# What is this tune from the '50s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634 "2007-12-29T21:34:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/1 "2007-12-29T21:34:10Z")
I think this is from the '50s (or the '40s, or the '60s), the sort of thing Leroy Anderson may have written. Instrumental, played very fast, straight eighth notes, by pizzicato strings. I think it was the theme song for a radio or tv show, and may also have been used in cartoons. Something like this: DCDCBABA GFGFEDED CDEGBBBA DDDCBBBA . . . The damn thing has been stuck in my head for three days now. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/2 "2007-12-29T21:38:55Z")
“Holiday for Strings.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/3 "2007-12-29T21:50:39Z")
Are there two songs named “Holiday for Strings”? The one I remember isn’t pizzicato or fast. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/4 "2007-12-29T21:55:19Z")
Oops, they are different parts of the same song. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/5 "2007-12-29T21:57:59Z")
Hmm…apparently I was wrong. I was 100% sure that was the title of that tune. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/6 "2007-12-29T21:59:55Z")
It’s definitely _Holiday for Strings_, composed by David Rose. I can’t find any “straight” recordings online, but [here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S2laMe6Akg&feature=related) a video featuring a typically wacky version by Spike Jones and His City Slickers. Composers such as Alf Clausen and Laurie Johnson have also written some cues for television meant to mimic the same style (Clausen’s for _The Simpsons_, Johnson’s for a British production music library). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/7 "2007-12-30T02:18:54Z")
_Holiday for Strings_ was the main theme of _The Red Skelton Show_ which ran from 1951-1971. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/8 "2007-12-30T02:20:46Z")
It isn’t even from the '50s. It dates to 1944. Spike Jones made a record of it around that time. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-tune-from-the-50s/431634/9 "2007-12-31T21:19:15Z")
[The Lush Strings](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S553RM?ie=UTF8&child=B000S3Z9QE) play “Holiday for Strings” (click the little arrow on the left of the song title).