Dada, da-da da DA!
This is the six note Intro Fanfare to a Song and Dance number. (Actually, it's a somewhat shortened version of an older 16-note intro, the shorter version being the more common these days.) Three notes of the same pitch, then up a full, up a half, up a half. "Dadum dadum dum dum!" It's rather ubiquitous, and originates from vaudeville or perhaps even earlier. In vaudeville it was known as the "Minsky Pickup" (undoubtedly named after Minsky's Burlesque
and perhaps originating there), but it has also been called the "Cockney Intro" (possibly due to the similarities between vaudeville and British Pantomime and the inevitable bleedover of routines and musical numbers).
For those who probably don't understand this cryptic music crap we're babbling on about, the Minsky Pickup is what people hear in ther heads when they think of "old-timey song from the age of steam, silent films, and top hats." In modern times it's largely a cliched Dead Horse Trope, Played for Laughs or irony.
The Minsky Pickup can also be used as an ending, with the final two notes sharpened.
Related to Stock Sound Effects, Standard Snippet. See Shave and a Haircut for an equally ubiquitous antique ending. Compare Regional Riff, for musical motifs and intros that cue the hearer in to the part of the world the music is purportedly set in.
Not to be confused with this Minsky Pickup.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- In Dr. Slump, the opening theme "Wai Wai World" has a variation on the Minsky pickup at the beginning of the song. This time, there's three note of the same pitch, then up three half-steps, down a half and down a full.
Comedy
- Bill Bailey calls it "the Cockney intro" in his Cockney Music sketch (40s in), and as such it also opens the theme he composed for East London-set sitcom World of Pub. And then there's this. One of the few to actually use "OI!"
Film — Animation
- Aladdin
- "Prince Ali" features this in the last line of the introductory verse: "Are you gonna love this guy!"
- "One Jump Ahead" uses this twice: "You're my only friend Abu" and "Otherwise we'd get along".
- The bear dance in Fun and Fancy Free has a similar variant.
- The opening credits of Monsters, Inc. begin with a slight variation.
- "I've Got No Strings" from Pinocchio (1940) also has a slight variation that plays before Pinocchio starts singing.
- In the first Shrek movie, Robin Hood's song starts off like this, as does the "Welcome to Duloc" information booth.
- The intro of the film version of the "Goofy Goober Theme Song" (not to be confused with "Goofy Goober Rock") from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie plays the Minsky pickup before the Goofy Goober starts to sing.
Film — Live-Action
- A very similar variant in the "Get-Together Weather" number from The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.
- In the movie Clue, the singing telegram lady sings it just before she sings, "I am your singing telegram!" — and getting shot while singing!
- The song "Happiness Hotel" from The Great Muppet Caper begins with an inverted Minsky Pickup (same rhythm but it starts on the high note and goes down the scale).
- The production of Romeo and Juliet in Hot Fuzz ends with a rendition of "Lovefool" that opens and closes with the riff.
- During a pep talk/demo from one burlesque dancer to another in Indestructible Man, appropriately.
- Used several times with an alternate lead-in in The Informant! (2009).
- In the biopic Joplin, two pianists in a bar each perform this riff, alternating five times in rapid succession, in order to begin the piano duel.
- In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Camelot song: "(Dadum dah dump dump dump) We're knights of the Round Table/We dance whene'er we're able..."
- In A Shot in the Dark, there's a Minsky Pickup just before the crow poops on Clouseau's head.
Live-Action TV
- The Goes Wrong Show episode "The Nativity": when the Cast ends up singing "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" to the wrong tunes thanks to Dennis messing around with the sheet music, Chopin's ''Funeral March" transitions into Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races" with this.
- It was in the intro to The Gong Show theme.
- In the The Honeymooners episode called "The $99,000 Answer" (after the fictional TV show Ralph is going on), when Ralph is cramming for an appearance on a game show where he has to identify songs, Norton is helping him by playing songs on the piano. EACH song is preceded by Norton "Warming Up" which consists of the notes of "Way Down Upon the Swanee River" followed by "dadum, dadum dum dum!" Of course, this ends up biting him the ass, as the first question he is asked is, "Who was the composer of Swanee River?"
- (FWIW that particular episode used to have its own page on The Other Wiki.*)
- Incidentally, there's an inside joke in that clip: The third song Ed plays for Ralph, that Ralph has trouble getting, is "Melancholy Serenade"—the theme song from The Jackie Gleason Show, which Jackie himself wrote.
- F Troop: In "The Ballot of Corporal Agarn", two warring politicians come to the fort. Bregan is a former stage performer. Mc Gurney trolls him by humming the Minsky Pickup, which makes Bregen reflexively start tap dancing.
- Whenever Fred, Ethel or Lucy would do a song on the I Love Lucy show they almost always started by singing a Minsky Pickup.
- Considering Fred and Ethel were supposedly retired vaudevillians, this was entirely reasonable.
- From the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "Invasion of the Neptune Men":
Crow: So, uh, do either of you guys know any songs about Stock Footage that could get us through this?
Tom: Oh, I know a song about stock footage! It goes like this! Didit, da dit dit dit—EAT IT, MOVIE! TAKE THIS STUPID LITTLE COCKROACH OF A FILM, ROLL IT UP SOOOOOO TIGHT, AND THEN RAM IT RIGHT UP YOUR— [breaks down sobbing] - A variant of the pickup was in the theme song of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
- Also often used as a stinger in-between skits.
- Something resembling it can be heard in "Uki Uki Watching", the theme song to the Japanese variety show "Waratte Iitomo" ("It's Okay to Laugh").
- In Whose Line Is It Anyway? (US version), each of the Show-Stopping Numbers start off with the six note version.
Music
- The "12th Street Rag" starts off with the long version of the pickup.
- In this version of the rag, it comes right before the finale (at the 50 second mark).
- In this version
- Occurs towards the end of The Beach Boys' "Look (Song For Children)".
- "Nothing From Nothing" by Billy Preston begins with the long version of the pickup.
- At the beginning of Buzz Clifford's "Baby Sittin' Boogie" the baby sings the short form of the pickup, though the gurgles that precede it kinda sound like the first part of the long form.
- "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" by Country Joe and the Fish starts off using the longer version of the pickup.
- It's within the intro of Doctor Steel's song, "The Dr. Steel Show."
- Emilie Autumn's "Girls! Girls! Girls!", a 19th-century style showtune based on the practice of opening mental asylums to the public as a freakshow, ends with this.
- Ian Dury and The Blockheads' "There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards" ends with a Minksy pickup.
- The long form of the pickup can be heard at the beginning of Jacques Brel's "Madeleine."
- When the Moog Cookbook cover of "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" gets silly near the end, there is a partial example.
- Paul Hindemith uses it in his "Foxtrot" for piano.
- A variation of the long form appears near the end of Spike Jones' "The Black And Blue Danube Waltz."
- "Jones Polka" makes something of an Overly Long Gag out of the pickup, starting about a half-minute in.
- Several other songs done by Spike Jones have a spot in the middle where the song suddenly shifts into a fast gear and uses the pickup preceded by a bar of squeeze horns.
- Frank Mills (yes, the "Music Box Dancer" guy) uses it as a recurring motif in "After You, Mr. Trumpet Man," where a Minsky Pickup ends every bridge and returns the song to the main theme. Subverted in the opening of the song, where the first three notes begin a Minsky, only to go down instead of up on the fourth and sixth.
- In P.D.Q. Bach's Capriccio "La Pucelle de New Orleans," the 4-bar version of the pickup is one of the Dixieland band's intrusions.
- Mister Piano Man, written by The Sherman Brothers and performed by Annette Funnicello in The Golden Horseshoe Revue, opens with a variant of the four-bar version.
- The ending variant is heard at the end of Tom Lehrer's, "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie."
- Vulfpeck features the long Minsky Pickup at the start of their tune, "Lonely Town".
- Ween features it in "Hey There Fancypants," appropriately for a vaudeville-esque song.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic uses it in at least three of his polka medleys—"The Alternative Polka"note , "Polka Your Eyes Out"note , and "Polkrama!"note
Puppet Shows
- On Allegra's Window, the song "I'm in a Parade" has one at the beginning.
- A very close variant is used at the start of the "Dancing Rabbit Act" in Film.Emmet Otters Jug Band Christmas.
- Starting with the second season, the theme song of The Muppet Show uses this just before the full-bodied Muppets enter through the archway.
- On Sesame Street, the "Honker Duckie Dinger Jamboree" uses this.
- The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss uses this at the beginning of the Fox and Knox intro.
Fox: I'm Mr. Knox.
Knox: I'm Mr. Knox!
Fox: You're Fox in Socks.
Knox: You're Fox in Socks!
Fox and Knox: Yes, we are Fox and Knox!
Radio
- In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978) original radio series ("Fit the Ninth"), the "Share and Enjoy" song starts with an out-of-tune variation—and then gets worse.
Theater
- 110 in the Shade: "Poker Polka" uses a pre-verse vamp with the same rhythm as the short Minsky pickup, but with a different melody.
- Also begins the show A Chorus Line. "Again!"
- Freedom Bound uses the short version of the pickup (but with a 6/8 meter) at the beginning of the final chorus of "The Melting Pot".
- Gypsy, being a show about vaudeville, inevitably uses the Minsky pickup once, at the start of the Farmboys' number (but not in the Minsky's striptease sequence).
- The extremely Cockney 1937 musical Me and My Girl (filmed in 1939 as The Lambeth Walk), uses it at the end of each verse of "The Lambeth Walk", as "Doin' the Lambeth Walk, oi!"
- The Music Man has this in the "Shipoopi" dance music, just before Hill and Marian start dancing together.
- One Touch of Venus uses an off-key variation on the long version as a turnaround in "Way Out West In Jersey."
- "Wrong Note Rag" from Wonderful Town, apparently inspired by "12th Street Rag," uses a modulating variant of the long version at the start and as a recurring bridge.
"Bunny Hug! Turkey Trot! Gimme the Wrong Note Rag!"
Video Games
- K.K. Ragtime, from Animal Crossing features it. Appropriate, since it's themed after old vaudeville music.
- Mr. Vile's minigame from Banjo-Kazooie uses a slight variant.
- The Old Chap from Conker's Bad Fur Day features it 50 seconds into the track.
- Coryoon uses the short version at the beginning of its Stage 1 theme.
- The title theme of Creative Contraptions uses the full 16-note fanfare.
- In Earthworm Jim, the music for the Boss Battle with Rusty the Snowman begins with this.
- Occurs both near the beginning and the very end of the credits theme of Civic Doodle from The Jackbox Party Pack 4.
- This kicks off the title theme of Kirby's Adventure (and Nightmare in Dream Land). The pickup is also used as the menu music for Kirby's Blowout Blast.
- The Leisure Suit Larry theme has this at the end of the B-section.
- Used in a number of Parodius characters' themes, such as Koitsu's. Many of them slight alterations.
- One of the default shop themes in RPG Maker 2000 has this intro.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- The classic "Ground BGM" from Super Mario Bros. starts with a variation on the Minsky Pickup. Also, the "Timer Warning" when the timer reaches 100.
- The "Area Cleared" jingle of Super Mario Land, with a slightly different rhythm.
- The "Main Theme" of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins uses a sped-up version of the short version of this snippet right in the beginning.
- The beginning of "The Bound Bowl Grand Prix" from Super Mario Odyssey begins with this.
- Mario Kart 64's music for Moo Moo Farm and Yoshi Valley starts with a fairly standard example.
- Baby Park in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! features this introduction.
- Mario Kart 8 has Minsky pickups for N64 Yoshi Valley, GCN Baby Park, and Sweet Sweet Canyon.
- Mario Party 2: Appears at the start of the "Western Land" theme, to tie into the cowboy theming.
- Wario Land 2: The second bar of the main theme of the game, note for note.
- The sound when a second player joins in mid-fight in the original Tekken and Tekken 2.
- The song Candy Floss from the Theme Hospital soundtrack uses this intro.
- The Buzzy Bee theme from Theme Park begins with one.
- Elmyra's theme in the first Tiny Toon Adventures NES game starts off with the long version of this.
Web Original
- The Demented Cartoon Movie!: Just as the Zeeky Boogy Doog song starts.
- In the Ultra Fast Pony episode "The Penny and Clyde Show", Rarity provides one to kick off Discord's song.
- Homestar Runner: Strong Bad starts off his song in "Some Stupid Turkey" with a "Dun dun dadun dun DUN!"
Western Animation
- The Berenstain Bears Show: The theme song has one right before the bears start singing the lyrics.
- A Betty Boop cartoon has a bunch of hillbillies holding her at gunpoint mouth this before they make her start Bullet Dancing.
- Donkey Kong Country (1996): Used in "I'm Gonna Be A Star."
- The Grinch's Villain Song in Halloween Is Grinch Night has this as its lead-in.
- Jelly Jamm: These six notes (well, with one note slightly off compared to usual) appear near the beginning of the background music accompanying Bello's magician act in "Radio Goomo".
- Used in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic when Pinkie Pie sings her Twilight is my Bestest Friend song in The Ticket Master.
- Used in Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? as the musical password to Pock's piano.
- The intro to the Popeye theme contains these notes.