# Song from 'Nightmare Before Christmas'   Where've I heard it before?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-from-nightmare-before-christmas-whereve-i-heard-it-before/292205>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 28, 2005, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-from-nightmare-before-christmas-whereve-i-heard-it-before/292205 "2005-02-28T00:14:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-from-nightmare-before-christmas-whereve-i-heard-it-before/292205/21 "2025-02-19T23:29:14Z")

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Well, there’s a blast from the past! Rupert, I mean.

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**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-from-nightmare-before-christmas-whereve-i-heard-it-before/292205/22 "2025-02-20T18:30:05Z")

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> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> I can’t hear the resemblance.

The above poster is likely referring to the theme for the 1991 Rupert cartoon:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tAZFBhOCA5c/hqdefault.jpg "Rupert Theme (Toon Disney)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAZFBhOCA5c)

Which, according to the Wikipedia article on the cartoon, was based on “Fröhlicher Landmann, von der Arbeit zurückkehrend” (“[The Happy Farmer, Returning from Work](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T20Wh7YY7WA)”) by Robert Schumann. One can hear the similarity between “What’s This?” and the _Rupert_ theme, and the similarity of the Rupert theme to “The Happy Farmer”, though comparing “What’s This?” directly to “The Happy Farmer” there’s only a vague resemblance.

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-from-nightmare-before-christmas-whereve-i-heard-it-before/292205/23 "2025-02-20T18:39:20Z")

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Oh, dang! I’ve never heard of Rupert the Bear, but when I was little, we had a Christmas ornament that was that shot of him flying an airplane, including the wonky wings that went straight up and down.

The ornament disappeared years - maybe decades - ago, and I hadn’t thought of it once until I saw this post.

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**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-from-nightmare-before-christmas-whereve-i-heard-it-before/292205/24 "2025-02-21T20:50:13Z")

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Danny Elfman’s song definitely have a sound to them. I always thought “What’s This” had a close resemblance to the Back To School theme.

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