# Those tunes behind circus and magicians' acts
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 25, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900 "2010-11-25T17:38:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/1 "2010-11-25T17:38:48Z")
How many tunes can we identify that have been used as background music for jugglers and magicians and circus acts?
Here are a couple to get us started:
[The Galloping Comedians (Comedian’s Gallop) by Kabalevsky](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbeKJTAnZRA)
[Khachaturian - Sabre Dance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdVFfuwqWbE)
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/2 "2010-11-25T17:45:30Z")
The big one is [“The Entry of the Gladiators” by Fucik.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D17TFiQusS8)
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/3 "2010-11-25T17:47:13Z")
[Flight of the Bumblebee](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-QrSc_Jw3g), used in a favorite movie scene.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/4 "2010-11-25T18:03:20Z")
[In a Persian Market, Ketelbey](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4zHEVOtNk)
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/5 "2010-11-25T22:27:24Z")
Some helpful pages:
[Circus music From Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_music)
[Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_and_Bailey%27s_Favorite)
[Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite (1913) - Karl L. King](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw8BXw3_334)
[General Lee March](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzWx5Go6RMg)
[ART METRANO IS WONDERFUL](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-SNrvHdZJE) \<\< What’s this tune? \>\>
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### Author:  [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/6 "2010-11-26T01:45:25Z")
[The Grand March from Aida](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3w4I-KElxQ)
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/7 "2010-11-26T03:16:34Z")
[Over The Waves](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobre_las_Olas) by Juventino Rosas [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrFhfPYPUl4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrFhfPYPUl4)
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/8 "2010-11-26T04:19:05Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Some helpful pages:
>
> [ART METRANO IS WONDERFUL](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-SNrvHdZJE) \<\< What’s this tune? \>\>
I finally had the idea to check: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art\_Metrano](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Metrano) where we see
> [@](#):
>
> Among Metrano’s TV guest appearances was a 1968 episode of Ironside. However, he is more known for his frequent appearances on The Tonight Show in the early 1970s as a “magician” performing absurd tricks (such as making his fingers “jump” from one hand to another) while constantly humming an inane theme song (named “Fine and Dandy”, an early 1930s composition by Kay Swift).
which leads to:
[fine and dandy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXXjQiuoJK8) and [George Wallington Trio - FINE AND DANDY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l864ilVmKLY)
Finally, after 68 years and 11 months I know the name of this damn tune!
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### Author:  [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/9 "2010-11-26T05:36:48Z")
A lot of jugglers in the 80’s and 90’s used [Root Beer Rag](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKrd0lv_p1c), by Billy Joel.
Not traditional circus music, to be sure. But it was peppy, had a lot of emphasis points a juggler could time his moves to, and was exactly three minutes long, which was good for show planning.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/10 "2010-11-26T05:54:34Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#):
>
> A lot of jugglers in the 80’s and 90’s used [Root Beer Rag](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKrd0lv_p1c), by Billy Joel.
>
> Not traditional circus music, to be sure. But it was peppy, had a lot of emphasis points a juggler could time his moves to, and was exactly three minutes long, which was good for show planning.
Nice! It made me think of other specialized music used for juggling and I ran across this that suggests _The Peter Gunn Theme_ might be a good candidate: [Ruslan Dmytruk Juggler " MASK "](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcGO2z5QD8Y)
Of course, I was actually hunting for [Juggling to Beatles Music](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjmKFsGcIA8)
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/11 "2010-11-26T13:22:15Z")
I have whole CDs full of circus music, so I’m a ringer.
_Thunder and Lightning_ is the traditional music for the acrobats.
_Valse Bleu_ is the trapeze acts’ tune.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/12 "2010-11-26T13:38:16Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> I finally had the idea to check: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art\_Metrano](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Metrano) where we see
>
> which leads to:
>
> [fine and dandy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXXjQiuoJK8) and [George Wallington Trio - FINE AND DANDY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l864ilVmKLY)
>
> Finally, after 68 years and 11 months I know the name of this damn tune!
YES!!! I’ve been wondering about this tune for decades, and yesterday reading your thread decided I was going to whistle the damn thing into an MP3 and post it into a new thread begging for help. But you found it! A BIG thank you for posting that!!
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/13 "2010-11-26T13:48:35Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> YES!!! I’ve been wondering about this tune for decades, and yesterday reading your thread decided I was going to whistle the damn thing into an MP3 and post it into a new thread begging for help. But you found it! A BIG thank you for posting that!!
You’re so welcome! I’m glad it was bugging more than just me and that I could provide a service to any and all. 😃
It would be great if we could have a thread that was devoted to helping people get the names for tunes they can whistle or hum but have no good clue to the name of the piece.
I’ve had poor luck with such websites that attempt that. Their libraries seem to be too limited for my tastes.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/14 "2011-11-02T14:06:00Z")
Rather than starting a new thread with a link to this one, I decided to risk a bump to the one with the links to YouTube.
Do these sound familiar to you? If so, can you point to others in the same general vein?
[Mambo Jambo (Que Rico El Mambo)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRLLCIB5vdk)
[Perez Prado - Jumbo Jumbo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NALFodH1QmE)
[Tico tico](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voOBtUAK2sg)
[Perez Prado - “Patricia” (1958)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_CK6mM9wuQ)
[The Mole - Harry James Orchestra](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDR5tqRhuIg)
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/15 "2011-11-03T03:17:01Z")
Thanks for “Mambo Jambo”. That’s the music Laura Petrie dances to in “To Tell Or Not To Tell”, after which Mel has the idea of her temporarily replacing a missing dancer on the Alan Brady Show. I’m adding it to the IMDb entry.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/16 "2011-11-03T11:06:45Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> Thanks for “Mambo Jambo”. That’s the music Laura Petrie dances to in “To Tell Or Not To Tell”, after which Mel has the idea of her temporarily replacing a missing dancer on the Alan Brady Show. I’m adding it to the IMDb entry.
It sounds like you may have watched that PBS “America in Primetime.” That’s where I heard the tune and was 80% sure I knew its name, so I went to YouTube to see if I had the right name.
That triggered the memory of this thread and made me wonder if others had similar uncertainties of similar song names. Thanks for the reply.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/17 "2011-11-03T11:20:14Z")
For similar songs, well, you’ve already linked three of Pérez Prado’s (Qué rico el mambo is his), but he was known as the King of Mambo and wrote tons of them; the wiki article lists a selection at the bottom. Lou Bega’s cover of his Mambo Number 5 was a big hit c. 1999; you may want to check out the rest of Bega’s work for starters while I go hide from any purists.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/18 "2011-11-03T14:56:45Z")
Ravel’s Bolero is a common one for magicians, especially those doing an “[Arabian nights](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reU7XgV2VeI)” themed act. In fact, growing up I saw this so often I thought it was a Middle Eastern tune.
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### Author:  [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/19 "2011-11-04T07:21:08Z")
In Japan, a common piece used by magicians onstage or on television for BGM is **Paul Mauriat’s “El Bimbo”** (AKA, The Blue Oyster Bar’s tango song in the “Police Academy” films).
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### Author:  [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-tunes-behind-circus-and-magicians-acts/561900/20 "2011-11-04T08:50:16Z")
that magic show hosted by bill bixby: the slow acts liked swan lake and moonlight sonata while the fast ones liked ad jingles and folk music.
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