"The Billboard March" is a circus march

Screamer (march)

A screamer is a descriptive name for a circus march, in particular, an upbeat march intended to stir up the audience during the show.- History :...

 written in 1901 by John N. Klohr

John N. Klohr

John Nicholas Klohr was a composer of band music. Klohr was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. A graduate of the Cincinnati public schools, Klohr set upon a career in music, especially vaudeville. He was a vaudeville trombonist by trade, but also performed as a member of Cincinnati's musical life...

, and dedicated to the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

music-industry magazine. Its tune is widely known among Americans, and it has been repeatedly used in mass media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

, even though its title is little known.

The major theme of its last half lends itself to songs. A relatively early "G-rated" set of lyrics for it was heard from engineers who had been students at Capitol Radio Electronics Institute

Capitol College

Capitol College is a private, non-profit, and non-sectarian college located just south of Laurel, Maryland, in unincorporated Prince George's County. It was founded in 1927 as the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, changed its name to the Capitol Institute of Technology in 1964, and assumed its...

 by Willard Scott

Willard Scott

Willard Herman Scott, Jr. is an American media personality and author best known for his television work on NBC's The Today Show and as the creator of the Ronald McDonald character.-Early years:...

 and Ed Walker

Ed Walker

Ed Walker is a Washington, D.C., radio personality. He hosts a weekly four-hour Sunday night program, The Big Broadcast, on WAMU-FM, featuring vintage radio programs from the 1930s to 1950s, such as Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Show, The Lone Ranger, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Superman...

, the stars of what became The Joy Boys

Joy Boys (radio program)

The Joy Boys was a popular daily improvised comedy radio show in Washington, D.C., United States, between 1955 and 1974 that launched the broadcast careers of the program's co-hosts, Willard Scott and Ed Walker. The two did various skits and satirized prominent people of the day, such as Scott's...

radio program at WRC-AM

WTEM

WTEM — branded ESPN 980 — is a sports radio station licensed to Washington, D.C. and serving the Washington metro area. It is the flagship of a sports talk trimulcast with WWXT in Prince Frederick, Maryland and WWXX in Buckland, Virginia, all affiliated with ESPN Radio and owned by Red Zebra...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 in the 1950s. They recorded it in two versions (a duet between them, and Walker singing in four-part harmony with himself), for use as, respectively, the opening and closing themes for the show:

We are the joy boys of radio;

We chase electrons to and fro-o-o.

We are the joy boys of radio;

We chase electrons to and fro.

That version was adapted into one sung and whistled by the drugged naval captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 in the 1964 film Ensign Pulver

Ensign Pulver

Ensign Pulver is a 1964 American film and a sequel to the 1955 film Mister Roberts. The movie features Robert Walker Jr., Burl Ives, Walter Matthau, Tommy Sands, Millie Perkins, Kay Medford, Peter Marshall, Jack Nicholson, Richard Gautier, George Lindsey, James Farentino, and James Coco.- Synopsis...

.

The 2004 film The Stepford Wives

The Stepford Wives (2004 film)

The Stepford Wives is a 2004 American science fiction film. The film is a remake of the 1975 film of the same name; both films are based on the Ira Levin novel The Stepford Wives...

used the march.

The same song tune is used for a group of rowdy songs

Drinking song

A drinking song is a song sung while drinking alcohol. Most drinking songs are folk songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music...

 that share the line

I love a gang bang

Gang bang

A gang bang is a situation in which one person has sexual intercourse and performs other sex acts with a number of people, either in turn or at the same time. When the person has not consented to such activity, it is called gang rape or pack rape.A limited study by Joan and Dwight Dixon indicate...

 [or "gangbang"]

followed by a line beginning either "I always ..." or "Oh yes I ...".

External links

• Burl Ives's rendition from Ensign Pulver
  Ensign Pulver
  Ensign Pulver is a 1964 American film and a sequel to the 1955 film Mister Roberts. The movie features Robert Walker Jr., Burl Ives, Walter Matthau, Tommy Sands, Millie Perkins, Kay Medford, Peter Marshall, Jack Nicholson, Richard Gautier, George Lindsey, James Farentino, and James Coco.- Synopsis...
  
  
• John Klohr - The Billboard March -- 50-sec. stereo of best known theme, in Belwin Beginning Band Series arrangement
• Billboard March at We7—13-word ad and 100-sec. stereo