# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/101 "2004-05-13T19:48:35Z")
The \*Turandot \* score, perhaps? ---
**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 14, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/102 "2004-05-14T08:24:12Z")
> [@Knowed Out](#): > > It’s something that can be played on all white keys on a piano, like Chopsticks. Keep the fingers a fifth apart, and you can play those few notes that everybody recognizes. A **fourth** apart. Not a fifth. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/103 "2004-05-14T14:06:06Z")
I tried posting this a day or so ago and the hamsters ate it, so here we go again: What is the name of the main Warner Bros. cartoon theme song? It’s the big orchestral number we hear every time right at the beginning when the WB logo zooms in at us accompanied by the steel guitar slide. I know it’s not “Merry Go Round Broke Down” - they use that for the “Merrie Melodies” intro afterwards. Bonus points if you can sing the words to the “Bugs Bunny” theme! ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/104 "2004-05-14T15:53:09Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Bonus points if you can sing the words to the “Bugs Bunny” theme! would that be: Overture! Curtain! Lights! This is it! Tonight’s the night! No more rehearsing and hearsing a part We know every part by heart Overture! Curtain! Lights! This is it! We’ll hit the heights! And oh what heights we’ll hit On with the show, this is it! do i get a prize? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/105 "2004-05-14T15:57:05Z")
That’s not the theme I was looking for. This one’s a bit more obscure. You hear the theme when it’s a Bugs Bunny cartoon - you know, you see Bugs lying on the marquee with his name on it, and there’s a snappy little theme to go with it. That one. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/106 "2004-05-14T16:20:40Z")
Would that be the “What’s Up Doc?” song… What’s up doc What’s cookin’ What’s up doc Are ya lookin’ for Bugs Bunny bunting Bugsy’s gone a-hunting Gone to get a rabbit skin but now the rabbit’s gone again What’s up doc What’s cookin’ Hey! Look out! Stop! You’re gonna hurt someone with that old shotgun Hey, what’s up Doc. (and it’s “no more rehearsing and _nursing_ a part…”) Looking for the answer to the question about the WB theme, I did a search on Amazon for the Carl Stallings Project – the album of music from WB cartoons - and got no hits. WTF?? ---
**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 14, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/107 "2004-05-14T16:23:04Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > That’s not the theme I was looking for. This one’s a bit more obscure. You hear the theme when it’s a Bugs Bunny cartoon - you know, you see Bugs lying on the marquee with his name on it, and there’s a snappy little theme to go with it. > > That one. You mean: Dun dundun dun duh duh duh, dun dun dun dun duuuun…dun dun dun dun, dun duuuuuu-uuuu-uuun! Often leading into What’s up doc? What’s cooking? What’s up doc? Are ya looking for Bugs Bunny bunting, doc has gone a hunting to find a little baby skin to wrap the baby bunny in… ---
**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 14, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/108 "2004-05-14T16:27:22Z")
Ok, my version is a little…disturbing ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/109 "2004-05-14T18:11:03Z")
When I was a kid, a friend (and now fellow Doper) and I always dreamed of sneaking duck calls in to a symphony concert, and breaking them out when that part of ‘William Tell’ was played. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/110 "2004-05-14T18:15:03Z")
That’s the one, **Max**. Since I’m a magnanimous kinda guy, I split these tasty, chocolate-covered bonus points between you and **jsc1953** for pulling the rabbit out of the hat, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/111 "2004-05-14T18:17:48Z")
How about the ‘sailor’ music? You know, it sounds like an old sea chanty. A snippet of it is played at the end of the instrumental version of the theme music for the 1950s ‘Popeye’ cartoons (right after the second time where the words would be, “I’m Popeye the sailor man!”) ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/112 "2004-05-14T18:25:01Z")
That’s the “College Hornpipe”, and any fiddler who deals with Scotch/Irish music probably knows it quite well. It’s all over the KFS Popeye cartoon theme, not just at that particular point. You can hear it at the beginning of Popeye’s theme song in the old Fleischer cartoons as well. Do _not_ confuse it with the “Sailor’s Hornpipe”, which is an entirely different and much lesser-known beast. ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/113 "2004-05-14T18:27:14Z")
are you by chance referring to [The Sailor’s Hornpipe](http://carolink.tripod.com/sailors.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/114 "2004-05-14T18:32:24Z")
Huh… my “1000 Fiddle Tunes” book calls it the College Hornpipe. Guess there’s no real definitive answer on this one. ---
**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 14, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/115 "2004-05-14T19:14:13Z")
And before anybody asks: The Irish music, usually accompanied by dancing Irishmen and/or leprechauns, is _ **The Irish Washer Woman** _. ---
**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 14, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/116 "2004-05-14T19:15:42Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > When I was a kid, a friend (and now fellow Doper) and I always dreamed of sneaking duck calls in to a symphony concert, and breaking them out when that part of ‘William Tell’ was played. Were you also tempted to sneak coconut halves into the concert, so that you could make horse galloping noises during that **other** part of the _William Tell_ overture? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/117 "2004-05-14T19:20:30Z")
While we are here, can anyone tell me what the music piece they seem to use in every Horror movie preview or ‘Dark Action’ movie preview (Van Helsing, Underworld). It is a choral piece, sung very hard with accompanyment. Apparently in Latin and seesaws fairly quickly between two notes for a while. Up, down, up, down, up, down, up,up,up. It almost sounds like it should be from Orff’s Carmina Burane (but is _not_ O Fortuna). Any clues? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/118 "2004-05-14T20:13:56Z")
Actually, our plan called for one of us to don a mask, burst into the concert hall and run through the aisles with cap guns blazing. (We didn’t have a horse). > [@tracer](#): > > Were you also tempted to sneak coconut halves into the concert, so that you could make horse galloping noises during that **other** part of the _William Tell_ overture? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/119 "2004-05-14T20:18:32Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > 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… Those of us who watched _Bozo The Clown_\* in our larval stages will forever asociate the tune with him. Each show would start with him marching into the studio at the head of a procession, banging on a big bass drum, while the “Clown Music” played in the background. \*Speaking of Bozo I loved that Seinfeld bit where he wonders why they need to specify that he’s Bozo the _clown_, as opposed to Bozo the _Certified Public Accountant_. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542/120 "2004-05-14T22:04:00Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > While we are here, can anyone tell me what the music piece they seem to use in every Horror movie preview or ‘Dark Action’ movie preview (Van Helsing, Underworld). It is a choral piece, sung very hard with accompanyment. Apparently in Latin and seesaws fairly quickly between two notes for a while. > > Up, down, up, down, up, down, up,up,up. > > It almost sounds like it should be from Orff’s Carmina Burane (but is _not_ O Fortuna). > > Any clues? I know the one you mean, but can’t place it definitively (my WAG is the Verdi Requiem, the Dies Irae of which is another horror favorite). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-clown-music/243542.md?page=7)