# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/41 "2004-05-05T21:32:27Z")
And I _paid_ to read threads like this?!?!?! :smack: (I love it.) ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/42 "2004-05-05T21:41:56Z")
_I_ always associate the Toccata in Fugue with Phantom of the Opera. I NEVER heard of it in association with Dracula. I remember my high school chorus teacher taking us to the school chapel to break in the new organ, and he played a bit of the Toccata at our request. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/43 "2004-05-06T02:41:57Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > 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_ 😃 Okay, no worries then. 🙂 To continue throwing out titles, Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” from _Carmina Burana_ is a good one I learned about back in music class. It’s the dramatic Latin choral piece often used for medieval battle scenes…or for introducing a new line of powerful automobiles or athletic shoes. Although it sounds trumphant, it’s about cursing the cruelty of fate. Oh, and while the lyrics do come from a medieval poem, Orff was a 20th century composer. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/44 "2004-05-06T02:47:44Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > _I_ always associate the Toccata in Fugue with Phantom of the Opera. I NEVER heard of it in association with Dracula. I always associated it with haunted houses. And Vincent Price. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/45 "2004-05-06T02:47:54Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > 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 You never played a wind instrament did you? The hard T at the end of Dunt Dunt is much more like the tounging that you would have to do while playing. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/46 "2004-05-06T02:52:14Z")
All right, here’s another request for the title of a piece of music that everybody knows the tune of but no one knows the title to: **THE ANAMANA SONG** You know … “Anamana, doot doo doo doo doo, Anamana, doot doo doo, doo, Anamana, doot doo doo doo doo, Doo doo doo, Doo doo doo, Doo doo doo, doo doo Doot doot doo doot, doo!” They used to have a muppet sing this song on _Sesame Street_ (before _Sesame Street_ became “All Elmo, All the Time”). This song also appeared in a couple of episodes of _Benny Hill_. But **what the heck is the real title?!** ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/47 "2004-05-06T03:03:03Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > **THE ANAMANA SONG** > > You know … > “Anamana, doot doo doo doo doo, > Anamana, doot doo doo, doo, > Anamana, doot doo doo doo doo, > Doo doo doo, > Doo doo doo, > Doo doo doo, doo doo > Doot doot doo doot, doo!” > > They used to have a muppet sing this song on _Sesame Street_ (before _Sesame Street_ became “All Elmo, All the Time”). This song also appeared in a couple of episodes of _Benny Hill_. > > But **what the heck is the real title?!** Wow, I’m better at this than I thought, because I can do this one too! It’s “Mah-Na Mah-Na”, by Piero Umiliani. It originally appeared in, of all things, a 1968 documentary about drugs, suicide, and the sexual underworld called _Sweden: Heaven or Hell_. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/48 "2004-05-06T03:27:51Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The hard T at the end of Dunt Dunt is much more like the tounging that you would have to do while playing. Stop it, you’re getting me hot! I have to go now. Sentences like that \*are \* why we paid for this service. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/49 "2004-05-06T03:30:26Z")
OK, what about the shave-and-a-haircut piece, where does that come from? You know: Dutt dada da da … dutt dutt! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/50 "2004-05-06T03:43:23Z")
> [@Algernon](#): > > And I _paid_ to read threads like this?!?!?! :smack: No, you paid to _post_ in threads like this. 🙂 ---
**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 6, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/51 "2004-05-06T13:15:16Z")
One that’s been annoying me for a couple of months: Where does that stereotypical short Chinese tune come from? Not Chopsticks but the one that goes… Dun-dun-dun-dun, dun dun, dun dun duuuuuun [insert optional gong here] Scale wise it would go something like 3333 22 11 2 ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/52 "2004-05-06T23:32:02Z")
[shave and a haircut](http://www.mentalfloss.com/archives/archive2003-08-07.htm): > [@](#): > > The first recorded occurrence of the tune (with no lyrics) is in an 1899 song by Charles Hale, called “At a Darktown Cakewalk.” In 1914, Jimmie Monaco and Joe McCarthy released a song called “Bum-Diddle-De-Um-Bum, That’s It!” in which that line was featured in the last two bars of the song. In 1939, the same musical phrase was used in a tune called “Shave and a Haircut - Shampoo” by Dan Shapiro, Lester Lee, and Milton Berle. > [@Lamia](#): > > Wow, I’m better at this than I thought, because I can do this one too! It’s “Mah-Na Mah-Na”, by Piero Umiliani. IIRC it’s “Mais Non, Mais Non.” ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/53 "2004-05-07T00:29:24Z")
To clear out a few more: The “factory music” in Warner Bro’s cartoons is “Powerhouse” by Raymond Scott. Alfred Hitchcocks theme music was “Funeral March for Marionettes” by Charles Gounod. In old U.S. TV shows every establishing shot of London had “Rule Britannia.” If in the UK but other than London, it was “In an English Country Garden.” If in Paris, the can-can from Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld.” If in Russia, “Meadowlands” (the Red Cavalry anthem that Michale Palin sang with the Russian sailors), or “Song of the Volga Boatmen” (“yo-oh heave ho”) The sun always rises to either the opening of Grieg’s “Pier Gynt,” or Rossini’s "William Tell Overture (the part before the Lone Ranger music.) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/54 "2004-05-07T02:09:14Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > IIRC it’s “Mais Non, Mais Non.” That is the title of Henri Salvador’s later French version of the same song. It has different lyrics than the original, and apparently has no connection to the Muppets. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/55 "2004-05-07T02:12:57Z")
Whoops, forgot to include this awesome link, which has everything you could ever want to know about “Mah-Na Mah-Na” and Piero Umiliani: [http://www.geocities.com/pieroumiliani/](http://www.geocities.com/pieroumiliani/) ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/56 "2004-05-07T06:26:40Z")
How about that surfing/beach music? I was actually wondering about this a few days ago. Does anyone know what I’m referring to? ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/57 "2004-05-07T06:43:16Z")
Thanks, **Slithy Tove**. I knew that Warner Bros. factory music had a name, but I’d forgotten it. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/58 "2004-05-07T12:29:51Z")
> [@Vision of Love](#): > > How about that surfing/beach music? You might be thinking of the distinctive guitar sounds of [Dick Dale](http://www.worlddiff.com/music_dickdale4.html). > [@](#): > > His technique was, to say the least, unorthodox: though a ‘lefty’, he played a right-handed guitar upside down and backwards, changing and transposing the chord patterns in his head as he went along. But it was what he did with that arrangement that made Dale a legend. Using a deep, machine-gun, double-picking staccato style more akin to the banjo or mandolin than anything ever produced by a guitar before, Dale’s songs generated the sounds of the ocean- all crashing waves and sunshine- with a fury that predated the earliest roots of punk by over a decade. ---
**Author:** ![Zelski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c67d28/32.png) [@Zelski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zelski)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/59 "2004-05-07T18:12:00Z")
Well **AndrewT** and **rowrrbazzle** : I have a beginning piano songbook that has the Shave and a Haircut riff at the end of the Arkansas Traveller. The Arkansas Traveller is a very popular folk/bluegrass tune that is probably most famous as the "I have a little baby bumble-bee " song that was sung by the eagle that sounds like Pete Puma. The song tells of a fiddler playing a tune at his cabin. A traveller comes by and hears it and hijinx ensue. The point is that in my songbook, the Shave and a Haircut riff was used as the tune the fiddler was playing. None of the versions I have found online every tell you what the tune was that the fiddler was playing, so the writers of my book may have added that change. According to this site: [http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3arktrv.htm](http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3arktrv.htm) The Arkansas Traveller has been around since 1860. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/60 "2004-05-07T18:49:16Z")
Alright, what’s the “1950s Going Shopping” music? Very plinkity-plunkity “Holiday for Strings”-y, but it’s _not_ “Holiday for Strings.” They use it a lot in cartoons (_Ren & Stimpy, SpongeBob_) to indicate “glamorous 1950s housewife” or “happy suburban home.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542.md?page=4)