MovieChat Forums > Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) Discussion > Anyone know the song the violinist playe...

Anyone know the song the violinist played in the restaurant?

posted 9 years ago by ben-thayer
7 replies | jump to latest

It's where Deeds calls the violinist to the table. The song is *extremely* well known, I recall it used most often over the decades in tear jerking sob scenes...although in later years it became a sort of a joke in and of itself. If someone was telling a humorous melodramatic sob story this music was often played in the background. I've heard it played most often on piano...typically an out of tune saloon piano.

I want to say I've heard it as background music on a bunch of silent films, but I can't say for sure.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[–] mspatera 9 years ago

Golden Earrings. I learned that from a scene on the old "Odd Couple" show, but I can't remember what the reference was. Someone kept playing or singing it.

[–] ben-thayer 9 years ago

Unfortunately, that's not it. It's very close, but Golden Earrings maintains a minor key. The song I'm referring to shifts to a major key about halfway through the phrase, and is typically used comically.

I keep hearing it everywhere...Death Valley Days recently for one, and in tons of old movies.

The next time I hear it I'll note the exact production and time location and post it.

[–] beepstein 9 years ago

The piece is "Zigeunerweisen" by Pablo Sarasate. Plenty of recordings available on YouTube. If you listen, you'll find the music from the restaurant scene starting at around 4 to 5 minutes into the piece. P.S. I'm 63 years old, and the very first time I ever heard this music is when I first saw the film around age SEVEN! And I distinctly remember wondering what it was!!!

[–] beepstein 9 years ago

Oh, I almost forgot.....the person who answered "Golden Earrings" wasn't far off. That song was actually based on the Sarasate piece.

[–] beepstein 9 years ago

Well, not to overcomplicate matters, but there is another old song entitled "Hearts And Flowers". And it is this song (also available on YouTube) which is used traditionally to accompany "melodramatic sob stories" and played just as you described it on out-of-tune pianos. And this tune is VERY similar to the Sarasate melody! They both transition into major, as you mentioned. So I suggest you listen to both of them. But the melody in the film is definitely "Zigeunerweisen".

[–] ben-thayer 9 years ago

Thank you...Hearts and Flowers is the one. Very similar to Golden Earrings, but as I said it shifts to a major key. I've heard this song literally hundreds of times over many decades, but never actually knew what it was.

In truth, I've never heard much of anything in Hearts and Flowers other than the primary phrase and the phrase answering it, which leads back to the primary melody. By the time it starts repeating the melody it typically fades out or is pushed to the background in lieu of dialogue.

Listening to Zigeunerweisen (rendition by Itzhak Perlman, no less)...it starts around 5:12 in the version I'm listening to.

[–] ben-thayer 9 years ago

Was watching The Great Elmer with Joe E. Brown (1933), and heard it again, during a melodramatic sob story.