History Music / TheCancanSong

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Officially, it's the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Diu2N8TGKA Infernal Galop]]" from Act II, Scene 2 of Music/JacquesOffenbach's 1858 operetta ''Orpheus in the Underworld.''

To the rest of the world, it's simply "the cancan song." And it's usually (although not always) a cue for high-kicking ChorusGirls to hit the stage. To that end, it's a quintessential part of the PublicDomainSoundtrack and StandardSnippet tropes.

Because of its high-energy, feel-good nature, its use as a trope falls under one of the following conditions:

* '''Type A:''' Accompanying a performance of the cancan dance itself.
* '''Type B:''' To underscore a comedic/slapstick action sequence.

This song and/or dance is also used to convey that the scene is set in France or the character is in France. The dancers or ChorusGirls are also usually French.

Remember: not all performances of the cancan (dance) are set to the Cancan Song, and not all appearances of the song signal a performance of the dance.

Common RegionalRiff for France. See ThatRussianSquatDance for another dance used as a RegionalRiff.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* The Shop Rite supermarket chain's long-running annual (and more recently, ''semi-''annual) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLjtiDWHKuI Can Can sale of canned goods]]. Type A, but with custom lyrics ''("Now, Shop Rite does the cancan/Selling lots of brands of/Everything in/Cans cans!")''
* Also Type A: Scottish brewer Irn-Bru set a world record in 2009 by getting 10,000 people to kick up their heels as part of their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j67PLblVts "Can Clan" campaign]]. Real cancan dancers were recruited to help out.
* At one point K-Mart used a variant of the "Infernal Galop" to advertise its then-new(ish) Super Kmart hypercenters.
* Dubouchet liqueurs had a commercial sung to "Infernal Galop".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime]]
* ''Manga/FairyTail'': Type B. The song typically plays whenever there's a BarBrawl.
* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', this is one of the {{standard snippet}}s played by MusicalAssassin Nonon in her fight against Ryuko.
** It also plays in episode 16 while Senketsu narrates the world's shortest RecapEpisode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8jVqCKt4ZI in less than two minutes]].
* ''[[Anime/YuGiOhCapsuleMonsters Yu-Gi-Oh!: Capsule Monsters]]'' has a version sung by Tristan and Joey as their "Victory Dance".
--> "Can you kick some can, can, tell me who's the man, man!"
* ''[[Anime/PrettyCureAllStars Pretty Cure Dream Stars!]]'' plays an instrumental of this during the girls' fight against the giant dog.
* ''Anime/OsomatsuKun'': The 1988 series uses it in a Type B fashion accompanying chase sequences, most often involving the sextuplets and Iyami.
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[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/FrenchCancan'': Type A, and rightly so.
* Averted in both the 1952 and [[Film/MoulinRouge 2001]] ''Moulin Rouge'' films, although Music/FatboySlim's thumping version from the latter has become an alternate soundtrack for many dance troupes, and the pitch scene is performed to the same music.
* Also averted in the Music/FrankSinatra[=/=]Creator/ShirleyMacLaine film of Music/ColePorter's ''Can-Can.''
* ''Film/{{Stardust}}'' has a Type B usage of the song: the (literally) closeted Captain Shakespeare minces about in his wardrobe while his men on deck engage in an epic sword battle with Septimus's soldiers in time to the beat.
* ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'': Averted in the live-action saloon scenes, but played straight as a Type A when Elmer Fudd is chasing Bugs and Daffy through the Louvre and they wind up in one of Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings.
* ''Film/PetersFriends'' begins with six college friends performing the Can-Can based "The Underground Song" at a school function before graduation. At the end of the movie, [[{{Bookends}} they sing the song together at a reunion]], cementing their TrueCompanions status.
* ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'': Type B, when George beats some {{mooks}}.
* ''Film/MidnightInParis'': Type A, when Gil and Adriana watch a nightclub performance of the cancan.
* ''Film/EasyVirtue'' has Type A. Larita and Hilda perform a can-can routine for a local pageant. HilarityEnsues when Hilda mistakenly thinks she should be GoingCommando to perform the dance.
--> "Is it my imagination, or is your daughter dancing without her scanties?"
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'': Type B (the scene where the Royal Chef is chasing Sebastian the Crab, and [[HilarityEnsues comic mayhem ensues]]).
** Alan Menken had initially wanted to write a completely original piece of music for the chase, but ultimately decided that the "Infernal Galop" just fit it perfectly. Of course, he tried different variations on it before finally deciding, "I'm trying to reinvent the wheel, here; let's just go with the wheel."
** It also returns in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea the sequel]], once again as the backdrop to the Chef trying to axe Sebastian, this time in the middle of a ball.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' had at least two Type A occurrences -- but in these cases, they were "normal" women (e.g. policewomen, hospital nurses) inspired to kick it up when the song commenced. (Ironically, the one time the show included REAL cancan dancers, they performed to Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance.")
* A scene in ''Series/KamenRiderExAid[=:=] [[TheMovie True Ending]]'' has this playing when Poppy is getting in the way of Hiiro taking a picture of his [[LotusEaterMachine supposed]] daughter winning a footrace.
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow:'' One episode has Kermit auditioning new acts, including a group of female rats dancing "The Garbage Cancan" to this song.
* ''Series/SoYouThinkYouCanDance'' had two very young dancers, a male and female dolled up to look something like Raggedy Ann and Andy, dancing the cancan to this song. It did not go well.
* The last of the hour-long Family Specials of ''Series/ShiningTimeStation'' - "Queen for a Day" - had the Jukebox Band perform a version of "Miss Murphy's Chowder" where Tito Swing is fired from a cannon and looks up to see a cavalcade of puppet cancan dancers in a Type A occurrence of the snippet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Long-running English band Bad Manners features a ska-flavored take on Music/TheCancanSong as a part of their set. That's the good news. The ''bad'' news is that their (male, bald) singer will often ''perform'' the cancan. In drag.
* Classical-music-with-lyrics CD series ''Beethoven's Wig'' includes a version. "Oh, can you do the can-can, if you can than I can..."
* KrautRock[=/=]SpaceRock band Music/{{Can}} snuck a version onto their eponymous 1979 album (as part of their "Ethnological Forgery" series). [[IncrediblyLamePun Doubles]] as a StealthPun on their name.
* This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXcieUVLz-I chiptune version]] was built out of sounds and samples from VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 And it is ''hilarious.''
** In a similar vein, [[https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm14796309 this video]] is made from bits from VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime.
* Acapella group Straight No Chaser's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E-47VmFopE "Christmas Can-Can"]].
* Steampunk duo Frenchy and the Punk use it at the end of "Yes! I'm French". In concerts, Frenchy calls audience members to [[AudienceParticipationSong form a can-can line in front of the stage]].
* Shakespeare Aloud use the Infernal Galop to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhSI3xevPDI cram every single title of the Bard's works into just under a minute 'n' a half]].
* "Tortoises", the fourth movement of Camille Saint-Saëns's ''Carnival of the Animals'' , is the Can-Can. Played reeeaallly slooowllly.
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[[folder:Radio]]
* Frequently used as the tune for "One Song to the Tune of Another" on ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue''. Naturally enough, the song chosen will invariably be a tonally inappropriate one -- perhaps the best-remembered is Graeme Garden's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_setzuL-scA rendition of "Killing Me Softly With His Song"]], but other songs used have included "Ain't No Sunshine" (sung by Tim Brooke-Taylor), "Without You" (Tony Hawks) and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (Andy Hamilton) and "Feelings" (Sandi Toksvig).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theme Parks]]
* Any Wild West-themed park with saloon girls will likely fall into Type A territory.
* Averted at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks DisneyLand]]: their recent revival of the Golden Horseshoe Saloon show used Music/ColePorter's ''Can-Can'' song.
* The UsefulNotes/GreatDickensChristmasFair: Type A, to accompany performances by [[http://www.cancanbijou.com Le Cancan Bijou]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Too many occurrences to mention. See the "Video Games" folder under PublicDomainSoundtrack.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Both in ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger''. In an episode where Carl and Hoodsey enter Brandon's monkey into a pet talent show, Ginger arrives home to find the monkey wearing a skirt and dancing the can-can.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'':
** The song "Be Careful What You Eat" is sung by Yakko, Wakko, and Dot to the tune of this song about the ingredients in ice cream.
** In the episode, "No Pain, No Painting," which is set in France, the Warner Sibs are shown dancing the Cancan dance and dressed in the layered dresses that the ChorusGirls wear.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Lautrec}}'', an animated short tribute to the works of Toulouse-Lautrec, the Infernal Gallop is naturally used to accompany the animations of Lautrec's iconic drawings of can-can dancers.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' episode "The Really Great Dictator" when Brain teaches Pinky about what it takes to be a good dictator he sings it to the tune of this song, when Pinky hears it he puts on a dress and does the cancan dance.
* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'', which is set in France, uses the Infernal Galop as the melody for the song "All for One and One for All".
** Another example involving the ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'' characters: Ludwig Von Drake performed a spoof of the Can-Can called "Your Library" on the album "Silly Classical Songs", with the lyrics being about the wonderful things libraries provide. It also appeared on the soundtrack to ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseClubhouse'' despite not being sung on the show itself.
** And on the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} "Mickey's Circus", it's used during the climax as Mickey and Donald are on the high wire.
* The [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Warner Bros. cartoons]] "Goofy Groceries" and "Lights Fantastic" features scenes of anthropomorphic cans doing [[VisualPun the Cancan]]. "Stage Door Cartoon" has Bugs Bunny hiding from Elmer Fudd on a theater stage among a bevy of Cancan dancers.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/YogisTreasureHunt'' has the crew in Paris where a clue to a treasure leads them to "a place in France where the people wear no pants." It takes them to a dance hall where they and even Dick Dastardly are dressed in attire doing the Cancan.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Nasty Patty," Mr. Krabs and [=SpongeBob=] briefly break into a celebratory can-can (complete with skirts and a musical accompaniment) when it looks like they're all set to pass the Krusty Krab's health inspection.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The number of amateur and professional dance troupes worldwide who perform the cancan to the Infernal Gallop is literally in the hundreds, if not thousands.
[[/folder]]

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': ** The song "Be Careful What You Eat" is sung by Yakko, Wakko, and Dot to the tune of this song about the ingredients in ice cream.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' song "Be Careful What You Eat" is sung by Yakko, Wakko, and Dot to the tune of this song about the ingredients in ice cream.

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'' uses the Infernal Galop as the melody for the song "All for One and One for All".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0371-dickens-fair-day-2-2012-12-16-s_1643.jpg]]

** It also returns in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea the sequel]], once again as the backdrop to the Chef trying to axe Sebastian, this time in the middle of ball.

* ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' had at least two Type A occurences -- but in these cases, they were "normal" women (e.g. policewomen, hospital nurses) inspired to kick it up when the song commenced. (Ironically, the one time the show included REAL cancan dancers, they performed to Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance.")

* Series/SoYouThinkYouCanDance had two very young dancers, a male and female dolled up to look something like Raggedy Ann and Andy, dancing the cancan to this song. It did not go well.

* Long-running English band Bad Manners feature a ska-flavored take on Music/TheCancanSong as a part of their set. That's the good news. The ''bad'' news is that their (male, bald) singer will often ''perform'' the cancan. In drag.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* The last of the hour-long Family Specials of *Series/ShiningTimeStation* - "Queen for a Day" - had the Jukebox Band perform a version of "Miss Murphy's Chowder" where Tito Swing is fired from a cannon and looks up to see a cavalcade of puppet cancan dancers in a Type A occurrence of the snippet.

* The last of the hour-long Family Specials of Series/ShiningTimeStation - "Queen for a Day" - had the Jukebox Band perform a version of "Miss Murphy's Chowder" where Tito Swing is fired from a cannon and looks up to see a cavalcade of puppet cancan dancers in a Type A occurrence of the snippet.