# What's the name of that whimsical song that plays in this Simpsons episode **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109 "2005-03-24T23:32:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/21 "2005-03-29T09:36:28Z")
[hijack] Whenever someone try’s to ‘guilt’ me for (occasionally) watching those various, over the top, exploitive **World’s Wildest Police _whatevers_** I always answer with Homer’s great line: _ **"He he, its funny cause I don’t know 'em!"** _ 😛 ---
**Author:** ![LarrySpankowitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/958977/32.png) [@LarrySpankowitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LarrySpankowitz)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/22 "2005-03-29T16:42:26Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Alf Clausen is a musical genius. I really would not be surprised at all if he scored it. > Wonder if there’s a way to find out. I wonder if the regulars of the alt.tv.simpsons (or whatever it’s called) would know. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/23 "2005-03-29T23:09:05Z")
> [@LarrySpankowitz](#): > > I wonder if the regulars of the alt.tv.simpsons (or whatever it’s called) would know. I’ll tell you who knows: Alf Clausen. So I e-mailed him. And he answered. [Homer] WOO HOO![/Homer] > [@](#): > > The music you are referring to is a library cue from KPM Music Library > called “Round the Bend” written by R. Aspery, used in 9F14 “Duffless.” > > We usually don’t use library cues, and the reason for using this one is way > too far in the past to remember. Your contention is certainly correct. A > piece like this could be (relatively) "effortlessly’ recreated by me and > usually is almost every week in some form or another. That’s what my job > description entails. Most music on The Simpsons is original from me, but I > also am asked to duplicate/rerecord existing period pieces as well. It’s all > in a week’s work. So there you go. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/24 "2005-03-29T23:15:08Z")
I was thinking of e-mailing Clausen myself. I figured it might be production music, since it sort of has that “tinge” to it that old-fashioned production music usually has. (KPM is a big British stockhouse for production music. Their U.S. representative is Associated Production Music.) Clausen _has_ written pieces in that jolly production-music style before, the most memorable being Homer’s “Land of Chocolate” dream sequence. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/25 "2005-03-29T23:20:13Z")
This isn’t the only time library music has been used on _The Simpsons_. Some other KPM cues were used in the '50s filmreel “City on the Grow” that opens _$pringfield_, and an NFL Films Music cue (also administered in the U.S. by APM) appears in a mafia-food-takedown sequence in _The Twisted World of Marge Simpson._ (I’m not in the film business, and APM does not sell music to the public. I’ve just collected facts over the years based on readings and stuff, and the clever album _Music for TV Dinners_, the only official authorized commercial release of Associated music.) ---
**Author:** ![LarrySpankowitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/958977/32.png) [@LarrySpankowitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LarrySpankowitz)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/26 "2005-03-30T05:11:46Z")
wow! that’s awesome that Mr. Clausen answered. Thanks a lot to both of you! Straight Dope is so cool. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/27 "2005-03-30T12:55:44Z")
[There](http://www.sppf.com/bddphp/test15.php?varRefCat=KPM131CD) it is, no 14. Looks like the era of Keystone Kops was correct. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/28 "2005-03-30T13:21:22Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > [There](http://www.sppf.com/bddphp/test15.php?varRefCat=KPM131CD) it is, no 14. Looks like the era of Keystone Kops was correct. From what I can tell, Ronnie Aspery was mostly active in the 60s-70s, and according to [allmusic.com](http://allmusic.com) (if it’s the same guy–sounds like it is), he died in December of 2003. Keystone Kops would have been the the 1910s-20s. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/29 "2005-03-30T13:27:52Z")
Actually, he was 57 when he died in 2003, giving him a birthyear of 1946. [This site confirms](http://www.blakeymusic.com/reviewRonAspery.htm). It also mentions his work on the Simpsons. At the earliest, this song is from the late 60s, but given the publishing date and the track of his career, it seems more likely that it was recorded in the early 90s. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/30 "2005-03-30T15:19:11Z")
Actually, I meant to say recorded in the late 80s. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/31 "2005-03-30T15:32:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > From what I can tell, Ronnie Aspery was mostly active in the 60s-70s, and according to [allmusic.com](http://allmusic.com) (if it’s the same guy–sounds like it is), he died in December of 2003. Keystone Kops would have been the the 1910s-20s. The disc in question is part of the KPM production music library, and it appears that the music would orchestrate wacky, Keystone Kops-style antics. Using it to orchestrate grisly footage of automobile accidents is wholly inappropriate- and from that, we get our joke. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/32 "2005-03-30T16:48:53Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > The disc in question is part of the KPM production music library, and it appears that the music would orchestrate wacky, Keystone Kops-style antics. Using it to orchestrate grisly footage of automobile accidents is wholly inappropriate- and from that, we get our joke. Oh. Then I misunderstood **GuanoLad** ’s post. I thought he was saying that it was recorded or composed in the Keystone Kops era. I understood the allusion to the wacky music of the silent film era, my contention was simply that such a sound could be relatively easily produced today. (Now that I read Guano’s previous post, I understand his point. My bad.) ---
**Author:** ![Jay1st](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/13edae/32.png) [@Jay1st](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay1st)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/33 "2022-11-14T21:35:33Z")
all these links are dead. i cannot find it iether. please someone tell me the name of the episode as i cannot even find that. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109/34 "2022-11-14T22:56:18Z")
The song is [“Round the Bend” by Ron Aspery](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULdFDXXOObY). Youtube’s progress hasn’t always been positive in the last 17 years, [but people were actually helpful in the comments for the clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGceHaq1wgM)! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whimsical-song-that-plays-in-this-simpsons-episode/296109.md?page=1)