It's ice cream time

I don't like heat, and I don't like humidity. But I do like ice cream.

In fact, I eat it all year. Summer, however, brings to mind ice cream trucks. So I started wondering about other countries and what they hear in the summertime.

When I grew up, my trained ear was taught to run down the block to the end of our road when I heard this.

(I once did an “on the job” feature with a girl driving an ice cream truck. She had to play the song 5 times at each stop, for a total of 320 times in one night. It wasn’t such a joyful song after that.)

In the United States, at least in the New York area, you hear Mr. Softee's ice cream song. Mr. Softee himself, James Conway Sr., died in 2006. The song was also disputed in New York City for causing a disturbance.

Other American ice cream trucks play "The Entertainer," "Lips Stained Blue," "Pink Panther Pops" or a Ghetto version called "Hello." (Most of these courtesy of WFMU’s Beware of the Blog).

In Britain and Australia, ice cream trucks play the famous tune “Greensleeves.” Some newer ones (Cornetto) play “O Sole Mio” or “Girls and Boys Come Out to Play” in England. Here you can hear another Australian version.

So take a listen, dream of ice cream and enjoy. That's what I'll do now.