Talk:Shave and a Haircut

message: Does anybody knows where this one-note melody comes from(try tapping it with your finger to recognize) - "| | ||| |||| ||" ?
:I dont know the origin, but it's mentioned here -- taviso 09:56, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It's from the "Mambo" musical sequence in the gym scene from "West Side Story". Bernstein probably stole it from somewhere, but that's the first hearing of it I can remember.204.111.116.21 (talk) 17:45, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

text: Most likely from a 1962 song called Let's Go (Pony). jej1997 (talk) 09:07, 17 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: What is...?

message: I never saw the movie "What's eating Gilbert Grape." But I heard the "Match in the gas tank" almost three decades before the movie.
Around 1965 or so, I used to take some regular bus trips from Lacona, New York to a YMCA in Watertown to go to the swimming pool, then back again.  Several people on the bus would sometimes sing a song about how a Ford is put together--kind of a "toe-bone's connected to the foot-bone" sort of thing. The next-to-last line in the song was "Motor in the Ford makes the wheels go 'round."
Then as sort of a coda, to the "Shave and a haircut" tune they'd sing "Match in the gas tank, [a single hand-clap] No Ford!"  140.147.160.78 16:16, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Match in the gas tank

message: I had never heard of 'shave and a haircut' so I assumed that this tune came from the 'Eye tiddley eye tie, eat brown bread' song. Does anybody have more information on that song? I couldn't find an article on it but it's difficult because the spelling isn't really well-defined. If it is the same tune then it could be mentioned in this article.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Angelastic (talk • contribs) 15:57, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It is the same tune, but it's proving very difficult to find information about the song, sadly. 91.107.177.82 (talk) 21:08, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Brown Bread?

message: Is it just my browser, or does the media file miss the last note? "Shave and a haircut, two" - but no bits! Mittfh 18:35, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Works for me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Shavehaircut.ogg was last updated in 2006 according to the cover page, so most likely just your browser.193.110.108.67 (talk) 07:35, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Media file

message: Is it definitely established which is the original? They are both often used.  Kostaki mou (talk) 21:35, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: If the musical notation shown is from the sheet music for "Cakewalk" (as stated in the image description) and that is indeed the original source then A-flat is the original. Gr8white (talk) 17:59, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: A vs. A-flat

message: The shortest record is by Les Paul and Mary Ford, from the 1950s, with "Shave and a haircut" on one side of the record, while "Two Bits" is on the other side of the record.
Interesting if true. Unfortunately I can find absolutely no evidence of such a record. I'll remove it as probably apocryphal (if someone knows this to be true please add back w/ a reference). Gr8white (talk) 20:24, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Les Paul?

message: his changes said '(actually wikipedia is wrong, it's 1896)'. Even though i do not know whether or not he's right, i do think this is the wrong way of notifying us of this. NESFreak (talk) 19:27, 9 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Reverted changes made by [[Special:Contributions/72.12.142.133|72.12.142.133]]

message: In the musical examples:
:7 6 6 -6B 6 | R -7 567 R
:C G G A♭ G | R B C R
:"Shave and a hair-cut, two bits"
:7 6 -5# 6 -6B 6 | R -7 567 R
:C G F# G A♭ G | R B C R
:"Gee, Off-i-cer Krup-ke, Krup you!" (from West Side Story)
what do all those numbers stand for. They don't seem to be any notation I know of. TIARABAMUN (talk) 09:27, 7 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: What are those numbers about?

message: Whoever put the bit about the "esse videtur" clausula from classical Latin in the wrong section of this discussion page is dead-on right.  In the middle ages, though, it's called the cursus tardus, and it comes thence into musical theory.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.180.48.247 (talk) 03:56, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cursus Planus 

message: As I understood it, "Shave and a hair-cut, two bits", was a something that a kid would cry out outside a barbers...? A kid / adult that was somehow connected to the barbershop (a place that has obvious musical history) would sit outside with a harmonica or a drum or something and sing, "Shave and a hair-cut, two bits"...? This became a known phrase / entered the street lexicon / filtered down into poetry and songs &c.?
This would make a lot of sense. The problem I have is this: this fact about the origin of the expression is (perhaps) implied in a subtle way in the article, but not explicitly mentioned. Why not? Why is this simple piece of information about the history of the phrase not mentioned in the first couple of paragraphs?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.177.4.168 (talk) 16:42, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Do you have any evidence for this etymology, aside from "as I understood it"? If so, it would be a great addition. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 15:51, 29 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text:  I figured it originated as a coda at the end of a performance of a piece of barbershop music back in the days when its performers were affiliated with an actual barbershop, to remind people to use its services; although I'm not sure its usage was ever closely associated with that particular genre. B7T (talk) 03:06, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Certainly plausible, but without some evidence it's not really suitable for the article. It's possible to think up lots of plausible etymologies for virtually any phrase. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 15:05, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Explanation 

message: Why, what, where, and how does this article need additional citations for verification? Hyacinth (talk) 18:04, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The article has ample sources for the history and frequent use of the tune, but no sources at all for the "Shave and a haircut" name: we should be told when the name came into use, what other names are known etc.  Incidentally, here is the recorder piece Hoe-Down by Brian Bonsor which uses the phrase. Sussexonian (talk) 21:02, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: This has been in there for a while, with the footnote: In 1939, Dan Shapiro, Lestor Lee and Milton Berle released "Shave and a Haircut - Shampoo" [3] which featured the tune in the closing bars, and is thought to be the origin of the lyrics. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 23:25, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Additional citations

message: If you search in youtube for "shave and a haircut" you will find a lot of videos with titles like "perfect shave and a haircut X train". Why is it? It's just that it is hard to play the horn or do they use melody's like some kind of comunication... someone knows something? Is it relevant?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by M4dH4TT3r777 (talk • contribs) 06:26, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: You only need to post your message on this talk page once. See: WP:C and WP:V for help on citing sources on Wikipedia. Hyacinth (talk) 01:06, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

text: Somebody should do the research, because this sounds like backronym-ish baloney. Would be very cool if true, though. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 18:48, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

text: The Morse code " dah-di-di-dah-di,   di-dit " (shave and a haircut, "two dits") is fairly common in the radioamateur service, usually as a sign-off, but is only easily recognised because the "two bits" musical version pre-existed. Dunno if this had a counterpart in landline telegraphy. With all the digital tinkering in amateur radio, this risks going full-circle and becoming "two bits", driven largely by the introduction of microprocessors in the 1970s and 1980s. K7L (talk) 14:10, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Shouldn't it be dah-dit instead of di-dit? 2A02:8071:BD5:5900:AC54:CB5C:A882:7F4F (talk) 10:55, 26 June 2021 (UTC)

text: Struggling to see any mention of "dot code" before Morse appears at Electrical telegraph. Needs to be explained/ added there? Martinevans123 (talk) 11:13, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Trains on Youtube 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: In the History section, the lyric is referred to in a quote from 1933 novel, and then it's stated that a 1939 song is thought to be the origin of the lyric. Can't both be right.  Chriswaterguy talk 06:34, 3 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Origin 

message: I have removed several songs from the Popularity section when the only connection was that this phrase was used at the end as a comic windup. That is very, very common - far too common for us to list every example. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 20:04, 12 May 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  List of songs 

message: ABC News has a short video about the sentence, on Facebook, here. Mateussf (talk) 19:45, 20 August 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  ABC News source 

message: Often used as a door knock, Shave and a Haircut is one of the most recognizable percussive riffs around.  It is high time the article was graced with the sound.  After all, nowadays, the door knock is far more popular than the ditty.  An instance of the audio player was inserted into the article (section "Popularity") to showcase the door knock, which nowadays is far more popular than the ditty it was derived from.Apachegila (talk) 19:01, 21 September 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: On the other hand, I think the article can do without one of these; let's vote on which one to remove! —Tamfang (talk) 00:02, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Door knock

message: OK. We get it. Enough with all the musical info-boxes showing different "variations" of Shave and a Haircut. It is undue weight compared to the rest of the article. Most readers don't even read music, anyway. The first representation is enough. The latest "variation" inclusions were said to be added per "request". Who? Who made these requests? and why? The "Shave and a Haircut" in G major and then with chords" adds absolutely nothing to this article. Enough already. Maineartists (talk) 01:43, 1 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I took the initiative to . Ursus arctos californicus (talk) 02:31, 24 August 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Enough already 

message: What song ends with this phrase? —Tamfang (talk) 22:30, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Thanks for listening – that's all!" 

message: the sound clip that is supposed to be a musical rendition doesn't seem to work.  when you click on the arrow, the entire screen grays out and the clip doesn't play.  if you do the same with the knocking sound clip it works fine.  thanks for looking into this. Thomqui (talk) 01:22, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  issue with the musical example