What tune does your local ice cream van play?

Question

We live by both Everton and Liverpools grounds so during the football season ours plays the Match of the Day tune and the Grand Old Duke of York during the summer.

Answer 1

DING DING DING






1) " Early models consisted of a hand tuned Swiss musical movement (like a music box) fitted with a magnetic pick up and the amplifiers used radio-type valves. In 1958 reliable transistors came on to the market and efficient amplifiers were built to work directly of the vehicle's battery." (from here)
2) British vans traditionally use 'Grampian Horn' loudspeakers (which cost about £60), pointed down at the road to disperse the sound.
3) Modern chimes, like the Micro Miniatures Harmony 64, have dozens of melodies burnt onto a chip, and can play 3-note harmonies, and have a built-in 37.5 watt amplifier to drive the horn. It costs about £220.
4) Today, there are very few companies still making ice cream van chimes. Micro Minatures are based in Staffordshire, while Magic Box are based in Jacksonville, Florida, where they sell ice cream all year round. Their product is a $100, 3 tune box with an 8 watt amp, perfect for neighbourhoods where loud vans cause complaints.
5) Disappointingly, nobody has created a VST ice cream van simulator.

Answer 2

get this, our icecream van isnt allowed to play its music after 9pm because a bunch of local fuddy duddies moaned that they couldnt hear the t.v properly for the whole 20 seconds it played. They moaned enough so it had to stop playing. Now we dont even know when the bloody van has arrived cos we cant hear it!!

Answer 3

Britney Spears - "Toxic". Seriously! But it's the ice-cream version, so it's all tinkly, in the same way that "Greensleeves" is more traditionally played. It's probably one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard.

Answer 4

Greensleeves

Answer 5

Ours plays some sort of lullaby, la la laaaa, la la laaaa, laa la lala lala, really loud though! It's so annoying when, in summer, he comes around at like 9pm just when my kids are going to bed! The lullaby, needless to say, definitely doesn't have the right effect!

Answer 6

not sure of the tune, but I've told my children that when the
ice-cream van plays music it means they've run out of ice-cream :-)

Answer 7

I saw one yesterday for the first time in ages and it sounded like they needed to change the batteries on their music as it was really slow, it was the "Just one cornetto" song

Answer 8

Pop Goes The Weasel, and it starts low and gets louder and louder then fainter and fainter for an hour or so, how annoying!

Answer 9

Popeye the sailor man

Answer 10

Popeye the sailor man - no geographical relevance I'm afraid