# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/21 "2004-05-05T12:24:04Z")
are you sure you’re not also referring to _Galop from the Comedians Suite op. 26_ by Dmitri Kabalevsky? (you can hear a short clip if you scroll down to its listing on [this page](http://www.gohastings.com/catalog/item/item.asp?prodid=36179819)). ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/22 "2004-05-05T13:29:51Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > This board is so great! > > But if anyone has been wondering, I do know that “The Dracula Pipe Organ Music” is Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”. No, it isn’t. The “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” has a connection to _Halloween_ by it’s spooky sound and by the use of it to score the many villianous-phantom-organ-playing guys. It’s almost cliche’ now, well, I guess it is cliche’. James Mason as Captain Nemo played it on board his Nautilaus (a pipe-oragn on a submarine!). The Phantom of the Opera played it in one of those movies (I think). Jack Lemmon as Professor Fate in “The Great Race” played it on his player-pipe-organ as a spoof of movie-villians. The 1930’s “Dracula” starring Bela Lugosi used Tsaikovski’s “Swan Lake” as it’s eerie score. ---
**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, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/23 "2004-05-05T13:46:08Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > No, it isn’t. > > … > > The 1930’s “Dracula” starring Bela Lugosi used Tsaikovski’s “Swan Lake” as it’s eerie score. That may be so, but many people think of “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” as “The Dracula Pipe Organ Music”. I know, because I was always the one who had to tell friends what the real title was. It might be better to call it “The Old Horror Movie Pipe Organ Music”, but for some reason it often seems to have a mental association with Dracula/vampires. (Perhaps it was used in one of the other old vampire films?) And not only people I know, either – I just checked a certain mp3 sharing service and found many copies of the piece with some reference to “Dracula” in the file name. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/24 "2004-05-05T14:22:34Z")
I always associated it with Dr. Frankenstein noodling around on the organ while waiting for Igor to come back with a load of brains. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/25 "2004-05-05T14:39:31Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > 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.” I’m funny how? Funny like a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh? I’m here to f\*ckin’ amuse you? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/26 "2004-05-05T15:19:17Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > I always associated it with Dr. Frankenstein noodling around on the organ while waiting for Igor to come back with a load of brains. I usually prefer to put on some Barry White when I’m noodling around on _my_ organ. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/27 "2004-05-05T15:31:24Z")
Unless you mean how their shoes sometimes squeak, I’ve never heard of clown music…maybe I’m blessed? 🙂 Could you mean the well-known _circus_ music instead? It’s often played as a duet on piano, and it has a like a Ragtime sound to it. Too bad no one set it to words! 😉 Again, we must wonder how it became associated with the circus! As a clue to those who know tinker around on the ivories, the duet optional part of this piece is played entirely on the ebonies! The (the better-known) solo part goes like this: Starting one octave above “Middle C” with: _ping ping ping pa ping-ping-ping_, Next, mimic one octave below “Middle C”: _Ping Ping Ping Pa Ping-Ping-Ping_, Next, stay in the same octave: _Ping-Ping-Ping_, Next, mimic up one octave above “Middle C”: _ping-ping-ping_, Then end in current octave, playing: _ping ping ping ba bump-bump-bump!_ (The last set of notes can be split to start in a treble octave and end in bass.) Ah, yes! Like nails to a chalkboard… - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/28 "2004-05-05T15:52:42Z")
Haha. I was _just_ working this tune out in my head in tonic solfa on the way to the bus stop yesterday. It’s doh’ ti ta ti ta la lo so fi so la lo so la so fi fa mi ri mi so re re di re so re re di re ti do di re ri mi fa fi so si la ti la so (and repeat…) Yes I am a music nerd… ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/29 "2004-05-05T15:56:32Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > That may be so, but **many people think** of “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” as “The Dracula Pipe Organ Music”. I know, because I was always the one who had to tell friends what the real title was. It might be better to call it “The Old Horror Movie Pipe Organ Music”, but for some reason it often seems to have a mental association with Dracula/vampires. (Perhaps it was used in one of the other old vampire films?) And not only people I know, either – I just checked a certain mp3 sharing service and found many copies of the piece with some reference to “Dracula” in the file name. _bolding mine_ “Many people think…” is not an excuse for ignorance. People who name MP3 files are not under any obligation to be accurate I suspect. Sorry, if my answer was pedantic. Yes, I agree, the above-mentioned fugue is often associated with all things horror. I was trying to get a little more detailed into the names of specific compositions and where they were used, not just report where people _think_ they were used. I thought that was in the spirit of the OP. By the way, I’m really keen on the idea that clowns and horror movies seem to just flow together don’t they? I have checked my horror movie archives and have not yet found Bach’s Toccata used in a movie with Dracula in it. I’ll check further. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/30 "2004-05-05T16:02:58Z")
If you don’t mind the hijack, what’s the music that’s played during plate spinning routines. C’mon, you know it. It’s kind of hectic and fast and, well, plate spinny. I used to know it years ago and I think it has the word sword in the title, but I’ve long since forgotten it. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/31 "2004-05-05T16:04:42Z")
Aha! found another one… Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1941) soundtrack includes: Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/32 "2004-05-05T16:06:34Z")
> [@JuanitaTech](#): > > If you don’t mind the hijack, what’s the music that’s played during plate spinning routines. C’mon, you know it. It’s kind of hectic and fast and, well, plate spinny. > > I used to know it years ago and I think it has the word sword in the title, but I’ve long since forgotten it. Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” ---
**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, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/33 "2004-05-05T16:11:10Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > “Many people think…” > > is not an excuse for ignorance. I’m sorry, but I don’t see where the ignorance comes in. I didn’t claim the piece appeared in any particular vampire film, much less the Lugosi version of _Dracula_. I only know that people have sometimes asked in my presence what “that Dracula pipe organ music is”, hummed it a bit, and I’ve been able to identify it as “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”. As best as I can tell, when people refer to “The Dracula Pipe Organ Music” they _always_ mean “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”. I don’t know why this is, but I thought somone out there in SDMB readerland might think the same thing and be interested in knowing what the piece is actually called. > [@JuanitaTech](#): > > If you don’t mind the hijack, what’s the music that’s played during plate spinning routines. C’mon, you know it. It’s kind of hectic and fast and, well, plate spinny. > > I used to know it years ago and I think it has the word sword in the title, but I’ve long since forgotten it. You almost have it – it’s Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance”, from the _Gayane_ ballet. ---
**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, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/34 "2004-05-05T16:16:55Z")
I’ll just throw this one out there since it’s the only other famous but often unidentified musical piece I can name: “Here Comes the Bride” is the bridal chorus from Wagner’s opera _Lohengrin_. In the opera it actually comes immediately after the wedding, when the couple is being escorted to the bridal chamber, not when Elsa is walking down the aisle. (The wedding itself doesn’t actually appear in the opera.) Given how things work out for Elsa and Lohengrin it seems like kind of an unlucky choice for a real wedding, but somehow it became traditional. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/35 "2004-05-05T17:33:27Z")
You’re right, **Lamia** , you did not say that it was Dracula music, only that it was thought of as Dracula music, I was just trying to be _detail oriented_ 😃 Another one: The solem, somber music played during graduation exercises is “Pomp and Circumstance” by Elgar. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/36 "2004-05-05T17:33:59Z")
Please people! It goes Dunt Dunt digga-digga dunt dunt da-dunt Dunt Dunt digga-digga dunt dunt da-dunt Dunt! digga dunt dunt Dunt! digga dunt dunt digga-digga digga-digga digga-digga dunt dunt ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/37 "2004-05-05T17:54:02Z")
Parp! Parp! whhhheeeeooooowoooooooooaaaaaaaap! Sorry, this thread simply wouldn’t be complete without a clown air horn and a swanee whistle. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/38 "2004-05-05T21:09:36Z")
And the Benny Hill theme? “Yakety-Sax”. Come to think of it, doesn’t this theme incorporate a bit of “Entry of the Gladiators” in its bridge section? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/39 "2004-05-05T21:24:18Z")
The Monty Python music is John Phillip Sousa’s “The Liberty Bell.” …my little contribution… ---
**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, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/40 "2004-05-05T21:26:07Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Please people! > > It goes > > Dunt Dunt digga-digga dunt dunt da-dunt > Dunt Dunt digga-digga dunt dunt da-dunt > Dunt! digga dunt dunt Dunt! digga dunt dunt > digga-digga digga-digga digga-digga dunt dunt I recall it as Doop doop doobie doobie doop doop doo-doop Doop doop doobie doobie doop doop doo-doop Doop! doobie doo-doop Doop! doobie doo-doop Doobie doobie doobie doobie doobie doobie doo-doop [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542.md?page=3)