as production music, library music, or stock music. The libraries of [Associated Production Music](http://www.apmmusic.com) are often used for this sort of thing, most often in comedy, animation, and advertising (for example, _The Daily Show_ and _Ren & Stimpy_), either to satirize old educational films or to provide an ironic contrast to the action on-screen. _Music For TV Dinners_ (Scamp SCP 9721-2) is a good commerically-available collection of some oft-used APM cues.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/10 "2008-03-28T03:12:49Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou]
This stuff is a guilty pleasure for me. Lounge music like Esquivel comes close, but the best collection of the very 1950s-sounding production music the OP refers to is the [Music For TV Dinners](http://www.amazon.com/Music-TV-Dinners-Various-Artists/dp/B000000IAW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1206672283&sr=8-3) compilation album.
While you’re at it, get some [Raymond Scott](http://www.amazon.com/Reckless-Nights-Turkish-Twilights-Raymond/dp/B00001R3H7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1206672420&sr=1-1), a composer who created some truly bizarre and quirky music many of you will have heard in old cartoons.
[/QUOTE]
Esquivel and Perez Prado were brilliant musicians; not sure why you’d call it a \*guilty \*pleasure.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/11 "2008-03-28T03:47:47Z")
[QUOTE=lissener]
Esquivel and Perez Prado were brilliant musicians; not sure why you’d call it a \*guilty \*pleasure.
[/QUOTE]
I was talking about the stock production music, not them.
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/12 "2008-03-28T05:36:05Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85]
Often referred to as production music, library music, or stock music.
[/QUOTE]
What was that 1950s _style_ of production music called, though?
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/13 "2008-03-28T18:38:21Z")
Are you talking about Bossa Nova music? Sorta like this: [http://youtube.com/watch?v=FnSZDoVDcc8](http://youtube.com/watch?v=FnSZDoVDcc8) (no it’s not Rick Astley!!!)
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/14 "2008-03-28T20:33:38Z")
I think the quintissential example of what the OP is talking about is the rather garish and awful [Holiday for Strings](http://claytoncounts.com/holiday/Walter%20Schumann%20-%20Holiday%20for%20Strings.mp3) (which can be found on one of the UltraLounge collections).
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/15 "2008-03-28T20:39:44Z")
[QUOTE=control-z]
Are you talking about Bossa Nova music? Sorta like this: [http://youtube.com/watch?v=FnSZDoVDcc8](http://youtube.com/watch?v=FnSZDoVDcc8) (no it’s not Rick Astley!!!)
[/QUOTE]
Wait, that’s the Austin Powers song isn’t it?
I had no idea it was a _real song_.
-FrL-
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/16 "2008-03-28T20:42:15Z")
[QUOTE=lissener]
Do you mean the “Latinesque” music of [Esquivel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Garc%C3%ADa_Esquivel) and [Perez Prado](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perez_Prado)?
[/QUOTE]
Ha! Thanks!
I just downloaded an Esquivel album.
-FrL-
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/17 "2008-03-28T21:08:47Z")
Does anyone remember this [sketch](http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/segments/9165.shtml) with Horatio Sanz hosting a morning show where the theme music just doesn’t stop playing?
This is the kind of music I think of as the Latin-y elevator pop music as described in the OP. What was the name of that piece from the sketch? (Seriously, if anyone knows, I’d forever be in your debt. I’ve been trying to figure out what this music is called and who wrote it ever since that sketch first aired.)
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/18 "2008-03-28T21:12:46Z")
Herb Albert and the Tiajuana Brass
My favorite by them is What Now My Love.
This is a song to throw yourself off a cliff by.
Here is the first verse
_What now my love?
Now that you left me
How can I live through another day?
Watching my dreams turning to ashes
And my hopes into bits of clay
Once I could see
Once I could feel
Now I am numb
I’ve become unreal
I walk the night
Without a goal
Stripped of my heart
My soul_
But HA&TB make it a happy bouncy instrumental song! WOOHOO!
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/19 "2008-03-28T21:25:42Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Lendervedder]
Does anyone remember this [sketch](http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/segments/9165.shtml) with Horatio Sanz hosting a morning show where the theme music just doesn’t stop playing?
This is the kind of music I think of as the Latin-y elevator pop music as described in the OP. What was the name of that piece from the sketch? (Seriously, if anyone knows, I’d forever be in your debt. I’ve been trying to figure out what this music is called and who wrote it ever since that sketch first aired.)
[/QUOTE]
Too bad there’s no actual video available of this… ☹
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perky-1950s-music/442999/20 "2008-03-28T21:33:37Z")
There were many conductors that took pop music and arranged it for orchestra. Mantovani, 101 Strings, Andre Previn, etc. Henry Mancini’s music could probably fall into this category, although some of his stuff was quite jiggy.
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