# What's that clown music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542 "2004-05-04T22:43:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/1 "2004-05-04T22:43:05Z")
You know exactly what music I’m talking about. That ditty that’s stereotypically associated with clowns. You’re hearing it in your head right now. What’s it called? ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/2 "2004-05-04T22:44:37Z")
That would be “Entry of the Gladiators” by Julius Fucik. (Gladiators??) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/3 "2004-05-04T22:55:47Z")
Here’s a snippet. And yes, it’s Gladiators. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/4 "2004-05-04T23:13:24Z")
Anyone know how it became the clown song? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/5 "2004-05-04T23:31:20Z")
Oh, man, why did I click on that link? That music creeps me out. Clowns are seriously scary. I have to go lock the doors now. _::: can’t sleep, clowns’ll eat me, can’t sleep, clowns’ll eat me… :::_ ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/6 "2004-05-05T01:03:04Z")
If there were still gladiators around, and a match began with this music playing, the gladiators would wind up telling the crowd, “We’re sorry – we have to temporarily leave the stadium so we can beat the living daylights out of the guy who wrote this fruity music. On second thought, we’re so pissed about this music that we’re going to go ahead and fight, THEN beat the living daylights out of the guy. Wait – was that the point? To goad us into battle? Very clever, I guess, but now I’m so distracted by the reverse psychology that I’ve just been subjected to that I don’t think I’ll be able to put on a satisfactory display of my gladiatorial skills. Goddammit, I should have gone into accounting like my dad.” ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/7 "2004-05-05T01:12:37Z")
Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo… (Just a sampling from my upcoming album, _Doot_. Eighty minutes of _Doot_. Doot. It’s what’s for dinner…) ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/8 "2004-05-05T01:13:42Z")
I thought this was going to be another Nickleback thread. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/9 "2004-05-05T01:14:42Z")
I always have heard it as “Fan Fare” but now that I think about it… well i still do not know… hmm… Am I just clowning around? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/10 "2004-05-05T01:20:15Z")
> [@ZebraShaSha](#): > > I always have heard it as “Fan Fare” but now that I think about it… well i still do not know… hmm… Actually, it does have an alternate title: _Thunder and Blazes_. Uh, yeah, those are the two nature images that immediately come to mind when hearing it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/11 "2004-05-05T01:22:14Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo… > > (Just a sampling from my upcoming album, _Doot_. Eighty minutes of _Doot_. Doot. It’s what’s for dinner…) Sorry, but it looks like [somebody beat you to it](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004UBBF/103-5842394-2423037?v=glance). ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/12 "2004-05-05T01:34:08Z")
I’m used to that song being attached to the circus as a whole (such as the equistrian acts), and not just clowns. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/13 "2004-05-05T02:16:14Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo… That’s it! You people have stood in my way long enough! I’m going to Clown College! ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/14 "2004-05-05T03:18:26Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo… > > (Just a sampling from my upcoming album, _Doot_. Eighty minutes of _Doot_. Doot. It’s what’s for dinner…) Grrr: “And now, I’m going to sind the ‘doom’ song… doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom…” - Invader Zim ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/15 "2004-05-05T03:32:39Z")
Damn you, **Otto**. Of all the songs you could get stuck in my head, it had to be the clown music. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/16 "2004-05-05T04:05:52Z")
Sorry pal, but that’s the price we sometimes pay for fighting ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Revedge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@Revedge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revedge)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/17 "2004-05-05T04:09:06Z")
Ringling Bros, Barnmum and Bailey use Entry of the Gladiators for years as the entry music for their performers. It was a tradition. (They may still do it, but I havn’t been to the circus for ages.) It was a sort of theme song and became engrained in everyones brains. Of course when you think of the circus, most think of the clowns first. Ergo, hear the circus music, think of clowns. Most people think it is clown music, but it really is circus music. Particularly Ringling Bros, Barnum and Bailey. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/18 "2004-05-05T06:05:55Z")
> [@Revedge](#): > > Most people think it is clown music, but it really is circus music. Particularly Ringling Bros, Barnum and Bailey. Huh. I always think of it as circus music. Never associated it with clowns until this thread. Could be because I freakin’ hate clowns and try to block their very existence from my mind… ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/19 "2004-05-05T11:43:40Z")
This board is so great! Several years back, in my student days, the college redecorated one of the public areas of campus in bright primary colors. This was the subject of many complaints and jokes from students, and I remember some people used to go “Doot-doot dootle-ootle doot-doot doo-doo” when they walked by. My friends and I spent a lunch period trying to come up with the title to that song, to no avail. Even the music majors didn’t know. We eventually decided it was probably called something like “Under the Big Top”; I never would have guessed “Entry of the Gladiators”. But if anyone has been wondering, I do know that “The Dracula Pipe Organ Music” is Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/20 "2004-05-05T11:49:13Z")
Trivia note: Elton John used a portion of _Gladiators_ in his _Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock ‘N’ Roll)_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542.md?page=2)