Name that ubiquitous, cheesy elevator music.

February 4, 2005 10:52 AM

Name that ubiquitous, cheesy elevator music:
duuuuummmm....dedeee da duuuuummmmm....
de deeee da DUUuuuummmmm da Dooo.....
...da de DUUmmmmm da doooo.... da de duuummmm

(i really don't know, and you guys seem very musically helpful)

posted by odinsdream to media & arts (34 comments total)

Little Spanish Flea - Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
posted by Quartermass at 10:54 AM on February 4, 2005

Could you maybe record you dum-de-dooing it and upload somewhere? Best guess is Strangers in the Night, but that seems like it wouldn't be hard to place.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:56 AM on February 4, 2005

Possibly this evening, but I'm at work (where it was playing in the elevator) so it wouldn't be possible. It was just violins, no vocals, though my guess would be it has vocals, but the muzak version is more... tame.
posted by odinsdream at 10:58 AM on February 4, 2005

Have you tried the Musipedia Melody Search?
posted by Deepspace at 11:10 AM on February 4, 2005

I am pretty sure this is "Theme from 'A Summer Place'". Look it up on iTunes.
posted by jjg at 11:17 AM on February 4, 2005

I think this is "Insensatez" by Antonio Carlos Jobim. There are samples on this Amazon page.

If that's it do I win a prize?!?!?!
posted by josh at 11:19 AM on February 4, 2005

jjg is correct
posted by anapestic at 11:24 AM on February 4, 2005

I knew it was the theme from A Summer Place before I even read the attempt at describing it through dums and dees.
posted by grouse at 11:25 AM on February 4, 2005

Is this thread a joke?
posted by xmutex at 11:25 AM on February 4, 2005

It must be "Robitussin Rag" by Trotsky Icepick.
posted by mds35 at 11:29 AM on February 4, 2005

I fourth "Theme from 'A Summer Place'", by Percy Faith.
posted by theFlyingSquirrel at 11:37 AM on February 4, 2005

xmutex: Nah, there's a precedent.
posted by abcde at 11:56 AM on February 4, 2005

You can get a midi of "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" here. I, on the other hand, now can't get it out of my head. Not the instrumental version, but Jasper singing it on The Simpsons.
posted by Gary at 12:01 PM on February 4, 2005

Whoah. Ok. I think this thread proves ANY question can be answered through AskMe. I would have thought it would be impossible to guess the answer for this one.
posted by xammerboy at 12:04 PM on February 4, 2005

xmutex, not a joke, just funny. I genuinely think the idea of people communicating musically with eachother using only text is intriguing, and I didn't have any better way to ask the question at the time.

Deepspace's link to Musipedia is even more fantastic - I've always wanted something like that. Search tools are painfully lacking when it comes to multimedia... i.e., "I know what this company's logo looks like, what's the company?" or "I know this melody from a commercial, what's the product?"

So, I really didn't mean it as a joke. By the way, Theme from 'A Summer's Place' is exactly what I was looking for!

On preview, what xammerboy said. I was walking back from the elevator thinking to myself "well, would I really be able to ask that and get an answer on mefi? I think they're up to it."
posted by odinsdream at 12:06 PM on February 4, 2005

I think this is "Insensatez" by Antonio Carlos Jobim. There are samples on this Amazon page.

If that's it do I win a prize?!?!?!

Ohhh!! This is even better! Can anyone tell me what web-design company uses this song in their zoomable flash-based website, which is simply phenomenally creative? They're the same company that designed a band site that was recently on the front page which was a flash-based layout of polaroids and masking tape.
posted by odinsdream at 12:13 PM on February 4, 2005

How interesting that once someone in the thread stated the answer, I looked at the "dums" and "dees" and instinctively knew it was right, even though "dums" and "dees" don't seem to be capable of conveying pitch.
posted by Prospero at 12:25 PM on February 4, 2005

How interesting that once someone in the thread stated the answer, I looked at the "dums" and "dees" and instinctively knew it was right, even though "dums" and "dees" don't seem to be capable of conveying pitch.

What grouse said. It's the very first thing that springs to mind when you see "cheesy elevator music."
posted by anapestic at 12:53 PM on February 4, 2005

Its crazy - I dl'd the song, and odinsong had the dee-dums dead on. Bravo!

I still can't get Little Spanish Flea out of my head though...
posted by Quartermass at 12:58 PM on February 4, 2005

Reading the question, before seeing the answer, I thought it was The Girl From Ipanema
posted by Capn at 12:58 PM on February 4, 2005

I read the Dums and Dees three or four times and was convinced it was Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller. While sussing out the details and finding a sample I was proven wrong.

I have a tin ear for dums and dees I guess.
posted by m@ at 1:01 PM on February 4, 2005

odinsdream - it's sofake.com that made billyharveymusic.com with the polaroids
posted by andrewzipp at 1:19 PM on February 4, 2005

It's the very first thing that springs to mind when you see "cheesy elevator music."

Thirded, or possibly fourthed.
posted by John Shaft at 1:20 PM on February 4, 2005

Then I was thinking of what is maybe the second most classic elevator song. I have no idea what the name might be, but when I saw the original syllabification I thought it was this. It would go:

Duuuummm, da da dee da da da da dum, da da dee da da da da dum, daa da de da da dooo.
posted by Miko at 1:21 PM on February 4, 2005

I second "The Girl from Ipanema"
posted by Hillman Cobs at 1:35 PM on February 4, 2005

I second "The Theme from a Summer Place." Wasn't it used on the cartoon Freakazoid whenever the action was too "intense"? With pictures of rolling fields of grass and stuff?
posted by icontemplate at 1:54 PM on February 4, 2005

Quartermass,

If you are trying to get a song out of your head, hum Little Spanish Flea. That always works for me. Oh wait...
posted by lyam at 1:55 PM on February 4, 2005

Miko, is that "As Time Goes By"?
posted by vorfeed at 1:57 PM on February 4, 2005

Dum-Dum ...Be-Doodle...Dum Da Dum...Dum Dee Dum...Dummm da dum dummm dummm da-dum dum dummm
posted by ericb at 2:21 PM on February 4, 2005

Thirded, or possibly fourthed.
Fifthed, I think.
posted by abcde at 3:50 PM on February 4, 2005

There's a sample here, in case anyone is still unclear. Despite not knowing the name, I knew it had to be that song.

MTV used it in a joke "generic" promo years ago - just the MTV logo, a barcode, and Percy Faith. I think it often gets used for "technical difficulties" gags these days.
posted by O9scar at 8:14 PM on February 4, 2005

jjg, you're a genius. Another mystery solved by the AskMeFi Clue Crew!

You know, we could start a "Name That Tune" gig here..."I can name that song in five dum-de-dums"!
posted by davidmsc at 8:30 PM on February 4, 2005

Gee, I get that music mixed up with Ebb Tide, which my mother loved playing on the organ. Now I have to find Ebb Tide, just to get them sorted.
posted by Goofyy at 10:44 PM on February 4, 2005

What the hell is that?
posted by dhartung at 1:00 AM on February 5, 2005