"Shave and a Haircut" and the associated response "two bits" is a seven-note musical
call-and-responsecouplet,
riff or
fanfare popularly used at the end of a musical performance, usually for comedic effect. It is used melodically or rhythmically, for example as a
door knocker.
"
Two bits" is a term in the United States and Canada for 25
cents, equivalent to a
U.S. quarter. "Four bits" and "Six bits" are also occasionally used, for example in the cheer "Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar." The final words may also be "get lost", "drop dead" (in Australia),[citation needed] or some other facetious expression. In the UK, it was often said as "five bob" (slang for five
shillings), although words are now rarely used to accompany the rhythm or the tune.
History
An early occurrence of the tune is from an 1899 Charles Hale
minstrel song, At a Darktown Cakewalk.[1] Other songs from the same period also used the tune. The same notes form the
bridge in the Hot Scotch Rag, written by H. A. Fischler in 1911.
An early recording used the 7-note tune at both the beginning and the ending of a humorous 1915 song, by
Billy Murray and the American Quartet, called "
On the 5:15".
In his 1933 novel, Hizzoner the Mayor,Joel Sayre wrote of boats "tooting the official Malta welcome blast to the tempo of “Shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits, shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits, shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits”, which was soon taken up by every craft in the harbor that had a boiler.[2]
In 1939, Dan Shapiro, Lestor Lee and
Milton Berle released "Shave and a Haircut – Shampoo",[3] which used the tune in the closing bars. In the same year, Rosalind Rosenthal and Herbert Halpert recorded "Shave and a Haircut, Bay Rum".[4]
The former
prisoner of war and U.S. Navy seaman
Doug Hegdahl reports fellow U.S. captives in the Vietnam War would authenticate a new prisoner's U.S. identity by using "Shave and a Haircut" as a
shibboleth, tapping the first five notes against a cell wall and waiting for the appropriate response. U.S. POWs were then able to communicate securely with one another via a
tap code.[16]
The tune has been used innumerable times as a
coda or
ending in musical pieces. It is strongly associated with the stringed instruments of
bluegrass music, particularly the 5-string
banjo.
Earl Scruggs often ended a song with this
phrase or a variation of it. On the television show The Beverly Hillbillies, musical cues signifying the coming of a commercial break (cues which were in
bluegrass style) frequently ended with "Shave and a Haircut". It is the second most popular bluegrass
run, after the
G run.[17]
"Shave and a Haircut" was used in many early
cartoons, particularly Looney Tunes cartoons. It was also used as an ending to many cartoon shows, just after the credits. Decades later, the couplet became a plot device to lure-out an intended victim, as used by
Judge Doom in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the idea being that
toons cannot resist finishing with the "two bits" when they hear the opening rhythm.[18] The tune was also featured in early
Nokia phones, like the
3310 model, as the That's it! ringtone.[19][20]
Usage
The phrase has been incorporated into countless recordings and performances. Notable examples include:
"That's a Lot of Bunk", a 1920s novelty song composed by Al Wilson, James A. Brennan and Mack Henshaw, and performed by
Billy Jones and
Ernest Hare, known as "The Happiness Boys", closes with the riff.[21]
The
Crazy Gang sang "How's your father? Goodbye!" to the same tune at the end of their 1937 movie O-Kay for Sound.[22]
R&B singer and bandleader
Dave Bartholomew used the phrase on two of his recordings: "Country Boy" (1950) at the very end, and the original version of "
My Ding-a-Ling" (1952) as a figure introducing each verse.[23]
Les Paul and
Mary Ford's
Capitol recording of "Magic Melody" concluded with the phrase minus the last two notes ("two bits"). Responding to complaints from
disc jockeys, Capitol in 1955 released "Magic Melody Part 2"—consisting solely of the missing notes—on a 45, said to be the shortest tune on record.[24]
P. D. Q. Bach ends his "
Blaues Gras" ("bluegrass")
aria with "Shave and a Haircut", sung in
Denglisch (mangled German and English): "Rasieren und Haarschneiden, zwei bitte" ("Shave and haircut, two please", ungrammatical in either language). "Zwei bitte" is a Denglisch pun, sounding like "two bits" to a speaker of both languages.[25] The melody is also used in The Short-Tempered Clavier.[26]
One of the musical numbers in Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962), "We're Despicable (The Plunderers' March)," incorporates the melody into its chorus. The characters sing, "we're blank-blankety-blank-blank no good."
Every interview by
Nardwuar the Human Serviette ends with the melody of the song, with Nardwuar singing "doot doot da loot doo", after which the interviewee is expected to reply with "doot doo".
The ending theme in the credits of Barney the Dinosaur makes use of it from Seasons 1-3.
In a 1960s television comedy sketch called "The Time Window",
Mike Wallace interviews
Victor Borge who is portraying composer and pianist
Franz Liszt. During the segment, Borge (Liszt) states that his very first composition were two notes; which he plays on the piano. He next demonstrates that without these two notes "we would never have had this", and he plays "Shave and a Haircut".[27][28]
The animated show Animaniacs makes frequent use of this theme, in particular at the end of the song "Wakko's America" with the line "That's all the capitals there are".
Cassian Andor taps the five-note rhythm to signal Bix Caleen, outside her window, in S1:E7 "The Announcement" of the series
Star Wars: Andor. There is no two-note response.
The
Italian version is Ammazza la vecchia … col Flit! (English: "Kill the old lady … with Flit!")—Flit being an old brand of
DDT insecticide. This is a humorous popular version of a post-
World War II commercial Ammazza la mosca... col Flit (English: "Kill the fly with Flit!").[citation needed]
The tune is used in
Catalan with a different lyric: "Nas de barraca …
Sant Boi" (English: "Shack nose … Sant Boi"). It is also tapped, as a door knock. The Catalan lyrics may come from
Blanes, where it was sung twice with Nas de barraca. Sant Boi. Cinc de carmelos pel noi (English: Shack nose. Sant Boi. Five candies for the boy).[29]
In Spain, it is sung with the lyrics, Una copita … de Ojén (English: "A shot … of schnapps").
In Mexico, it means a vulgar insult with the lyrics, Chinga tu madre … cabrón (English: "Fuck your mother … bastard").
In
Irish barroom music, the tune is sometimes tagged at the end of a song. The performer sings the first part to the lyrics, "How is your aul' one?" (read: "old one", a slang term for mother), to which the audience replies, "Gameball!" (A slang term meaning A-OK).[30]
In Sweden, it is well known as Kvart över elva … halv tolv, which means A quarter past eleven … half past eleven. The twist doesn't work as well in English, as the English time system treats 11:30 as a continuation of eleven instead of as the first half of twelve. Halv tolv thus means half twelve and is the correct Swedish equivalent of half past eleven. In Sweden, the melody was also used in a commercial for the
Bronzol brand of candy with the slogan Hälsan för halsen — Bronzol (English: Health for the throat — Bronzol).
In Icelandic, the lyrics are Saltkjöt og baunir … túkall (English: "Salt meat and split peas … two krona" (króna is the currency in Iceland)).
In the Netherlands, the phrase is used when someone leaves with the intention to not return. Die zien we nooit meer, te-rug (English: We shall never see them, a-gain). It is used as a way to make fun of someone/something, if it suddenly disappears from the scene.
In Argentina,
Carlos Balá, a former children's TV show host, used to include a bit in his routine in which he would whistle the "shave and a haircut" part of the tune, prompting the children in the audience to answer "Ba-lá" to the rhythm of the two final notes.
In the same country in school context to call for silence being sung with the teacher saying the phrase Tapa Tapita (Bottlecap, Small cap) and the students answering Tapon (Plug), followed with the teacher singing the phrase cierro la boca (shutting my mouth) and answering ya está (already done).
^Safire, William (April 3, 1983).
"ON LANGUAGE; PRAY, WHY ME?". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2019. The Book of World-Famous Music," a 1966 work by James J. Fuld, which reveals a 1939 ditty, "Shave and a Haircut - Shampoo," by Dan Shapiro, Lester Lee and Milton Berle, and a similar number in the same year, "Shave and a Haircut, Bay Rum," recorded as a folk melody by Rosalind Rosenthal and Herbert Halpert.
^Franz, Carl; Havens, Lorena (2006). The People's Guide to Mexico. Avalon Travel Publishing. p. 319.
ISBN1-56691-711-5.
^Ruiz Fornells, Enrique; Ruiz-Fornells, Cynthia Y. (1979). The United States and the Spanish World. Sociedad General Española de Librería.
ISBN84-7143-192-0.
^Wilder, Cora Sarjeant; Sherrier, James (1992). Celebrating Diversity. Ginn Press.
ISBN0-536-58133-9.
^Partridge, Eric; Dalzell, Tom; and Victor, Terry (2007). The concise new Partridge dictionary of slang and unconventional English, p.571.
ISBN978-0-415-21259-5.
^King, Thomas W. (1999). Modern Morse Code in Rehabilitation and Education. Allyn & Bacon. p. 77.
ISBN0-205-28751-4.
^Brace, Ernest C. (May 2, 2008).
"Messages From John". JohnMcCain.com. Archived from
the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-26.