UKH

I have a friend who, whenever two words are uttered, will complete it to reveal a song title. For example, if I begin "If only..", before I can get any further, he's added "...have eyes for you". With me, it's a couple or more of notes which will trigger a tune. For example, there are trains in North Wales (and elsewhere for all I know) that emit two notes,with a certain slow and majestic tempo, that takes me immediately to the beginning of The Great Gate of Kiev from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Other trains emit notes that to my ear have the same interval but at a higher pitch and much faster tempo, making the start of Colonel Bogie. Probably my favourite, though, is the jingle on the Tannoy at Geneva Airport, which consists of 4 or 5 notes which happen to be the start of How Much is that Doggy in the Window? 

Now in these days of all manner of electronic devices emitting random notes, often for no obvious reason, there must be other examples of this.

I don't know if it's just me, but there's a couple of bars in the original 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' song which sound EXACTLY like the old Dr Who theme, and I can't listen to it without mentally adding the rest of the Dr Who bit.

When living in Istanbul in the late 90's, I found that the first couple of bars of the call to prayer sounds uncannily like the start to Kungfu Fighting and never failed to reduce me to giggles. Luckily our Turkish friends were amused rather than offended by this.

The doors of the old Berlin underground carriages used to close with a loud ear-torturing octave jump in exactly the right tempo for "Some-where" (... over the rainbow). Judy did it better!

I'm guessing you're not a Radio 6 Music listener.  (I wouldn't put it past Iggy Pop on a Friday night, but I don't think The Great Gate of Kiev from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is generally on their play list.)

Lauren Laverne has a regular feature on her Breakfast Show that is exactly along these lines.  People email her audio clips of various devices and 'found sounds', mostly recorded on their phones, and she plays them along with the piece of music they fit.  Some of them are really uncanny.

https://ontheradio.co.uk/2019/02/lauren-lavernes-vacuum-cleaner-inspires-ho...

There's a joke where the bridge/ middle eight of Over the Rainbow becomes an ambulance siren

Nee naa nee naa nee naa nee naa

but I've forgotten it.

what a great thread..i too have enjoyed the geneva airport ding dong!

the extractor fan in louis apartments kalymnos sounds exactly like the quick bass in the beginning of carly simons 'you're so vain'!

Great thread! 

When I send an email, my phone makes a sound that sounds exactly like the opening of Baba O'Riley.