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20 May 12 - 01:14 PM (#3353340) Subject: Ice cream van tune From: Bonzo3legs Why is it that the only tune played by ice cream vans is Popeye the Sailorman??? |
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20 May 12 - 01:32 PM (#3353352) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Dave MacKenzie Not around here - each van has its own. |
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20 May 12 - 01:37 PM (#3353355) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: John MacKenzie Greensleeves |
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20 May 12 - 02:57 PM (#3353375) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: fat B****rd When I was a lad in the 50s the Sunday afternoon Midland Counties van played the March Militaire. At least that's what my Dad told me. I don't hear many ice cream vans these days. Are they still around much in the UK ? |
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20 May 12 - 05:03 PM (#3353424) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Jack Campin Our local one does Yankee Doodle. |
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20 May 12 - 05:23 PM (#3353432) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Ann N Ours uses Teddy Bear's Picnic :) |
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20 May 12 - 06:04 PM (#3353443) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Nancy King Both the one that comes around here and the one at my place in Maine use the same damn tune, the name of which eludes me at the moment. I'll think of it at midnight or so. VERY familiar, and I'm thoroughly sick of it. Back in the olden days, when I was a kid, they just rang a bell -- much better than the canned music. |
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20 May 12 - 07:47 PM (#3353488) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Nancy King Ah yes -- Joplin's The Entertainer. Didn't even have to wait till midnight.... |
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20 May 12 - 08:31 PM (#3353510) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Susan of DT Turkey in Straw here |
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20 May 12 - 08:40 PM (#3353515) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: gnomad Another Greensleeves here. More to the point why do they keep driving around after they've sold out? Well that's what my Dad said, 'The music is to tell you it's no point going to the van 'cos they've sold out.' |
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20 May 12 - 09:45 PM (#3353534) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: ChanteyLass Around here, ice cream trucks also have different songs. When I was a child, the van that vended in my neighborhood was very old-fashioned (even then) with a wooden body painted bright yellow with red trim. There was no tune. The driver pulled on a cord that rang a bell. We started salivating whenever we heard, "Ding-ding. Ding-ding." I don't seem able to make a link to the photo by itself, but if you click here http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=palagis+ice+cream+photos&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 you will see some newer behicles with the old ones. Click on the fourth image. |
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20 May 12 - 10:28 PM (#3353549) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Ross Campbell It's mostly to avoid royalty payments for copyright material or performances. "Greensleeves" is about as out-of-copyright as you can get; commission some poor out-of work muso to record the piece for you for a one-off payment (or free ice-cream), and you own the performance copyright, so no further expense for multiple plays. If you haven't seen the Bill Forsyth film "Comfort & Joy" (1984), distantly and humorously based on Glasgow's "Ice Cream Wars" (circa 1982) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars it's worth a look - maybe not best viewed on YouTube Comfort and Joy - Part 1 of 9 (following parts can be found in the links to the right of the page) but it's scarce and expensive on eBay and Amazon. Ross |
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20 May 12 - 10:37 PM (#3353557) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: katlaughing Those are neat, CL! The one that drive's round our neighbourhood plays a decent rendition of Little Red Wing. Here's a fun home recording of someone's grandma honky-tonkying it on the piano. Of course there are better versions on UTube. |
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20 May 12 - 10:41 PM (#3353558) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Effsee When I was 10 months old, the youngest of 7, the family moved to a council estate house in Dundee, Scotland. In ensuing months the ice-cream van used to visit regularly...the vendor used a whistle...apparently when I heard that whistle, I used to rush to the front window, which was higher than I was, and cry "Basta, Basta!", Much to my mother's chagrin, being a good RC mother! She shouldn't have told me the vendors name was Bastianelli! |
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20 May 12 - 10:48 PM (#3353565) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Stilly River Sage They swap out the tinny tunes here - The Entertainer, Turkey in the Straw, and the one that I know as "Do Your Ears Hang Low." SRS |
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20 May 12 - 11:59 PM (#3353580) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: EBarnacle One of the few advantages of living in a low child density area is that I have not been harassed by Arkansas Traveller or any of the other bastardized sounds which pass for advertising music from the ice cream trucks. The people I really feel sorry for are the poor SOB's who drive the trucks day in and day out. I suspect they go home twitching at night. |
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21 May 12 - 03:15 AM (#3353610) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Banjo-Flower Friend of mine used to tell her children it was the time for bed music but I don't know if they also got ice cream Gerry |
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21 May 12 - 04:33 AM (#3353635) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Bonzo3legs You are presumably aware that ice cream men water down their ice cream ?? |
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21 May 12 - 04:42 AM (#3353636) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Mr Happy thread.cfm?threadid=122389 |
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21 May 12 - 10:52 AM (#3353797) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: GUEST,Eliza I must sound like Methuselah, but I remember an Italian gentleman who rode a special bicycle/cart thing, decorated in pink, yellow and white. He wore a long white apron and shouted "Okey pokey pokey!" (No idea what this meant) He sold cornets which he filled from a metal tub on the front of his vehicle. He even had a curled moustache like someone from an opera! He rang a handbell to announce his arrival. |
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21 May 12 - 10:56 AM (#3353801) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Stilly River Sage When I was a kid the music was akin to a snake charmer's flute - but we knew the ice cream was more expensive than anywhere else, so I think most of the time Mom sent us to the corner store for popsicles or ice cream bars. I agree with EBarnacle - I've always wondered how the stand the incredible monotony of listening to the same phrase over and over. They must dream about it at night. SRS |
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21 May 12 - 08:43 PM (#3354059) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: JohnInKansas The ice cream wagon that went past our house just a few minutes ago sort of sounded more like a roach coach (lunch wagon). It was blaring "La Cucaracha." (isn't that "little cockroach?") John |
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22 May 12 - 04:22 AM (#3354166) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Darowyn When we lived in Malvern, the local ice cream van used to play "The Peanut Vendor" Ice cream vans clearly may contain nuts! Cheers Dave |
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22 May 12 - 05:02 AM (#3354177) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: JohnInKansas I was about 9 or 10 when the town dairy decided to abandon "home delivery" of milk, and of course a brief flurry of nostalgia appeared in the local newspapers. (The newspapers actually reported local news then, strange as it might seem now.) One report quoted a milkman who insisted that the story was absolutely true that one time when he "called in sick" the substitute stopped by to ask about "how do I know which houses to deliver to" and he told him "don't worry, the horse knows." And it did. But of course they didn't play music. I think waking people up in the morning hours when they ran the routes would have caused some complaints, and cranking a "Victrola" (the only name most people knew for "a thing that played music") to make any kind of noise would have been a little tough. John |
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22 May 12 - 07:12 AM (#3354208) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: GUEST,Eliza John, you've evoked the memory I have of the horse-drawn milkfloat which came every day round our way. The horse knew where to stop, and the milkman left him to walk on down the road on his own. It was from Dalton's Farm. My sister and I used during the school holidays to take a carrot out for this horse. What the milkman didn't know was that we often used to scramble onto his back when he was put in his field after work. He took no notice at all when we were both sitting on him, he just kept munching the grass and wouldn't even walk about. Very annoying! |
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22 May 12 - 08:33 AM (#3354244) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: clueless don The "Ice Cream Man" from my childhood was the Good Humor truck. They didn't have a tune - they rang bells. Later on, there was a soft ice cream van called "Mister Softie". As I recall, they had their own tune. There were even lyrics (heard on commercials), something like "The Creamiest, Dreamiest soft ice cream is found from Mister Softie ...". Or something like that. Don |
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22 May 12 - 10:09 AM (#3354280) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: EBarnacle "The creamiest, dreamiest soft ice cream is made by Mr. Softee; S - o - f - t - double E, Mister Softee" The emphasis, especially in the early days was that it was made fresh, right there on the truck. |
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22 May 12 - 10:49 AM (#3354303) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: greg stephens The one in Stoke plays the Harry Lime Theme, and has done for ten years I would think. |
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22 May 12 - 12:12 PM (#3354340) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Snuffy When I was a kid in the fifties our local ice cream van played the Merry Widow waltz. The one that's just gone by plays O Sole Mio. Or is that It's Now Or Never? or even Just One Cornetto? |
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22 May 12 - 05:57 PM (#3354499) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: ChanteyLass John in Kansa, Eliza, there was a lovely fiction children's story in one of the readers I used to teach. It was about a milkman who gradually became blind but was able to keep working because his horse knew where to stop. I can't remember its title, nor can I remember if there was any explanation about what the milkman did if a customer left a note changing the order. Maybe he was supposed to be illiterate and had always shown the notes to someone else to read. I've always imagined that he was supposed to know where everything was stored in the wagon, how many steps from the road each house was, etc. I think the story ended with the horse being too old to work and the milkman then having to retire. None of his employers or coworkers were supposed to have realized he was blind until then. |
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22 May 12 - 07:50 PM (#3354535) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: JohnInKansas For a while, even after the milkman and his horse came around, I wondered about whether the horse actually knew which houses "always wanted a delivery," or knew that the milkman only delivered where there were empty bottles on the front porch and just stopped whenever there were some empties put out. (If you forgot to put the bottles out, you didn't get any milk that day, at least in our area.) Either way, it might appear that the horse "understood the system" at least as well as the milkmen did, and maybe a little better(?). John |
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04 Jun 12 - 11:38 AM (#3359137) Subject: RE: Ice cream van tune From: Jack Campin An ice cream van has just pulled up outside my house playing the tune for "Isn't It Grand, Boys" ("always remember, the longer you live, the sooner you're bloody well dead"). |