I’ve been a member here for nigh on 5 years. Once a year I ask this question and once a year The Teeming Millions dissappoint me. Yet I will ask yet again and this time, in order to curb my dissapointment, I’ll ask other, somewhat related questions. The main question is:
The Mr. Softee Ice Cream Truck song. What’s its real name? Who composed it? Where can I get a recording of it? – It is not Turkey In The Straw nor The Entertainer. It is THE ice cream truck song. The only real one. And I want a copy. Please put an end to my 5 year search.
Also, what’s the name of the Jeopardy thinking music? Who composed it? What’s the name of the skeleton xylophone music that they played in Our Gang when they went into the spooky house and couldn’t get out and they were scared by the skeleton xylophone music? You know what I mean. Don’t you?
Jeopardy Music?
So is it apocryphal that Merv Griffin wrote it? Or did he write the “Think Music” tune and Steve Kaplan arranged it and scored the rest of the music?
It’s got words! How cool is that. And it’s called Mr. Softee. Now I wonder if a recording of it can be bought. I want it all tinkley and tinny. It will be my doorbell and my answering machine music-- and my cellphone ring tone. If I had a cell phone.
Merv Griffin wrote Think Music for the 1964 debut of the original Jeopardy! series. Steve Kaplan, who was only six years old that year, later penned updated versions of the theme, as well as additional music for Jeopardy! and other game shows.
If you’re saying that the sheet music linked above which is the Mr. Softee jingle is a rip-off of Pop Goes the Weasel, you’re dead wrong. The music on the music sheet is nothing like Pop Goes the Weasel. (You did follow the posted link and read the sheet music, did you not?)
I know what the jingle sounds like & it always makes me think of Pop Goes the Weasel. The sheet music looks like an accurate rendition of the melody I hear… perhaps the two aren’t close enough for an actionable case to be made, but both songs are sing-songy Irish reel-type tunes & where “Look for Mister Softee” comes in is where I expect to hear “Pop! Goes the Weasel.” The poster who objected to this comparison is not the Softee composer, are you?
No, I’m not the Softee composer. But what does that have to do with an evaluation of whether the two pieces of music are alike? Oh, I get it, by suggesting an ulterior motive to my disagreement with you, you call into question my objectivity. Do you often impute ridiculously hidden motives to people who disagree with you?
My disagreement with you has nothing to do with any purported link I have to the Mr. Softee song or to the Mr. Softee company. It has to do with objective reality. I can read music. I even pulled out a keyboard and played the tune to make sure that I was reading it correctly. The music on that linked sheet music is nothing like Pop Goes the Weasel except for that very last measure. Many, many songs end on a Mi Do, as these two do. And neither does one similar measure, nor simply being ‘sing songy’ and played on chimes, makes two songs alike. That’s like saying Pop Goes the Weasel and Turkey in the Straw are alike simply becuase you hear them both on ice cream trucks being played in a sing songy way on chimes.
The two songs are completely different until the last measure. I’ve solfèged the last two here. Both are in 6/8 time:
1 2 3 4 5 6 | 1 2 3 4 5 6
LA! Re..... Fa Mi......... Do........
Ti(low)... Do Re..... So Mi......... Do........
I’m not imputing hidden motives to you. I just wondered why you reacted so defensively to my first post. It’s a rather peculiar thing to hold strong opinions about ice cream truck music, though I respect your expertise in that field. I still hear the two tunes as similar, and if you google “Mister Softee” and “weasel” you will find that many, many people have actually confused one jingle for the other.
I don’t have an emotional investment in the Mr. Softee jingle. I do have a strong reaction to ad hominem arguments.
Well, a statement of “they sound the same to me” is one I can’t argue with. A statement of implying one is plagiarized from the other that it would be actionable in court (“Whoever wrote Pop Goes the Weasel should sue this company”) is something I can and did argue with.