Valmai Goodyear said, "Any tune ought to be modal: preferably in freezian mode, which is like phrygian mode, only chillier.

Methinks it should be in frigid-ian mode.

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The local truck has played "Music Box Dancer" and "The Entertainer" in the past but I haven't heard it recently. Must be the recession.

I wrote a song recently about the ice cream truck. In what I call the interlude of the song, I imagined the truck driver singing along to "The Entertainer". Here are the lyrics:


I, C, E, C, R, E-A-M
Copyright 2009 Sharon E. Abbott All rights reserved.

On a dog-day afternoon,
The heat can really make you swoon
But when you hear that bell, you know darn well
You're gonna hear the neighborhood kids croonin' for some
Ice Cream ["Mom, can I have some money?"]
They want some Ice Cream ["Hurry, the truck's almost here!"]
All their friends are in line; they wanna be with them
And buy some I, C, E, C, R, E-A-M !

All the parents on the street
Know it's a battle they can't beat
'Cause when the truck drives slow, they can't say "no"
When all their kids are cryin' for that treat!
They're cryin'
Ice Cream ["It's too expensive, sweetie"]
They want some Ice Cream ["You'll spoil your dinner"]
They've got money in hand -- their folks gave in to them --
They're buyin' I, C, E, C, R, E-A-M !

BRIDGE:
Ev'ry freezer in e'ry kid's house
Has got a gallon of their fav'roite flavor
But they forget it even when their folks grouse
About the extra money Mommy gave for
Buyin' Ice Cream…
[INSTRUMENTAL – STOP SINGING CHORUS BUT CONTINUE PLAYING TO END OF CHORUS]

Now, the ice-cream truck man Bob
He doesn't seem to like his job.
He hears the same darned song the whole day long;
He sees the same darned neighborhood kids mobbin' him for
Ice Cream ["And what would you like today?"]
He's sellin' Ice Cream ["Don't push; theres plenty for everybody"]
The kids are 'way out of line; nobody's watching them
Fight over I, C, E, C, R, E-A-M !

BRIDGE:
Bob has got a left-face, left-arm tan
And a career that's such a big no-brainer:
He drives in circles and he rings a bell an'
He sings a send-up of The Entertainer…

INTERLUDE (to the tune of "The Entertainer"):
It's a living but not a life
Just sellin' creamsicles all the day long.
I'm supporting my kids and wife
While I'm making up words to fit this song
And I'm sandwiched here in between
Their sundae cones and my Saturday nights.
I'm vanilla, it seems,
With Neapolitan dreams.
I think that selling ice creams
Really bites!

But he doesn't let it show.
He's a Good Humor man, you know!
And so he's smilin' through like the parents do
When all those kids call, "There's the truck! Let's go
And get some
Ice Cream ["Eh, they're only kids once"]
They want some Ice Cream ["I whined at my Mom just like this"]
And when the kids are grown up, their kids'll pester them
To buy some I, C, E, C, R, E-A-M !
Let's have some I, C, E, C, R, E-A-M !