When I was a kid, it was “The Comet Song”
Comet - it makes your face turn green.
Comet - it tastes like gasoline.
Comet - it makes you…
(OK, we’ll let a certain bunny on this forum finish it!) 
Hey, Jim, here’s another category–TV theme songs. California Bluegrass bands seem to have some favorites in that area.
While warming up my whistle this morning, I found myself playing the theme from Gilligan’s Island (E Dorian on the D whistle). It’s rather Irish-sounding and can be done as either a reel or a hornpipe. I was even able to munge it into a jig. It’s rather short, so some variations are needed. The old Andy Griffith Show theme might work, too.
And how about Latin numbers? “La Cucaracha” is pretty familiar, and can be done bright and fast, and “Historia de un Amor” is a real beauty that can take a lot of expressiveness, but has an interesting rhythm (though there are a surprising number of terrible versions out on the Web–it’s funny to hear a fast, cheerful version of a song that starts out, “In my soul there is only loneliness…”.).
Thanks. I got out late today, on account of other business,
and only did so-so. When the street is good
it’s very good; sometimes it just sucks.
Today was neither.
But these tunes help. Thanks for these Latin ideas, Darwin.
I sometimes do Jamaica Farewell,
but the chorus dips down into the
lower octave and I wish it didn’t
Anybody know any more Calypso?
by the way, Take Me Out To the Ballgame
works fine, and I’m convinced the tune is Irish,
if Irish American. I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles
is a possibility. Thanks to everybody for
your helpful suggestions.
What might bring in some big bucks is the haunting Celtic music of Lord of the Rings, specifically the tune associated with the Hobbits. It is contemporary, popular and Celtic sounding.
I swear it makes me tear up when i hear it, and reach for my wallet.
“Brown Skin Girl”, “Matilda”, “Yellow Bird”, “Rum and Coca Cola”.
By the way I found a couple of decent examples of “Historia de un Amor”, in case you aren’t familiar with it:
http://www.sb.net/tango/sounds/Historia.mid.html is a bit overdone, but the tempo isn’t too bad. Still, I’d do it even slower. It’s in A minor.
http://www.gratisweb.com/midikar/historiadeunamor.mid is probably the clearest, once you get past the overly long intro. It’s way fast for my taste, though. This one is E minor.
How about “Besame Mucho”, “Girl From Ipanema”, and the theme from Black Orpheus? You can hear bits of the last two at http://www.terrencefarrell.com/MusicCDCafeRio.html
One tune that got pretty popular due to the Ken Burns Civil War thing on PBS is “Ashokan Farewell”.
Thanks. Ashokan Farewell has been discussed on this
board a lot, but not for years. Girl From Ipanema
is a great suggestion–I’ve never even thought
to try to play it. Will check the others. Thanks again