LAist: Satan's Ice Cream Truck

Azazelle

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:36:24 -0800

Oh! that door resembles a lot to my fridge's door! =))) Think it's our national deep seated tradition. (c)Links exchange

lorda

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:30:07 -0800

sounds familiar sorta like a classical music song that they used to play at impirial balls during the british empire the place i first heard was played on organ and was played for lord wellington before the battle of waterloo

Kathie

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:03:16 -0800

SeanYoda - Do you NOT know how to make songs in Major Keys into Minor. It reminds /me/ of Old King Cole (in a minor key no less) but who is to say that melody isn't used for many other songs across the world. (Example, Greensleeves)

juicyfruit22

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:03:20 -0800

OMG I KNOW WHAT IT IS! Its the nursery rhyme 'Old King Cole' it goes: old king cole was a very merry soul and a very merry soul was he he called for his wife, and he called for his bowl, and he called for his fiddlers three

paint

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:38:50 -0800

as far as "La Cucuaracha?" it's EXTREMELY popular in Los Anglese and several of the trucks around her play it.. if it's not bedlam boys i have to agree it sounds very very Bach ... or baroque-ish

Elise Thompson

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:44:41 -0800

Disney IS good at combining childhood and creepiness.

theshuice9

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:39:52 -0800

I am almost certain that this tune is the same one on the Disney Dream Vacation commercial. I saw this post last night and then saw the commercial this morning and immediately recognized the song from this post.

colormefatigue

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:14:45 -0800

so i'm pretty much an idiot because i cannot figure out how to email you. i'd really LOVE to have the MP3 of that lovely song so if you could email me, elise, at braceface71894@aol.com that would be just perfect. thanks, if you do. (:

Elise Thompson

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:23:02 -0800

I think The Waits Carol wins (with the inspired Awake to Love and Work). If anyone wants an MP3, just email me. Click on my name and it will take you to the staff page, where you can email me.

aposiopetic

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:51:09 -0800

(I posted this to the Boing Boing thread tracking down the origins of the tune, and figured I'd repost here, as it more or less sums up several of the suggestions. Plus, shiny MIDI link! Soooo shiiiiiny....) I'm pretty sure that this is indeed The Waits' Carol (AKA The Waits' Song or The Moon Shines Bright or The Bellman's Song, MIDI located at http://share.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5567/belm.mid )--which is not to say that it's not also Old King Cole (or at least a version of it--the one I learned as a kid was in a major key). The Waits' Carol is a several centuries-old folk melody, and has become attached to several different sets of words. I'd bet that it's related to both Bedlam Boys and Awake To Love and Work, given the strong similarities. So in a sense, oh denizens of the internet, you're all more or less right.

Donna Lethal

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:38:22 -0800

ps. Elise, "Turkey in the Straw" is the main one on the East Coast.

Donna Lethal

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:37:14 -0800

I'm amazed that someone figured it out. I, too, thought it was Bach ... it sounds baroque-ish, in a way - "Broken Baroque"?

Sazime

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:12:51 -0800

It sounds like a simplified version of Bach's "Bourree" in a minor key. And maybe I'm weird, but not that creepy?

Sazime

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:12:10 -0800

It sounds like a simplified version of Bach's "Bourree" in a minor key. And maybe I'm weird, but not that creepy?

mice

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:30:36 -0800

The instrument itself sounds like an amplified music box.

applesauce

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:56:32 -0800

as soon as i heard this i remembered this song from my childhood that i first heard on a "wee sing" tape. it's from "king cole's party." here is a clip from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7AbxQ5v9r4 you think it matches?

debris

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:59:40 -0800

This reminds me of Freezing Man - the techno-ice cream truck from Burning Man. Their theme - Bass Kittens - is sort of creepy in a futuristic way.

HeathBiter

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:41:21 -0800

You have to get Arlo a copy of this so he can play it at Mr. T's between bands.

Yreka

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:56:14 -0800

As bloodredrose said, i'm pretty sure this is a version of Bedlam Boys. It was one of the first things I thought of when I heard it.

bowser

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:33:48 -0800

thardist was correct, it is "Old King Cole" (I remember the tune from watching this mother goose video as a kid). I found a slightly jazzed up version of the tune on youtube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tujv2fWn0YM

mice

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:01:31 -0800

I would love an mp3 of this. No not the Renbourne version, which is nice, but your recording. Great entry congratulations on being posted on Boing Boing.

matti

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:00:09 -0800

In Denver we have a similarly melancholic ice cream tune called "Red Wing": She watched for him day and night, She kept all the campfires bright, And under the sky, each night she would lie, And dream about his coming by and by; But when all the braves returned, The heart of Red Wing yearned, For far, far away, her warrior gay, Fell bravely in the fray. I think it's supposed to make you so sad you need a treat to help you face the day.

jonthegm

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:59:57 -0800

Whoops: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_dmusic/102-0067395-9804944?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=%22the+moon+shines+bright%22&x=0&y=0

jonthegm

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:59:32 -0800

from Trawnpanda's input, I found a bunch of Amazon Mp3s with versions of the song... also known as "The Moon Shines Bright" http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_dmusic/102-0067395-9804944?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=%22the+moon+shines+bright%22&x=0&y=0

trawnapanda

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:37:59 -0800

Found it. It's sometimes called The Waits Carol and sometimes The Waits Song Under the first name, it's the second track on The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, the words of which are here. There is a 30s clip, but not all of the melody, on the Amazon.com website for the McGarrigle album. However, I did get a MIDI version of it, considerably less scratchy than that recording. I notice that the MIDI resolves into a major chord at the end, that would only happen at the end of the last verse (if at all) when sung of course. The words are rather "all flesh is grass" and gloomy for something so hedonistic as ice-cream consumption, but there you are.

bloodredrose

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:15:06 -0800

It sounds very much like one of my favorite English folk songs, "Bedlam Boys": http://www.thebards.net/music/lyrics/Bedlam_Boys.shtml

papercut

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:13:11 -0800

Kinda reminds me of the Swedish Rhapsody numbers station call signal. Different, but just as creepy. http://www.vimeo.com/217265

gackutoshiya

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:14:42 -0800

PLEASE tell me this truck also has jars of pickles and pigs feet! this is just awesome. could i talk you into YSI that clip to me? i've been dieing for a new ringtone and this, sir, it will be XD

morgen

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:45:52 -0800

This melody was definitely used in a kid's video from the '80s -- I immediately recognized it from Wee Sing's "King Cole's Party", which YouTube conveniently has a copy of. Scroll forward to 1:17 of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_BKHxIYhvI Also, amusingly, credit for the music for this video is to "Bill Scream". :-)

the suburbanist

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:27:47 -0800

It sounds a lot like the old hymn "Awake to Love and Work."

jrb

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:45:28 -0800

"La Cucuaracha?" The standard tune for produce trucks.

Elise Thompson

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:28:52 -0800

Interesting interactive format, Nymia. I have music professors at universities trying to crack that tune, but now I can try the source. I am checking out Nichol's, the company that started making music in the 80s (assuming this music is not pre-80s) And found this is surprising: Eight of the most requested vending songs: The Entertainer, Turkey in the Straw, Little Brown Jug, Sailing Sailing, Camptown Races, Redwing, Brahm's Lullaby, and La Cucaracha. La Cucuaracha? I remember "Bicycle Built for Two" being popular.

nymia

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:16:32 -0800

Really freaky tune! Reminds me of an article about ice cream truck music at this link.

Donna Lethal

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:16:49 -0800

And girls would miraculously lose their clothes and have to run in merrywidows and high heels.

Elise Thompson

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:07:08 -0800

Ali: You would have to drive really, really fast all the time and the children chasing the truck in circles would never catch you.

Ali Miller

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:43:28 -0800

Elise- lol @ ride of the valkyries. if i had my own ice cream truck it would be the Benny Hill theme song, on heavy rotation.

Elise Thompson

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:00:09 -0800

The Sinatra one would only sell Spumoni and those trippy bonbons from Tony's Buena Vista.

Donna Lethal

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:59:40 -0800

I try to keep playing it b/c I know that song, but I'm creeping my coworkers out. Elise, why don't we go into business with theme ice cream trucks?

Elise Thompson

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:15:18 -0800

CGabriel - You definitely have to email me an MP3 of any samples! When I buy an ice cream truck I think I'll play Ride of the Valkyries.

SeanYoda

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:26:47 -0800

That's definitely NOT "Old King Cole"; The ice cream truck song is in a minor key while "Old King Cole" is in a major key.

trihardist

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:00:57 -0800

I've heard this before . . . I always think it sounds like "Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he . . . so he called for his pipe and he called for his bowl and he called for his fiddlers three." But I don't think that's quite the song . . . Creepy indeed. I have visions of the pied piper.

cgabriel

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:17:00 -0800

Ummm yeahhh Im gonna be sampling this on my next beat. THANK YOU

bobzilla77

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:42:29 -0800

It reminds me of one of those Irish folk songs they used to sing on SNL: "And the fields went black and the milk went bad and the nuns all drank it and died." In fact those lyrics fit the tune!

Maxwell Schneller

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:19:01 -0800

This is the best post I have ever read/heard. Nice integration of Simpsons trivia. 1,000 e-cool points. The only way this story can improve is if, two months from now, he gets busted for abducting children. ICE CREAM MAN FROM HELL!

panasonicyouth

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:35:28 -0800

Whoa. That IS creepy.

Donna Lethal

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:13:33 -0800

ps. there's one called "The Monkey's Paw"? Does it bring dead people back to life?

Donna Lethal

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:11:03 -0800

That is fantastic! At least it's not Mr. Softee, who, if you're a NYer, have been tormented by for hours and days on end. We had an evil ice cream man named Joe who hated kids. He sort of looked like Franklin Pangborn with glasses and lighter hair ... he'd hand us our cones with disdain. When I lived in Brooklyn our local ice cream truck used to play Sinatra and Dino!

Caroline on Crack

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:37:55 -0800

Who knew that buying ice cream could be such a creepy experience?

Caroline on Crack

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:33:03 -0800

Who knew that buying ice cream could be such a creepy experience?

allen

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:27:23 -0800

I LOVE IT !!! imagine if tim burton had decided to be an ice cream man rather than a director... this would be his ice cream truck

Bandito

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:49:27 -0800

"Danny Elfman-ish foreboding." Love it!

hulahoney83

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:30:35 -0800

Jebus that's creepy!