Cuckoo waltz

A Swedish accordion tune, composed a century ago by J. E. Jonasson. I took this score and bumped it up from F to G: http://www.moe.gov.lk/web/images/stories/branchnews/easthetic/cuckoo_walts.pdf There are words there and more discussion of same here: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26569 This tune has a bit of an Irish connection, it is on both the Music of Kevin Keegan and Vincent Campbell Purple Heather CDs. Both musicians do a good job of emulating the very intricate fillips accordion players throw into it - and you can see not one but two clips on YouTube of Irish piano accordionist Dermot O’Brien playing it, one a live film too.

[Johan] Emanuel Jonasson ( 23 Feb 1886- 19 Oct 1956) or “Gök-Jonas”, was born in Stockholm and started his career as an army musician in the “Svea Lifeguards” (Svea Livgarde), and then went on to be a cinema musician, notably as part of a sextet in the “Golden Cuckoo” (Gyllene Göken) cinema in Stockholm during the 1910s, where he apparently composed this tune (Gökvalsen) in 1918.

This is the archetypal “I’ll just put you on hold” music available at a call centre near you……. 🙁

I’ve never heard anything while on hold but elevator music and bad pop/rock. Maybe some public domain specials. But this fellow definitely heard the Cuckoo: http://gamblemusicproductionandarchive.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-cuckoo-waltz-and-oedipe-colone.html WARNING: Website has music on auto-play.

"Finding the Cuckoo Waltz: by Scott A. Gamble (1994)
　
In the fall of 1986 while working in Orlando, Florida, I remember
calling one of my customers one morning and being put on hold,
only to hear a series of tones that would haunt me for the next 8
years of my life. It so happens while listening to this piece of
music and trying to “name that tune”, the more I tried, the more
I failed at naming it. The only thing there was for me to do,
was to call back, listen one more time and then if I still could
not name it, call back once more only to ask someone the title
and or where the music had come from. It was done, just in those
exact steps, only for me to be depressed, of the words that would
torment me off and on, for the next eight years "I am sorry, but
I can’t help you". These were not the words that I wanted to
hear."

Turned out to be this tune. That’s got to be some world’s record for nastiest earworm. Last year I heard an intro in some old pop record that bugged the crap out of me with its familiarity, luckily with the help of the internet I ID’d it within an afternoon - Tchaikowsky, as it happens. Spending 8 years attempting to Name That Tune, ack!

I must say, though, that the one that Postie linked has a very nice story in the comments.

Sorry… my above comment was meant for the current thread about theCuckoo.