Thursday, June 15, 2006

ice cream man

make it stop!

every afternoon the ice cream truck comes around.
every afternoon it plays THE SAME SONG. Never any other song.
What does that do to the driver? How long does it take for him to lose his mind?

I once heard this awful noise and looked out to see the ice cream truck lurching up the hilly street in front of my house. I'm guessing the driver was new to a clutch. The music was seriously impacted by all this bucking. The happy, happy melody would slow waaayyyyy dowwwwwnnnn, then speedupandgoreallyreallyfast!


18 comments:

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

How do you make me creeped out by the icecream man all the sudden?? LOL! ;D

emeraldcite said...

We have an old guy who drives an ice cream truck through out neighborhood.

He also plays the same song everyday. It's so the same that I can't remember the title anymore.

The weirdest part is when he passes our house and you get that dopplar effect, where the sound bends and twists like an image distended in a fun house mirror.

Very creepy. Your post reminds me of that.

Great photo, by the way. :)

anne frasier said...

kelly, the ice cream man is creepy. :D poor guy!!

emeraldcite: that's such a great description. there is something so strange about hearing that song coming faintly from a distance. you know he's winding around the streets to finally hit your place.

yeah, isn't that a great photo? it's not mine -- but i couldn't find where it came from. very cool.

Anonymous said...

Apparently somone somewhere thinks differenlty...hence
www.mistersoftee.com/music.asp

anne frasier said...

oh my god, patti!!!! that is freaking hilarious! or should i say creamiest, dreamiest? :D so THAT'S the song?!!!!!

and it has lyrics:

My milkshakes and my sundaes and my cones are such a treat / Listen for my store on wheels ding-a-ling down the street / The creamiest, dreamiest soft ice cream you get from Mister Softee. . . .

emeraldcite said...

It's kind of a ... of a dirty song, isn't it?

my cones are such a treat?

Yeah.

Well, as least it's not as bad as Dick and Jane.

Oh, see Dick.
Oh, Oh, Oh.
Funny, funny Dick.

See Jane go down.
Go down Jane!


Those are actually from the book. I get a real kick out of them every time i'm in the bookstore.

There's something wrong with me.

Jeff said...

Poor Ice Cream Truck Driver Guy!

That scene you described about the truck lurching on the hill and how it affected the music is hilarious.
Can you imagine having to listen to that same song over and over and over?
Probably has to work on commission too.

Anonymous said...

Satan may be an ice cream man.

Not sure.

But he might be.

He never stops for the people back home.

anne frasier said...

emeraldcite: yes, there is something wrong with you. which is why you're here with us. :D that dick and jane stuff is hilarious!!

jeff, it was funny as hell. i wish i'd had a video camera.

jason, he never stops for the people back home...

. a very mysterious and creamiest dreamiest comment...

Anonymous said...

It's like a living nightmare?!!

Bethany K. Warner said...

The ice cream truck has become a source of good-natured contention between me and my dad in recent years.

I have NO recollection of ever getting ice cream from the ice cream truck as a kid and thus think my childhood was deprived somehow.

Dad, of course, that he would buy me popsicles.

I vividly remember popsicles from when I was a kid... as in when he was forcing me to eat them after getting my tonsils out. No ice cream truck then.

Is there anyway to resolve this?

anne frasier said...

Jude, you are so right! :D

Bethany, that is a conundrum. have you tried hypnosis?
if not, i think that's your answer. :)

or you could come to my house and run out to the street when the ice cream truck comes. i did that when i first moved here 6 years ago. i was SO EXCITED. i ran barefoot out of the house and got in line with about 8 kids. did i ever feel stupid.
every day i fight the urge to repeat that humiliation.

Stephen Blackmoore said...

Isn't the Ice Cream Man one of those archetypal horror figures? Like clowns, telemarketers and Jerry Lewis Impersonators?

Used to live in a neighborhood where the Ice Cream truck had thick mesh screens welded to the windows and metal plates bolted over the rear wheels. Like he was selling Rocket Pops to post-apocalyptic kids, or something. Ice Cream Man: Beyond Thunderdome.

Of course, the bullet holes and cracked windshield, really just added to the effect.

angie said...

The whole ice cream man thing totally creeps me out. The music, the stained shirts, filthy counters, and what exactly DOES he keep in that giant freezer that makes my bomb pop taste so funny?!

Jeff said...

We once had an ice cream truck guy

You could easily tell he was high

He weaved back and forth as he lurched up our block

With the same stupid song my oh my! :)

anne frasier said...

stephen: i think you're right about the horror figure.

and that ice cream truck you mentioned might be for sale in case you're interested. sounds similar to one that came up when i was looking for an image. it had mesh security screens -- which immediately tells you something is terribly wrong. :D

angie: ick!!!! so many images -- from thick black mold to a severed head!

jeff: lol! maybe he WAS high! or having a flashback.

bekbek said...

Okay, first, that's not the ice cream song I remember. I can hum it even now, and it's been a while since I had to read music but I can at least tell the music on that site is not the tune I'm humming.

I've been in arguments about the ice cream truck song. Apparently some people get Pop Goes the Weasel instead of the song I know. I think the trucks are only geared to play one song over and over. I picture a large version of the rotating metal music box columns with the protruding teeth, continually rotating under the dash where a passenger's feet would otherwise go.

I never thought the ice cream man was creepy. I never thought about the ice cream man at all. I focused entirely on the ice cream.

Later in life, I discovered you could also get a deliciously creamy soda if you knew how to ask for it right.

Which comes out sounding creepy, so I'll stop now.

anne frasier said...

bekbek, last year the truck played several different songs. pop goes the weasel was one of them! this is the first year of only one song. poor man.

are there ice cream women? i've never seen one.