I'm just wondering, what do you guys consider to be the main theme of the Looney Tunes franchise? "Merrily We Roll Along"(used for the Merrie Melodies titles) or "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"(used for the Looney Tunes titles)?
I don't have a preference. WB owns both themes, and they use each of them with the same amount of frequency, so I personally don't favor one ditty over the other as the franchise's signature theme, but that's just me.
I have to third this; No preference. I like them both. Also, I'm probably among the few people who actually likes the cacophonous version of the "Merrily We Roll Along" intro used on The Looney Tunes Show.
Okay, I made an error since I didn't have time to edit, what I meant to ask was which of themes did you like better? That meaning which one do you guys always like to hear?
Also, I'm probably among the few people who actually likes the cacophonous version of the "Merrily We Roll Along" intro used on The Looney Tunes Show.
I take it you mean the theme used for the "Merrie Melodies" musical segments? Cacophonous is right; it's even more dissonant than Bill Lava's versions of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" from 1962 to 1969!
Cacophonous, yes, but it's still enjoyable. I don't care for Bill Lava's rendition, though.
Is it wrong that I like The Looney Tunes Show's rendition of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" used in the shows' opening title sequence also?
I also like the rendition of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" played in the "That's All Folks!" WB shield gags after TLTS's end credits sequence. I just wish that Cartoon Network wouldn't keep doing the split screen so the end gags wouldn't get muted every week!
Yeah, the opening titles version is catchy, but I do wish they had some kind of sound effect for the WB shield zooming in and crashing into the screen, maybe a loud echoey one like when they did the same thing on "Lumber Jack Rabbit?"
My favo(u)rite variant of the opening "Merrily We Roll Along" is the super-fast, hyperactive-paced take that starts "Coo Coo Nut Grove". My favourite ending variant is the crazy, "whistling" take with the zoom-in and the subtle banjos used around late 1937 into 1938.
But my actual favourite Merrie Melodies theme song has to be "I Think You're Ducky" (or whatever it's called) that opens such cartoons as "Billboard Frolics" and "I Wanna Play House". Really early ones had a longer edit!
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"Elmer Fudd is one of the most beloved internationally known cartoon characters of all time" - Jerry Seinfeld, 1992.
With "Merrily We Roll Along," Carl Stalling was experimenting with that for quite a while. When he first used it as the opening logo theme on "Boulevardier from the Bronx," it was fast-paced and a tad strange. For "The Coo-Coo Nut Grove" he modified it a bit, though still at a fast tempo, it had a few familiar elements (like the backing notes during the xylophone part near the end.) He did numerous variations on the theme during 1936 to 1939. The first good-sounding version debuted on "Hamateur Night," and pretty much had that distinct Carl Stalling/Warner Bros. sound to it. Carl must have thought so himself, as he continued using that version until 1940!
