Cover image by altiemae on flickr

It’s the ice cream truck jingle.  Even Mike’s hated Mr. Softee one.  Mike provides the secret origin of the jingle, touching on the Great Depression, the growth of the American middle class, the Good Humor Man, refrigeration, and bobsled bells.

SOURCES
Ice Cream: A Global History by Laura B. Weiss
Ding, Ding!: The Commodity Aesthetic of Ice Cream Truck Music by Daniel T Neely
The real song of the summer: a brief history of ice cream truck music
A Brief History of the Ice Cream Truck
Nichols Electronics Co
Putting the ‘Mr.’ in Soft Ice Cream

Racist History of “Turkey in the Straw”:
Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You
That Viral Story About the Racist Ice Cream Song Is Wrong

MUSIC
Intro: Ice Cream Man by Tom Waits from Closing Time
Break #1: Shut Up And Drive (Far Away) by the Deftons from Around the Fur
Break #2: Star Spangled Banner, Rock Version