# The little tune we all know, but never talk about
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 16, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808 "2007-08-16T13:18:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/1 "2007-08-16T13:18:56Z")
What’s that little song? We all know it.
Picture this:
You’re in a supermarket. There is a stacked pyramid of Campbell’s Tomato Soup cans on display. You pick one up to look at the ingredients, then you put it back. The pyramid collapses, creating a major clatter. This shocks a young mother so much that she runs her cart over a dog. Her cart flips, ejecting her baby clear across the store and through a plate glass window. The resulting sound and fury of the shatter shocks a driver on the street, and causes a five car pileup. One car is a limo carrying Bush, another is a limo carrying Putin. An international incident is born. Nuclear war breaks out, and all life on Earth is destroyed.
So what do you do? Walk away, hands clasped behind your back, and you pretend you didn’t do it. And what else do you do? You whistle. You know the tune. It’s five notes, in a descending pattern that covers somewhere between a perfect fifth and an octave. Dotted eighth, sixteenth, two staccato eighths, and a quarter.
And it’s never – NEVER – any other tune.
Who wrote it? Why do we all know it? Do those of us who are accident-prone owe thousands in royalties?
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/2 "2007-08-16T15:20:24Z")
It was written by the same person who wrote that annoying little tune your car mechanic cheerfully whistles while he’s writing up your repair bill.
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### Author:  [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/3 "2007-08-16T15:23:00Z")
Are you thinking of [this](http://www.kfcplainfield.com/sound/dragnet.wav) ?
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/4 "2007-08-16T16:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=ASAKMOTSD]
Are you thinking of [this](http://www.kfcplainfield.com/sound/dragnet.wav) ?
[/QUOTE]
Wow. Yeah, that’s exactly not what I was thinking of!
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/5 "2007-08-16T16:46:39Z")
I would never have guessed Dragnet was the tune on your mind.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/6 "2007-08-16T16:51:35Z")
Hmm. I whistle a very different little tune under those circumstances. I probably learned it from someone like Bugs Bunny.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/7 "2007-08-16T17:03:37Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad]
I would never have guessed Dragnet was the tune on your mind.
[/QUOTE]
Me, neither! I need to ask this… **tdn** , how old are you?
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/8 "2007-08-16T17:04:12Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad]
I would never have guessed Dragnet was the tune on your mind.
[/QUOTE]
Definitely not Dragnet. It descends, from first note to last. The notes might be E D C A G, although not in tune.
See almost any recent episode of The Simpsons for an example.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/9 "2007-08-16T17:06:18Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
Definitely not Dragnet. It descends, from first note to last. The notes might be E D C A G, although not in tune.
See almost any recent episode of The Simpsons for an example.
[/QUOTE]
I’m confused, now…the tune ASAKMOTSD linked to, that you said was exactly it, WAS Dragnet.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/10 "2007-08-16T17:07:11Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena]
Me, neither! I need to ask this… **tdn** , how old are you?
[/QUOTE]
Well, and… me neither! Dragnet is most clearly, emphatically, NOT what I’m thinking of. Highlight my response in post #4 for more information on the matter.
And I’m not sure what my age has to do with it, but I’m 45. And the little tune I’m thinking of goes back to Bugs Bunny days.
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### Author:  [@Typo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/11 "2007-08-16T17:13:18Z")
Heh, I know what you mean…that insouciant DEEE dee-dee dee-dee, sometimes with a little upswoop at the beginning of the first note so it’s kinda deeeEEE .
Gotta be cartoons, man.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/12 "2007-08-16T17:14:16Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
Well, and… me neither! Dragnet is most clearly, emphatically, NOT what I’m thinking of. Highlight my response in post #4 for more information on the matter.
And I’m not sure what my age has to do with it, but I’m 45. And the little tune I’m thinking of goes back to Bugs Bunny days.
[/QUOTE]
Joke’s on me…I thought that was just a spacing issue, and didn’t realize the “not” was there!
I was asking your age because I was surprised that you didn’t know the tune you were referring to was Dragnet. But since it wasn’t, then I retract the question! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/13 "2007-08-16T17:17:44Z")
I am just going by memory on the E D C A G thing and tying it to one of those things I will whistle or hum or even put syllables to.
In my case it sounds like what they would play in Westerns whenever the Indians appeared above the horizon or on the mountain top or whenever an Indian would appear behind a bush or rock and the wagon train suddenly became vulnerable to attack.
Dun-dun-dunnan-dun sort of thing.
If it has a name I never heard it. Nor can I connect it with any other musical piece. Just one of those ditties you know but may not know its name.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/14 "2007-08-16T17:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena]
Joke’s on me…I thought that was just a spacing issue, and didn’t realize the “not” was there!
[/QUOTE]
I was going to put it in a spoiler box, but I figured that was not subtle enough.
Did I go to far? I guess I’m a white grapist. 😉
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### Author:  [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/15 "2007-08-16T17:24:25Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad]
I would never have guessed Dragnet was the tune on your mind.
[/QUOTE]
Me neither.
Mine’s only three notes, repeated, till the coast is clear.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/16 "2007-08-16T17:40:02Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense]
Mine’s only three notes, repeated, till the coast is clear.
[/QUOTE]
Same notes as Three Blind Mice?
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/17 "2007-08-16T17:50:37Z")
[QUOTE=Endiqua]
with a little upswoop at the beginning of the first note
[/QUOTE]
Ah, yes. The Scoop. As if to say “I didn’t do it, so don’t notice me, but I’ll add a little flourish so as to draw attention to the fact that you’re not noticing me.”
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### Author:  [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/18 "2007-08-16T18:22:36Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
Same notes as Three Blind Mice?
[/QUOTE]
Nope, close!
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/19 "2007-08-16T19:12:42Z")
Why is the dog in the supermarket?
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-little-tune-we-all-know-but-never-talk-about/415808/20 "2007-08-16T19:17:53Z")
Seeing eye dog. The mother then runs down the blind guy, who crashes into a pregnant 15 year old and a nun.
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