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In music, the call "Shave and a Haircut" and the associated response "two bits" is a simple, 7-note musical couplet, riff or fanfare popularly used at the end of a musical performance, usually for comic effect. It is used both melodically and rhythmically, for example as a door knock. Play
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"Two bits" is an archaism in the United States for 25 cents, a quarter. "Six bits" is occasionally used. The final words may also be "get lost", "drop dead" (in Australia), or some other facetious expression. In England, 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 song, "At a Darktown Cakewalk". 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," indicating that the tune was already associated by that time with the lyric.
In 1939, Dan Shapiro, Lestor Lee and Milton Berle released "Shave and a Haircut – Shampoo," which used the tune in the closing bars and has been thought to be the origin of the lyric.
Popularity
The tune can be heard on customized car horns, while the rhythm may be tapped as a door knock or as a Morse code "dah-di-di-dah-di, di-dit" ( –··–· ·· ) at the end of an amateur radio contact.
The former prisoner of war and U.S. Naval Seaman Doug Hegdahl reports fellow American captives in the Vietnam war would authenticate a new prisoner's American identity by tapping the first five notes of "Shave and a Haircut", against a cell wall, waiting for the appropriate response. American POWs were then able to communicate securely with one another via the quadratic alphabet code.
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 most popular bluegrass run, after the G run.
The phrase has been incorporated into countless recordings and performances. Notable examples include:
Uses in other countries
In Mexico, the tune is highly offensive, as it is commonly used to stand in for the rhythmically similar vulgar phrase "chinga tu madre, cabrón" (translation: "Fuck your mother, asshole!").
The Italian version is Ammazza la vecchia... col Flit! [i.e. "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 [i.e. "Kill the fly with Flit!"]. This version is never perceived as offensive, but just as a joke.
The same tune is used in Catalan with a different lyric: "Nas de barraca. Sant Boi" ("Shack nose. Sant Boi"). Is also used 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" (Shack nose. Sant Boi. Five candies for the boy).
In Spain, it is sung with the lyrics "Una copita... de Ojén" ("A shot of schnapps").
In Sweden it was used in a commercial for the Bronzol brand of candy with the slogan 'Hälsan för halsen - Bronzol' (Health for your throat - Bronzol).
In the Netherlands, they use the phrase as when someone leaves to not get back. "Die zien we nooit meer, te-rug" (We shall never see them, a-gain). It is used as a way to make fun of someone/something, if it sudddenly disappears from the scene.