Cartoon music things you never knew

There's a fast little piece of music that's used as a vamp for all kinds of things. Most recently, it's showed up on "Family Guy" with the vaudevillians, but it's been around for decades. Here's a video clip that shows the vaudevillians dancing and playing the piece in question.



What you probably didn't know was that this is a piece by Sam Fonteyn called "Galloping Gertie" (yup, just like the bridge). Sheet music isn't hard to find and I'm told it's not that hard to play. It's just fast.

While we're on the subject of music in cartoons, the music you'd always hear in Warner Bros. cartoons whenever they were showing a factory at work or an assembly line is called "Powerhouse" and it's by Raymond Scott. There were two pieces of this theme; the thing you'll recognize instantly is this, which is actually the second half. But you'll also recognize the first part if you're a fan of Warner Bros. cartoons. Here's a clip of both parts.

Something that I, classical music buff that I am, have known for years, but you may not is that the music you'd hear when the Road Runner blazing down the roads to is by Smetana (a composer I've always loved for his piece, The Moldau). The piece you're hearing is "The Dance of the Comedians" from his opera "The Bartered Bride."

And, just because it needed to be said, Lucy and Linus's last name is "Van Pelt."

Cartoon music things you never knew