Shave and a Haircut

An early occurrence of the tune is from the introduction of the 1899 Charles Hale minstrel song "At a Darktown Cake Walk".

[citation needed] An early recording used the seven-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".

The tune features in part of the instrumental accompaniment to the 1925 Buster Keaton film Battling Butler.

[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 tune can be heard on customized car horns,[5][6] while the rhythm may be tapped as a door knock[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][excessive citations] or as a Morse code "dah-di-di-dah-di, dah-dit" ( –··–· –· )[15] at the end of an amateur radio contact.

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.

Notable examples include: The Italian version is Ammazza la vecchia ... col Flit!

[citation needed] In Mexico, it means a vulgar insult with the lyrics, Chinga tu madre ... cabrón (English: Fuck your mother ...

[citation needed] 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).