Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2022 March 21

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March 21[edit]

Lone Ranger goes to the Dump[edit]

My daughter was watching an old episode of Animaniacs titled "Ta Da Dump, Ta Da Dump, Ta Da Dump Dump Dump"; an obvious reference to the Lone Ranger Song (William Tell Overture) spoof that we used to sing as kids going to the dump on a Saturday. I cannot find any source that tells where this originated. Any help? Thanks. Maineartists (talk) 14:44, 21 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The earliest reference I can find in Newspapers.com is from 1968. And it's the answer to the question, "Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage?" --←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:57, 21 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Many such rhymes seem to date from the childhood of the Baby Boomer generation in the Anglophone universe; it was the first generation of the mass media of radio and television, and the common shared tropes among the entire populace made such childhood parodies common at the time. Jingle Bells, Batman Smells also dates from the same time period, as does Comet (to the tune of the Colonel Bogey March. The generation before had, to the same tune, Hitler Has Only Got One Ball. That song was fairly context dependent, but my own children (Gen Z or later, depending on how you define it) still sang the "Comet, it makes your teeth turn green" song in the early 2000s. --Jayron32 18:16, 21 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Another one from that era was "I'm popeye the sailor man / I live in a garbage can..." --←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:16, 21 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
It's curious how all these songs have the same aesthetic quality (for a certain value of aesthetic). I don't know what term to use for that. Maybe melody type or modal frame, or just rhythm. Songs of this particular type must somehow beg for parody (at least in around 1955). To add one to the pile: Happy birthday to you, you belong in a zoo, you look like a monkey, and you smell like one too.  Card Zero  (talk) 18:20, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Er, TV may not have been a mass medium in the 1930s, but radio was. --184.144.97.125 (talk) 20:19, 21 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I don't believe I said that it wasn't. Anyone, for the record, can learn about the history of radio at History of radio. --Jayron32 10:40, 22 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I was disputing the assertion that Baby Boomers were "the first generation of the mass media". No big deal. --184.144.97.125 (talk) 21:42, 22 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]