Line #36 Main/Taps


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taps_2664.jpg]]
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3	As the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taps_(bugle_call) "Taps" article]] on Website/ThatOtherWiki states, "Taps" is a musical piece sounded at dusk, and at funerals, particularly by the U.S. military. It is sounded during flag ceremonies and funerals, on single bugle or trumpet, and often at Boy Scout, Girl Scout and Girl Guide meetings and camps.
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5	The history of the tune (and its rarely-heard lyrics) is the mother of all [[TearJerker tear-jerkers]].
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7	In fiction, "Taps" is usually used to mourn an honorable person, especially military characters, though in comedy it can be used for just about anyone. Often combined with a MomentOfSilence, hats off. "Taps" can also mean a metaphorical death, like a death of one's hope. If a civilian has died, AmazingFreakingGrace is much more likely to be heard. However, in the case of first responders like police, firefighters, and medical personnel, expect a combination of both Taps and Amazing Grace to be heard to honor the fallen, especially on bagpipes.
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9	This is not the page for [[Series/GhostHunters The Atlantic Paranormal Society]] ([[FunWithAcronyms TAPS]]), or the film ''Film/{{Taps}}''.
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11	A part of the FuneralTropes. See also StandardSnippet. May be accompanied by a TwentyOneGunSalute.
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13	----
14	!!Examples:
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
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18	[[folder:Advertising]]
19	* A series of ads for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnutH1r3QI Black Flag bug spray]] in the late 1980s used Taps as an end tag, complete with a depiction of a flag being lowered to half-staff. This didn't last long; viewers complained about it being disrespectful to the Armed Forces and their veterans, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FISJfSFwSt8 the music was changed]] to [[StandardSnippet Chopin's Funeral March]].
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22	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
23	* At the beginning of the ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Pokemon Shipwreck", Officer Jenny and the other survivors of the sinking of the St. Anne are mourning the apparent deaths of Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Jessie, James, and Meowth, after they were unable to get off the ship. After Jenny tosses a bouquet of flowers overboard, she tells everyone to give a salute while a trumpeter starts playing "Taps", as the flowers sink into the ocean waters.
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26	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
27	* Jason and Marcus from ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' once planned to build a space shuttle, and wrote a computer program to model how particular designs might work out. The first time they use it, the disaster it depicts is so horrible that the program actually starts playing "Taps" at them.
28	[[/folder]]
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30	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
31	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster'', the main characters -- a bunch of household appliances -- are first seen remaining in an abandoned house, and awaiting eagerly the return of a kid who used to live there and who they consider their Master. However, when one day they see someone hammering a "For Sale" sign into the ground in front of their house, Radio starts playing "Taps", realizing that any hopes for the Master's return just died. In the Czech 1992 and Flemish dubs, Radio plays Chopin's funeral march instead.
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34	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
35	* In ''Film/AChristmasStory'', Ralphie's Old Man buries the broken lamp in the back yard. Ralphie couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard "Taps" playing.
36	* In the film version of ''Film/FromHereToEternity'', Prewitt (a bugle player) plays this when his best friend is killed.
37	* A high-pitched variation of "Taps" is heard in the background in ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', during the [[SignatureScene famous scene]] of the piles of wounded soldiers lying on the ground.
38	* In ''Film/MrHollandsOpus'' this is heard at [[spoiler: Louis Russ' funeral]].
39	* ''Film/RunSilentRunDeep'': Becomes part of the soundtrack at the very end, [[spoiler:right after Richardson's body has been committed to the sea]].
40	* As you might guess, ''Film/{{Taps}}'' has this a number of times, at the beginning when the school reads off the names and dates of alumni who fell in battle, [[spoiler: and when they have their memorial service for General Bache]]. The movie's title also indicates the impending death of the academy.
41	* ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' has Taps mixed into the film score during Iceman's Navy funeral to rather moving effect.
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44	[[folder:Literature]]
45	* In Alan Brennert's novel ''Moloka'i'', the murderer of Rachel Kalama's husband, who belongs to the military, is buried. No one shows up to his funeral, and a harmonica player plays "Taps".
46	* ''Literature/TheKillerAngels'' notes that the bugle call in question was known back then as "Butterfield's Lullaby" and had no connotation of death.
47	[[/folder]]
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49	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
50	* One episode of ''Series/MagnumPI'' had him thinking back to his father's funeral, after he'd been killed in [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar Korea]], and "Taps" is played following a TwentyOneGunSalute by his fellow Marines.
51	* When Creator/JohnnyCarson hosted ''Series/TheTonightShow'', the band would play "Taps" whenever an attempted comic bit died.
52	* The ''Series/ColdCase'' episode ''Shore Leave'' is about a marine in the 1950s who is murdered. "Taps" is played at the end.
53	* In ''Series/HomeImprovement'', "Taps" is the title of the episode in which Jill's Veteran father dies.
54	* ''Series/BabylonFive'': In the third season, [[spoiler:After the station breaks away from Earth control]], there is a memorial held to honor those who dies in the fighting in which "Taps" is heard in the background.
55	* A rare PlayedForLaughs version is played in a season 9 episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. When Amy arrives at Sheldon's apartment when she heard that his computer was dying, he says it is too late and begins to play the song. Amy tells him it is silly, but Sheldon reminds her that she got emotional when her lab monkey died. When it is done, Sheldon says it is going to be [[EarWorm stuck in his head all day]].
56	[[/folder]]
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58	[[folder:Music]]
59	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm1wuKvrxAw A swing version]] is used for the opening of Music/TheAndrewsSisters' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" about a boogie-woogie trumpeter who gets drafted.
60	* Music/RunningWild's "Little Big Horn" ends with "Taps" playing, signifying the senseless loss of General Custer's men.
61	* In Paul Hindemith's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for Those We Love", an Army bugle plays "Taps" over the orchestral interlude that follows "and the armies remain'd suffer'd" in the tenth movement.
62	* "There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere," made famous by Elton Britt, uses the first few measures of "Taps" as part of the intro to the song and each chorus. The somber tones of the melody undercut the jingoism of what otherwise would be a fairly banal, patriotic WWII song.
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65	[[folder:Radio]]
66	* ''Music and the Spoken Word'' Program #4056: [[http://fans.musicandthespokenword.org/2007/05/27/a-prayer-in-music/ A Prayer In Music]] discusses the significance of this little piece.
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69	[[folder:Video Games]]
70	* In the first ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'', if Tanya is killed in one of her missions, a cutscene will play of her white cross in a cemetery as "Taps" is heard in the background.
71	* In the ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' games, the [[{{Leitmotif}} graveyard theme]] ends with the first four notes of "Taps".
72	* In ''VideoGame/BitLife'', when you die during a ''VideoGame/{{Minesweeper}}''-like minigame after being deployed in the military, the first four notes of "Taps" play when your grave is shown.
73	* In ''VideoGame/WingCommander'', the theme that accompanies funeral scenes ends with a full playing of "Taps".
74	* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Soldier's Shotgun Taunt is him doing a [[TwentyOneGunSalute Three Gun Salute]] while "Taps" plays.
75	** InMemoriam of the 2020 passing of Rick May (the Soldier's voice actor), Valve released an update that plays [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk_EZpqPUf8 a rendition of "Taps"]] on the main menu.
76	* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'': Heard in the Allied campaign [[spoiler: at General Carville's funeral]].
77	* Once Link defeats Skull Keeta in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', he gives Link a salute as "Taps" plays in the background.
78	* In ''VideoGame/CivilWarGenerals II,'' "Taps" plays whenever the player views the Casualty Report screen during a battle.
79	* SerialKiller Milton Pike's leitmotif in ''VideoGame/ShadowMan'' begins with a haunting, hollow rendition of "Taps" that fades into the sounds of distant radio chatter, machine-gun fire and screams (Pike was a Vietnam Vet before taking up his gruesome hobby).
80	* Graphic Simulations' ''Hellcats'', and its {{spiritual successor}} ''F/A-18 Hornet'', both play the last three notes of "Taps" when a pilot is killed in action.
81	* In ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'', if your Captain dies in an adventure, either "Taps" or the Funeral March play.
82	* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'' plays the first/last three notes of "Taps' if the Prince suffers an "accidental" death, and a variation of Chopin's Funeral March if he dies in battle.
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85	[[folder:Webcomics]]
86	* ''Webcomic/TiffanyAndCorey'': Played for laughs where Corey plays "Taps" on a bugle as Tiffany is about to go to sleep. Unfortunately, [[https://tiffanyandcorey.blogspot.com/2018/06/playing-taps.html it jolts her back awake.]]
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89	[[folder:Web Original]]
90	* Beginning with the 2018 NFL season, the ending segment of WebVideo/UrinatingTree's "This Week in Sportsball" videos is dedicated to listing off the players who were injured over the past week while "Taps" plays in the background. As "Taps" plays, it shows footage of a candle burning as headlines about the injured players flash by on screen, each one accompanied by a SickeningCrunch. [[GameBreakingInjury Season-ending injuries]] also trigger the "[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquer Unit Lost]]" clip. Actual deaths in the football world swap out the other SFX for church bells. During the 2020 NFL season, injuries related to COVID-19 were accompanied by the sound of coughing.
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93	[[folder:Western Animation]]
94	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
95	** In the episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E15TheSecretBoxBandGeeks Band Geeks]]", Squidward and the Bikini Bottom citizens are practicing in a marching band. Squidward tells the flag spinners in the front to spin the flag faster, and eventually, so fast that they fly and collide with a zeppelin, which explodes. The trumpeter of the band then plays "Taps" as the rest of them hold their hats on their chest, except for Squidward who just goes into a TroubledFetalPosition.
96	** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS4E10GhostHostChimpsAhoy Chimps Ahoy]]", [=SpongeBob=] uses one of Sandy's inventions, a helmet that lets you talk to nuts, to communicate with a peanut. Sandy then uses another invention to turn the peanut into coffee, which mortifies [=SpongeBob=] when he hears its agonized screams. "Taps" then plays in the background as he takes the helmet off.
97	* ''WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons'' examples:
98	** In "The Cuckoo Clock", a cat tries to catch a cuckoo bird. When he finally catches it and eats it, he realizes the sadness of his death and tries to do a MomentOfSilence. The bird -- who just fooled the cat into believing he ate him, when it was actually a wind-up toy filled with TNT -- starts playing "Taps"... and then the TNT explodes off-screen and the bird switches to a cheery tune.
99	** A similar gag is used also in "The Early Bird Dood It".
100	* Powerful Pierre thinks he's gotten rid of mounties WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle, tying them to a cache of dynamite and tossing them over a cliff, so he plays "Taps" on a bugle. But the two magpies show up behind him to finish the second half of the passage, and when Pierre turns back to his bugle, it has a lit stick of dynamite in it. From the cartoon "Sno' Fun."
101	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
102	** In ''WesternAnimation/ScaredyCat'', Sylvester mimics a trumpet playing this to try to warn Porky of the killer mice. But Porky thinks he's just being hysterical.
103	** In ''WesternAnimation/RhapsodyRabbit'', Bugs Bunny is pestered by a mouse disrupting his performance of Liszt's second rhapsody. Bugs slams the piano lid on the mouse, who proceeds to play "Chopsticks," prompting Bugs to toss in a lit stick of dynamite. When it explodes, "Taps" suddenly can be heard up to the last note which was conspicuously absent. Bugs lifts the lid and gets bonked on the head by the mouse with a mallet, the last note finally played.
104	** In ''WesternAnimation/RomanLegionHare'', Emperor Nero fiddles this while he and Yosemite Sam are about to be done in by the lions.
105	* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': In "Propane Boom II: Death Of A Propane Salesman", at [[spoiler:Buckley]]'s funeral, Chuck Mangione plays the opening of "Taps" before segueing into [[SignatureSong "Feels So Good"]].
106	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson", as Lisa starts to get across [[UltimateFinalExam "The Eliminator"]] at the military academy, her classmates mockingly play "Taps".
107	[[/folder]]
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109	[[folder:Real Life]]
110	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Post The Last Post]] is the Commonwealth equivalent.
111	* "Aux Morts", known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnerie_aux_morts Sonnerie aux morts]], (listen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPTkrUt1m3I here]] is the French equivalent.
112	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChTqYlDjtI Here]] courtesy of the United States Navy Band's youtube page.
113	[[/folder]]

Context Main / Taps