DUMBING OF AGE: COMIX ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN READ SHEET MUSIC

SkepticJ

January 18, 2013 at 12:04 am | #

Without pulling out my guitar: Barney’s “I Love You” song, yes?

John Harmon

January 18, 2013 at 12:07 am | #

Have some internets.
- SkepticJ
  
  January 18, 2013 at 12:32 am | #
  
  When it comes to that song, there are no winners.
  
  My sister is 13 years younger than me, and she was at just the right age when Barney was in full force…
  - Digidestined of Trust (Tim)
    
    January 18, 2013 at 1:17 am | #
    
    I MUST be tired. I should’ve known that pattern backwards and forward. I hummed it too fast I guess.
    - Gus Snarp
      
      January 18, 2013 at 9:53 am | #
      
      I had to count it to get it right.
      - Tucker
        
        January 18, 2013 at 12:26 pm | #
        
        I love the Me Gusta Sarah is almost pulling in the last frame. It’s easily the best part of this strip.
        
        kiapdx
        
        January 18, 2013 at 5:14 pm | #
        
        More of a -_-“
        
        ComicGeek11
        
        January 18, 2013 at 9:19 pm | #
        
        It’s definately a No Me Gusta :3
        
        Zeptometer
        
        January 19, 2013 at 1:21 am | #
        
        if it were anything like a me gusta face I would fucking drop this comic.
        
        Jererry
        
        January 19, 2013 at 1:59 pm | #
        
        Joyce might find it cute. Sarah, absolutely should not gusta in any way, shape or form.
    - lauren
      
      January 19, 2013 at 6:17 pm | #
      
      Funny. I knew the song right away but could not for the life of me figure out what the joke was as I seem to have been able to successfully purge that terrible children’s show from my brain (phew) and was like “How does ‘The Old Man’ fit into the conversation???”
      - Bob
        
        January 31, 2014 at 6:13 am | #
        
        Thank you! I thought I was the only one who thought ‘This Old Man!’
        
        Halloween Jack
        
        October 17, 2014 at 2:14 pm | #
        
        Not at all.
  - Tan
    
    January 18, 2013 at 5:57 am | #
    
    You poor bastard. Have an internet cookie for your suffering.
    - Tan
      
      January 18, 2013 at 5:59 am | #
      
      Apparently my avatar is now suggestiveJoe. I’ll have to keep this in mind for future commenting.
    - Roborat
      
      January 18, 2013 at 3:32 pm | #
      
      I got lucky, my kids hated Barney, and my daughter was just the right age for Sailor Moon (otherwise I would have had to watch it by myself).
  - Tioras
    
    January 18, 2013 at 8:21 am | #
    
    I’m lucky to have missed out on that craze. I hummed it and heard “This old man, he played one….”
    - jesslin
      
      January 18, 2013 at 10:55 am | #
      
      Thank you. I was desperately trying to figure out what playing knick-knack had to do with dinosaurs. I wondered if it was a regional verse-thing. Now I know it’s just an age/avoidance of kid-crap-thing. I’m good with that.
      - dunder
        
        January 18, 2013 at 3:41 pm | #
        
        Yeah, I figured “knick-knack paddy whack give the dog a bone” got Dina’s interest. Y’know. ’cause she likes bone.
        
        Bickendan
        
        January 19, 2013 at 4:34 am | #
        
        That’s the angle I had with the melody, but uh, your comment could easily be interpreted the wrong way…
    - Furie
      
      January 18, 2013 at 11:12 am | #
      
      Old and British here. I didn’t have a chance.
      - Snograt
        
        January 25, 2013 at 11:43 am | #
        
        Um, I’m old and British too (pushing fifty, as it happens.) Sadly I’m all to aware of that damn purple monstrosity and I knew that the music would be his theme tune, but worked it out afterwards just in case.
    - Rin
      
      January 18, 2013 at 1:08 pm | #
      
      I got the same thing. I guess Barney makes a little more sense.
      - Rin
        
        January 18, 2013 at 1:10 pm | #
        
        Though it had never occurred to me that Barney and “this old man” had the same melody.
    - Mister Mercy
      
      January 18, 2013 at 8:45 pm | #
      
      Same here
    - fundersam
      
      January 18, 2013 at 10:54 pm | #
      
      I read “This Old Man”, too. XD
      Way back, in the 90s, I had this computergame with children’s songs. The songs had illustrations where the people were – that’s right, I think you can guess – dinosaurs. Ta-da.
Doctor_Who

January 18, 2013 at 12:08 am | #

Yup. Took me a sec. Had to hum it out loud.
- Plasma Mongoose
  
  January 18, 2013 at 12:10 am | #
  
  I cannot carry a tune, so I had no idea what the song was.
  - SkepticJ
    
    January 18, 2013 at 12:22 am | #
    
    I love that your Gravatar just changed to Evil Osaka.
  - Shade
    
    January 18, 2013 at 1:28 am | #
    
    I can’t either, but I guessed it. Just the only thing I could think of that would make Sarah make that face.
    - Kas
      
      January 18, 2013 at 1:40 am | #
      
      Same here… I considered dragging a musical friend over, but a quick hum of the song and I figured it seemed about right.
  - Pyr05
    
    January 19, 2013 at 2:19 am | #
    
    Nobody expects you to carry a tune Plasma. They’re heavy, and instantly encumber your movement. As such, I commend you on your desire for both speed and dodging. You have optimized yourself for dodgeball.
- Ziaheart
  
  January 18, 2013 at 1:53 am | #
  
  I figured it was but hummed it to make sure.
- Link
  
  January 18, 2013 at 2:22 am | #
  
  More like Humming of Age, from what it looks like in the comments.
DanielleM

January 18, 2013 at 12:25 am | #

I figured it was the theme song.
SuziRoo

January 18, 2013 at 12:48 am | #

First thought: Barney. Second thought: Surely not. Third thought: Check the comments. Fourth thought: Really?
- tahrey
  
  January 18, 2013 at 3:57 am | #
  
  Yeah, it’s been years since I did any proper sight-reading, and being a 31 year old Brit I only know of Barney and his songs second-hand, but it’s quite clearly that one. Hard to mistake something so simplistic
- tahrey
  
  January 18, 2013 at 3:58 am | #
  
  Though thanks to the aforementioned background I -did- (like many others) have a brief moment of “when did ‘this’ old man have a pet dino?”
Edward

January 18, 2013 at 2:22 am | #

I hummed it out dead on accurate, but couldn’t put a name to the song.

So there is hope people. It’s possible you may one day forget about Barney too.

Now if we could just keep comic strip writers from reconstituting him again.
Ivan

January 18, 2013 at 3:30 am | #

This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack on my thumb;
With a knick-knack paddywhack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
- smilr
  
  January 18, 2013 at 6:35 am | #
  
  That is precisely what I was thinking. Then I though “what does this have to do with dinosaurs?”
  
  I had to come here and read the comments to figure out it’s Barney.
- Aric
  
  January 18, 2013 at 8:04 am | #
  
  Thanks, I’m glad I’m not the only one too old to immediately think of Barney’s theme song first.
  - Opus the Poet
    
    January 18, 2013 at 1:32 pm | #
    
    Unfortunately there is a crossover age where we had kids that would watch Barney and Friends, so older people than you know it also.
- casual observer
  
  January 18, 2013 at 9:15 am | #
  
  That’s what first came to mind, and I was like; “There are no dinosaurs in that song!”
- cjmaloof
  
  January 18, 2013 at 10:33 am | #
  
  I wondered if I’d forgotten a verse. “This old man, he played four-us…”
  - HEYOUGUYZ!
    
    January 18, 2013 at 11:08 am | #
    
    OH NO! A TYRANNO SAW(R) US!
    - Leorale
      
      January 18, 2013 at 11:10 pm | #
      
      Yay
BD

January 18, 2013 at 9:59 am | #

Geez. I misread that as the Godzilla March…
Kitschensyngk

January 18, 2013 at 4:10 pm | #

OH OF COURSE!! I hummed it and immediately thought of “This Old Man.”

I’m a 90s kid, I should have known…
Aisling

June 6, 2015 at 2:04 pm | #

Yay for comments or I would have never got the joke! lol
leoatrox

July 18, 2015 at 10:34 pm | #

This would have been much better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DZo3cdxdK4&index=2&list=FLesvHTw0K6KAQDJCQaq8A6w

Jen Aside

January 18, 2013 at 12:05 am | #

GAH I barely can read music, and I can still tell that’s “Barney” DX

Sir Robin

January 18, 2013 at 12:06 am | #

Ok, someone needs to translate the song for me

otusasio451

January 18, 2013 at 12:13 am | #

I love you. You love me. We’re a happy family.
- Sri
  
  January 18, 2013 at 12:27 am | #
  
  I’m glad you posted the real third line. All I could hear was the parody we sang at Girl Scout Camp. ‘I hate you. You hate me. Let’s hang Barney from a tree.’
  - DiDi
    
    January 18, 2013 at 12:51 am | #
    
    Ha! I wasn’t in Girl Scouts. But Elementary school had another parody version we sang.
    
    With “Let’s get together and kill Barney” as the 3rd line.
    - emeraldbeacon
      
      January 18, 2013 at 1:16 am | #
      
      “…with a twelve gauge shotgun,
      *BANG* he’s on the floor!
      No more purple dinosaur.”
      - Audiophillie
        
        January 18, 2013 at 1:47 am | #
        
        Elementary school was a frightening place, in retrospect.
        
        Rognik
        
        January 18, 2013 at 2:48 am | #
        
        At least we only sang about shooting dinosaurs, instead of actually carrying them like they do in today’s elementary school. *shudders*
        
        michaelANOFF
        
        January 18, 2013 at 7:27 am | #
        
        My primary school had:
        “I love drugs, drugs love me,
        Crack cocaine and ecstasy,
        With a sniff sniff here and a puff puff there,
        now I’m in intensive care!”
        ….
        I grew up in an odd place.
        
        Blitz
        
        January 18, 2013 at 10:27 am | #
        
        Today’s kids carry dinosaurs to school?
        
        That hardly seems fair. How did I miss out on this?
        
        Hylleddin
        
        January 18, 2013 at 11:10 am | #
        
        “Deck the halls with gasoline, fa la la la la la la la la”
        “Light a match and hear the screams…”
        
        That was a favorite at my school. “children are innocent” my foot.
        
        Roborat
        
        January 18, 2013 at 3:41 pm | #
        
        Today’s elementary school kids bring birds to school?
      - Jesse
        
        January 18, 2013 at 4:34 am | #
        
        We had a similar one at my primary school:
        
        Sorry kids, no more fun
        I shot Barney up the bum
        With a shotgun, bang-bang
        Barney’s on the floor
        No more purple dinosaur
        
        Yarrr
        
        January 18, 2013 at 5:38 am | #
        
        And the Animorphs one:
        
        You kill me
        I kill you
        We’re an alien family…
        
        Jackson
        
        January 18, 2013 at 6:57 am | #
        
        And there’s the first alternate elementary-school version that I heard:
        
        I love you, you love me
        Homosexuality
        People think we are just friends
        Actually we’re lesbians
        
        …which, come to think of it, is actually not entirely unfitting for Dumbing of Age, depending on what your ships are.
        
        zfshiruba
        
        January 18, 2013 at 4:09 pm | #
        
        Our ‘Kill Barney’ song was set to Joy to the World.
        Joy to the World
        Barney’s dead
        We Barbequed his head
        Don’t worry about the body
        We flushed it down the potty
        And round and round it goes,
        and round and round it goes
        And round and round and round it goes
        
        Mada
        
        August 26, 2015 at 12:15 pm | #
        
        Oh my god I actually remember this one….
      - Raibean
        
        January 18, 2013 at 3:23 pm | #
        
        I had “with a big shotgun and Barney on the floor, no more stupid dinosaur.”
      - Raye J
        
        November 18, 2013 at 2:04 pm | #
        
        In my school, it was “Take a baseball bat and whack him on the head. Don’t tell Mommy, Barney’s dead”
  - katamanda
    
    January 18, 2013 at 8:17 am | #
    
    Funnily at my school in the UK we had a teletubbies song set to this tune.
    
    “I love Po, Po love’s me
    Let’s tie Dipsy to a tree
    With a knife thought his belly and gun to his head
    Sorry La-La, Dipsy’s dead”
    - Rokk
      
      January 18, 2013 at 8:26 am | #
      
      At mine we had
      
      I love Po, Po loves me,
      Come on guys lets kill Dipsy
      With a great big BANG
      And a bullet to the head
      Sorry LaLa Dipsy’s dead
    - Rognik
      
      January 20, 2013 at 12:09 am | #
      
      Ugh, Teletubbies. That was easily Barney’s rival this side of the pond. Couldn’t stomach either of them, but being a teenager, didn’t have to.

Aizat

January 18, 2013 at 12:06 am | #

Since I can’t read sheet music, I’m going to guess “Barney”?

Wonder Wig

January 18, 2013 at 12:07 am | #

Flintstones… meet… the Flintstones….

NCP19

January 18, 2013 at 1:01 am | #

They’re a modern stone age familllllyyyyyy…
Rognik

January 18, 2013 at 2:49 am | #

Sadly not. That’d be a quarter note followed by at least a half note (if not a dotted half note). I can read the music, but I was never very good at transposing.

Plasma Mongoose

January 18, 2013 at 12:08 am | #

My guess: The Move’s Brontosaurus.

Beefcube

January 18, 2013 at 12:08 am | #

I heard that as “This Old Man” at first, and now I realize that’s where Barney got the song from. Huh.

Jon P

January 18, 2013 at 12:13 am | #

Likewise. I was trying to da-doo-daaaa, da-doo-daaaa my way to getting the tune, and got “This Old Man”. Only once I read the above comments did I understand Sarah’s consternation.
- MarcinMN
  
  January 18, 2013 at 12:23 am | #
  
  Yeah, I thought of “This Old Man” too. Which made me think, “Is there a dinosaur in that song??…” I’m too old to be in the Barney generation, so that’s probably why I didn’t think of him first.
  - Eposi
    
    January 18, 2013 at 1:06 am | #
    
    They are the same melody, just different tempo
  - Rognik
    
    January 18, 2013 at 2:50 am | #
    
    This only man/He played 5743/He played knicknack on a brontosaurus…
Vert

January 18, 2013 at 2:00 am | #

Same here. Never knew that.

MM

January 18, 2013 at 12:09 am | #

What does “This Old Man” have to do wi–

…Ohhh. I get it. (And hey, I can still sightread! Cool!)

Joebo

January 18, 2013 at 12:20 am | #

Was going to leave the exact same comment, decided that it would be a good idea to see if I was the first person to make that connection on this thread. Glad that I checked.

Beefcube

January 18, 2013 at 12:10 am | #

I heard that as “This Old Man” at first, and only just realized that’s where Barney got the song from. Huh.

Phyc

January 18, 2013 at 12:11 am | #

Thank you, you all saved me from flipping out. Now that I know my soul can rest in peace.

Well not really. The Barney songs are lingering in my head.

MarkReed

January 19, 2013 at 8:27 am | #

Your avatar makes that comment WAY better.

General Tekno

January 18, 2013 at 12:11 am | #

Yeah; took me a sec to get it – haven’t read sheet music in years.

Brilliant though!

Enkai

January 18, 2013 at 12:13 am | #

OMG, Barney. Sadly, I’m not the first person that got that, but OMG, a music punch line, and I love it.

Uniqueantique

January 18, 2013 at 12:15 am | #

Barney steals all music from other sources. Nothing original about the disgusting obnoxious purple, totally smary dino.

Regalli

January 18, 2013 at 12:15 am | #

The sad part is, I took violin for three years, voice lessons for four, and a semester of piano on top of all that.

I still cannot read sheet music whatsoever.

Birke

January 18, 2013 at 11:49 am | #

I was in choir for four years and guitar for two, and I can’t read sheet music either. Anything I sang or played, I had to listen to it and memorize it.
- Regalli
  
  January 19, 2013 at 3:16 am | #
  
  Same. Fortunately I have some scarily good memory when it comes to music.

Casey

January 18, 2013 at 12:27 am | #

I’m music illiterate so thank you guys for letting me in on the know ^_^ As a child I’d be happily singing a song and kids would be like “HAHA YOU LIKE BARNEY!” “…Actually I listened to my brother and sister’s records from the 60s so this song is quite a bit older than Barney. How do *you* know that song is from Barney unless you actually are the one who watches Barney?” …I got beat up for out logicing kids…

Mo

January 18, 2013 at 12:28 am | #

Don Was is rolling in his grave. Assuming he’s dead.

Maestro

January 18, 2013 at 8:24 am | #

He’s still alive. He’s only 60.

Inara

January 18, 2013 at 12:31 am | #

There must be more dinosaur-related songs – I wonder if “Godzilla” would be close enough for Dina’s liking? Actually, I think I would be terribly entertained by Dina’s opinions on Godzilla.

begbert2

January 18, 2013 at 10:53 am | #

Wait, I didn’t thing Godzilla was even supposed to be a dinosaur. Sure, he’s big and reptilian and has atomic breath like a dinosaur, but I thought he was supposed to be either a mutated lizard or something more akin to Cthulhu.
- begbert2
  
  January 18, 2013 at 10:54 am | #
  
  Whoops. Somebody fix closing italics tag, please?
- Mal
  
  January 18, 2013 at 11:23 am | #
  
  I just want to close the italics.
  - Mal
    
    January 18, 2013 at 11:26 am | #
    
    I think the “be” did it? Bah. This probably won’t fix it, either.
    - Jackson
      
      January 18, 2013 at 9:42 pm | #
      
      Maybe this will fix it.
- Bill M.
  
  January 18, 2013 at 12:35 pm | #
  
  Godzilla is a dinosaur… a Godzillasaurus to be exact. The normal Godzillasaurii are just not as atomic.
  
  Also, I was hoping she’d learned the theme song to Denver the last Dinosaur, which was also kid-themed, but didn’t stop being entertaining when you started growing hair in places it normally didn’t before.
  - Kamino Neko
    
    January 18, 2013 at 5:32 pm | #
    
    Godzillasauri. One i. It’s not Godzillasaurius. Or avoid the whole ‘how to pluralize Latin’ mess and use Godzillasauruses. English plurals are always valid in English. (Improper foreign pluralization is one of my pet peeves. Drives me up the blessed wall, it does.)

Aras Pabedinskas

January 18, 2013 at 12:39 am | #

Barney, HA

petsinwinter

January 18, 2013 at 12:39 am | #

She can play TWO? All I got is ode to joy, translated from memory off of recorder (the woodwind). On second thought that sounds much more impressive on paper than it probably really was.

Doctor_Who

January 18, 2013 at 12:41 am | #

I had an album as a kid called “Wee Sing Dinosaurs” that I bet Dina would have liked. And My brother had a collection of songs from that Dinosaurs Jim Henson show.

Regalli

January 18, 2013 at 1:30 am | #

I remember having a couple cassette tapes about dinosaurs. Don’t quite remember their names, though. Just some of the songs about vegetarian dinos and Compsognathus and such.
- begbert2
  
  January 18, 2013 at 10:58 am | #
  
  I had a couple of cassette tapes about dinosaurs! They were called Slugfest and Overkill.

Robin Lionheart

January 18, 2013 at 12:43 am | #

More comix only for people who can read sheet music:

http://forum.makemusic.com/attach.aspx/20658/not%20in%20the%20scor
e.jpeg

Aras Pabedinskas

January 18, 2013 at 12:45 am | #

Actually, looking at this art a second time, it appears that Sarah is… slightly pleased at this. It’s like in her head she’s saying “I should have guessed” and just sucking in the delicious punchline. If that was what you were going for, nice! If it wasn’t… NICE!

Robin Lionheart

January 18, 2013 at 12:45 am | #

Another comix only for people who can read sheet music. (But for those who don’t, this may help.)

Egg

January 18, 2013 at 4:11 pm | #

LOL! I actually suck at reading extended stuff, but the intervals/rhythm were a big tipoff.

Syngraphea

January 18, 2013 at 12:48 am | #

As a member of that “happy family,” I approve of this message. XD

kaze

January 18, 2013 at 12:50 am | #

Is it weird I thought of “denver the last dinosaur” ? that song is always stuck in my brain for no reason.

David M Willis

January 18, 2013 at 1:06 am | #

Denver the Last Dinosaur has some majorly creepy overtones.

I mean, he’s your friend and a whole lot more.

He’s showing you a world you never saw before.

Let’s just say a lot of grown-up kids’ relationship statuses with Denver are probably “It’s Complicated.”
- Maestro
  
  January 18, 2013 at 8:26 am | #
  
  …but ohhh man, the taco pizzas.
- mouseanderson
  
  January 18, 2013 at 5:01 pm | #
  
  Taco pizza’s yum, pedophilia ick
- MLBlue
  
  January 18, 2013 at 5:39 pm | #
  
  Welp, there goes my childhood. I really liked Denver the last Dinosaur as a kid. Interesting what they can get past kids heads.

Samuel

January 18, 2013 at 12:52 am | #

Was hoping it was the theme/arrival music for Godzilla. Dina should know that one too

3DSarge

January 18, 2013 at 1:00 am | #

I laughed harder at this than I probably should have.

Kurai Seraphim

January 18, 2013 at 1:05 am | #

I had a feeling it was Barney from the notes, but I really, really wanted it to be Denver the Last Dinosaur.

isitsevenyet

January 18, 2013 at 1:09 am | #

I feel very smart, now, that I am able to read sheet music and got the joke right away. XD

isitsevenyet

January 18, 2013 at 1:10 am | #

Oh, and I don’t know if anyone else has pointed this out, but that last measure isn’t really accurate. Not that it really matters for the joke or anything, just something I noticed.

Darth Cariss

January 18, 2013 at 1:10 am | #

I’m surprised that so many people in the comments had any idea what to read that as.

Digidestined of Trust (Tim)

January 18, 2013 at 1:19 am | #

I’m glad I can still read sheet music. Not all that hard though once you practice enough

Kamino Neko

January 18, 2013 at 1:20 am | #

Gah…for some reason, I kept missing a quarter note in my head, so not only did I not get it, when people explained it, I kept thinking ‘that doesn’t fit…’

Stupid brain is full of stupids.

Kelly

January 18, 2013 at 1:27 am | #

I still think reading music is impossible and everyone is just making it.

slicedtoad

January 19, 2013 at 1:53 pm | #

I agree. I can hum any simple tune I want while staring at that sheet music and they all feel right.

Ray Barrington

January 18, 2013 at 1:32 am | #

I was betting on “Walk the Dinosaur” by Was/Not Was

Robert

January 18, 2013 at 1:32 am | #

I’m guessing Dina is playing the Flinstones music. either that or the land before time.

Lancer

January 18, 2013 at 1:50 am | #

Took me a bit because I can read sheet music but don’t really know what the key for the piano is like since I’m a saxophonist. Good one though =3

Rognik

January 18, 2013 at 2:58 am | #

The piano is in the key of C. It’s to the piano that all other instruments take their keys, I think. Even so, I don’t think a problem of transposure is the real issue here…

Raen

January 18, 2013 at 1:53 am | #

Repeat after me:

“With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, he pulls the spitting high-tension wires down…”

Raen

January 18, 2013 at 1:54 am | #

Or better yet, just teach her the whole T. Rex oeuvre.

…or don’t. I just pictured her playing “Get It On” and my head burst.
Xydux

January 18, 2013 at 11:07 am | #

GODZILLA!

(P.S. That’s Blue Oyster Cult, just in case you didn’t know. I wasn’t sure, due to the T. Rex comment.)
Sorcyress

January 23, 2013 at 4:54 pm | #

I might’ve accidentally read your comment to the tune of the Barney Theme Song. It almost fits, if you have no sense of scansion. Yeeeeah.

diremoi

January 18, 2013 at 2:14 am | #

No Open the Door Get On the Floor Everybody Walk the Dinosaur?

HiEv

January 18, 2013 at 4:31 am | #

I was thinking the same thing, but it’s probably hard to make that sound good on piano.

Dash

January 18, 2013 at 2:16 am | #

So, nobody else read this and thought Knick-Knack Paddywack first?

I swear, I’m not that old…

MasterClockwork

January 18, 2013 at 2:52 am | #

Yes, I can read sheet music. However, I did not need to read it to know exactly what song she was going to play. Another dinosaur song, please, do you think this is a game son?

The Pink Spartan

January 18, 2013 at 3:03 am | #

I couldn’t figure it out for the life of me until I looked at it again and noticed it was 4:4. Clicked -instantly-… and what is worse? The entire single episode of Barney I ever watched played in my head afterward.

Romanticide

January 18, 2013 at 3:25 am | #

Hell I have no idea about reading music yet I guessed right being Barney… it just had to be XD

Bill Murphy

January 18, 2013 at 3:27 am | #

I love you, you love me.
Ho-mo-sex-u-al-i-ty.
They all say that we’re just friends,
Ac-tu-ally we’re Les-bi-ans.

Sorry, but that’s all I ever hear during the Barney song. I was on Wayy too many grammar school bus trips.

BumblebeeZ3

January 18, 2013 at 3:29 am | #

Until seeing the comments, it didn’t even occur to me that Barney was a possibility, I was thinking it was Denver the last Dinosaur, because she is probably too young for Dinosaucers. maybe even too young for Dinoriders…which I now see was the same year as Denver according to wikipedia. And she would actually have been born at the right time to have watched Barney growing up. Well crap, I feel kinda old now.

Chad from Canada

January 18, 2013 at 3:36 am | #

I can’t read music at all, but by counting the notes while thinking of the tune, and using situational logic… I figured it out in about ten seconds. It really wasn’t that hard. Sarah’s implied face-palm helped.
Oh, and she should learn Walk the Dinosaur, and the theme to that old puppet show Dinosaurs.

Tenn

January 18, 2013 at 4:06 am | #

I could sort of make out the tune in my head, but never having seen Barney, I couldn’t tell what it was.

Earl

January 18, 2013 at 4:06 am | #

No no no! That song is This Old Man and will always be This Old Man there is no Barney! He never existed, understand?!!

mez

January 18, 2013 at 4:22 am | #

I don’t quite get this.
I read the sheet music to play ‘This old man’, which to my recollection has no dinosours. What dinosaur music is written to this tune?
Everyone is saying it is the intro to barney, but barney’s intro is written to ‘Yankee doodle’. This sure isn’t the intro to barney.

HEYOUGUYZ!

January 18, 2013 at 11:15 am | #

that’s what i said…
HEYOUGUYZ!

January 18, 2013 at 11:16 am | #

that’s what i said… although this old man does have a bone in it.
Whittier

January 18, 2013 at 3:35 pm | #

It’s not the opening song. It’s the song he sings towards the end of the show. The altered lyrics are:
I love you, you love me/We’re a happy family/With a great big hug/and a kiss from me to you/Won’t you say you love me too
- mez
  
  January 19, 2013 at 5:42 am | #
  
  Ah, yes, now it clicks. Feel a little foolish
  
  Didn’t watch it that much as a kid. I was right into dinosaurs, just not people in suits.

Jesse

January 18, 2013 at 4:24 am | #

I thought it was Barney, even though sheet music is gibberish to me.

Squeeeble

January 18, 2013 at 4:36 am | #

I hate you, you loved me
Barney gave me HIV
So I cut off his bollocks and shot him in the head
Now the purple bastard’s dead

Barabajagal

January 18, 2013 at 5:47 am | #

Coupled with a much slower tempo and lack of Barney based music knowledge I had to rely on the comments. In my head the Barney song goes higher on the last note of the 2nd bar. Maybe I never had a childhood.

Sam

January 18, 2013 at 6:01 am | #

DINAH

I CAN’T

Maycroft

January 18, 2013 at 6:24 am | #

I think I was better not knowing the song…

Jesus DeSaad

January 18, 2013 at 6:36 am | #

Not knowing how to read notes I thought it would be “Denver The Last Dinosaur”.

Blur

January 18, 2013 at 8:30 am | #

I don’t know sheet music. The little bit of guitar I play is through tabs.

But I put two and two together and saw the pattern. Slowly, slowly I figured it out. The whole time my brain kept saying “You sure you want to know? It’ll only cause unneeded suffering.”

But I had to know. And now?

I wish I didn’t. You were right, grey matter. You were right.

TK

January 18, 2013 at 8:39 am | #

Huh. Having read the comments, it is OBVIOUS that it is Barney. But when I read the music, I read it in cut time, and the tune is a dead ringer for “This Old Man” … Never made that connection before. Or if I did, I buried it.

I actually think that original Barney has merit, but after a change in voice actors, new characters, and a general futzing it became repugnant. But OG Barney? Not so bad.

Whittier

January 18, 2013 at 3:57 pm | #

The biggest critique against the show has come, not against Barney himself, but of the extreme overacting by the child actors.
Regalli

January 19, 2013 at 3:20 am | #

By OG Barney, do you mean the dark purple one? From what Wikipedia tells me was “Barney and the Backyard Gang”? Because I remember having a video of that one but as far as I can tell they didn’t actually air on television.

Hoop

January 18, 2013 at 8:45 am | #

yeah i guess “walk the dinosaur” is A: too synth heavy and B: too “a one hit wonder from a decade before you were born” to be appropriate here, isn’t it?

Gus Snarp

January 18, 2013 at 9:24 am | #

Hurray for high school band! I’m a terrible sight reader, but at least that’s an easy song. I got to get the joke!

sarpiedon

January 18, 2013 at 9:34 am | #

Willis you sick, sadistic bastard…

Fady

January 18, 2013 at 9:38 am | #

That’s “I Love You”, isn’t it.
That’s the bloody Barney song.
*Check the comments*
Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

CK

January 18, 2013 at 9:43 am | #

I laughed louder because it made me feel smrt.

Anthony

January 18, 2013 at 9:52 am | #

Is that… Sakura, a Japanese folk song?

drs

January 18, 2013 at 9:56 am | #

I love you
You love me
Pedobestiality

Anthony

January 18, 2013 at 10:26 am | #

Or maybe… theme song from Columbo?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-JR2jr48Jc#t=25s

Blade dog and destroyer

January 18, 2013 at 10:33 am | #

pricless

David M Willis

January 18, 2013 at 10:46 am | #

Well, watch where you walk near chainsaws.
- Narf
  
  March 1, 2013 at 11:44 am | #
  
  HAH!!!
  
  I get it!!

Doug Dean

January 18, 2013 at 10:51 am | #

Guess I’m showing my age. I couldn’t figure out what “This Old Man” had to do with dinosaurs — until I read the first comment.

Alain

January 18, 2013 at 11:27 am | #

I can’t read music and I’m pretty close to being tone deaf, but just looking at Sarah’s face it had to be Barney.

PlatyPius

January 18, 2013 at 11:33 am | #

Looks like Barney to me…

Chiatroll

January 18, 2013 at 12:03 pm | #

This comic right after the creator of barney the dinosaur gets arrested for attempted murder.

Kafloobop

January 18, 2013 at 12:11 pm | #

I feel like in the third panel the emphasis should be on “one” instead of “other”.
Then again what do I know.
This comic was really funny to me because I have a friend who can play most of the songs from Ocarina of time on the Piano fantastically, but absolutely nothing else.

Richie9999

January 18, 2013 at 12:36 pm | #

Woohoo! Those semesters of music theory, all of my practicing on cello and bass have finally led to this moment of triumph! I can read what you have written and its… the Barney theme song?

Bionic

January 18, 2013 at 12:40 pm | #

It’s “This Old Man,” containing the line “give a dog a bone” (oblique dinosaur reference).

I know not of this “Barney” of which you speak…

Reepicheep-chan

January 18, 2013 at 12:59 pm | #

I suppose Barney is an obvs enough punchline to guess even without knowing anything about sheet music, but even my really basic elementary school knowledge of music was actually enough for me to pick it out. Like, I look at that and my brain goes: medium length note, slightly lower medium length note, slightly higher longer note, repete, four regular length notes getting progressively lower, first set of three over again, yep that is that “I love you” song alright.

jacob

January 18, 2013 at 1:37 pm | #

just coming to post that this is my favorite comic in the series so far.

TinyDoctorTim

January 18, 2013 at 1:56 pm | #

It’s hard to express how silly I felt when I realized Dina’s song was a reference to Barney the Dinosaur. I couldn’t figure out at first why she would have memorized the “Knick-knack, paddy-wack” song.

TinyDoctorTim

January 18, 2013 at 1:58 pm | #

P.S. DYW!

Martigro

January 18, 2013 at 2:00 pm | #

I got it! I got the reference!

Raymond

January 18, 2013 at 3:04 pm | #

Derived the punchline just from the setup ( “What’s another dinosaur song that would be really lame and embarrassing to know? Oh, probably a Barney song.”) Sightreading just clarified whether it was “I love you, you love me…” or “Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination…”

Jeff K!

January 21, 2013 at 5:30 am | #

Yeah, but if Willis had used the “Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination…” tune, everyone would have confused it for the Roger Ramjet theme!

… or is that just me?

Andrusi

January 18, 2013 at 3:19 pm | #

Italics, whee!

Whittier

January 18, 2013 at 3:32 pm | #

BARNEY. Oh. I only thought “This Old Man.”

Roborat

January 18, 2013 at 3:43 pm | #

Yea, saw this coming, still funny though. Why did the comments change to italics?

Ellie

January 18, 2013 at 3:55 pm | #

Wow, I got the joke without having to play it on my keyboard!

Carla Benton

January 18, 2013 at 4:37 pm | #

I can’t read sheet music, but I got it.

Bravo!

BaronHaynes

January 18, 2013 at 4:42 pm | #

Sarah and Dina’s Hat are in agreement in panel 4.

mouseanderson

January 18, 2013 at 5:16 pm | #

Almost got traumatized by this one. my older daughter watched this when she was little.

MLBlue

January 18, 2013 at 5:37 pm | #

Ah, the late 90s. During the Web 1.0 days, it was the in thing to make fun of Barney. I remember this one site dedicated to just fake shooting a picture of barney until it was a bloody mess. Good times?

Con Johnner

January 18, 2013 at 5:59 pm | #

Am I the only one surprised by her not knowing “Walk the Dinosaur”?

KHNO

January 18, 2013 at 6:35 pm | #

I can read sheets, but I recognize shit. Even after reading the comments. Meh – I only can tell from the notation it’s not Casimir ‘s begining, because thos one would be (approximative rythm because of fucki ascii)
o -q- q
______________l _____ l_ l______________________
d
2________________________q_q_o_______________
33 o 33 33
_ ‘ ‘_____l__ ‘ ‘_____ ‘ ‘__________________________
l d
2__d_o_______________________________________

_____________________________________________

KHNO

January 18, 2013 at 6:36 pm | #

Fatch, the spaces are gone, my sheet is wasted, and so were my lass twenty minutes
Megan Wetzel

January 18, 2013 at 8:31 pm | #

Seriously dude? I know sheet music on an elementary level, and I got this, You’ve got to be over thinking it. hum it out loud maybe?

Megan Wetzel

January 18, 2013 at 8:29 pm | #

This is freaking awesome lol. I’m a musician, and I site read it and hummed it out loud, and it cracked me up. Kudos for the staff work haha!

Naz

January 18, 2013 at 9:26 pm | #

What about Denver the last dinosaur?

ilvos01

January 18, 2013 at 10:24 pm | #

I LOVE YOU, YOU LOVE ME, WE’RE ALL ONE BIG FAM-I-LY

Brady Kj

January 18, 2013 at 10:41 pm | #

I tried humming this and it sounded like Jaws for two measures. It’s a marvel that some people can read sheet music.

BTW, wasn’t “I love you” stolen from Mr. Rogers?

Piper

January 18, 2013 at 10:46 pm | #

Good thing the notes go below the range of my bagpipes. Otherwise I would play it … and the world would suffer greatly.

AckAckAck

January 18, 2013 at 11:16 pm | #

Why every comments are italic?

Plasma Mongoose

January 19, 2013 at 12:56 am | #

Someone forgot to add the to the end of their sentence.
- waldosan
  
  January 19, 2013 at 1:00 am | #
  
  i didn’t know the internet worked that way…
- taekwondogirl
  
  January 19, 2013 at 11:29 am | #
  
  And you forgot a word in there. :p
  
  Someone forgot to add the close tag for italics at the end of their sentence.

Plasma Mongoose

January 19, 2013 at 12:57 am | #

“add the [/a] to the end”

waldosan

January 19, 2013 at 1:08 am | #

just keep it how it is, it’s like everyone is talking like their evil geniuses or something. i’m picturing all these words being read by a somehow english speaking Norio Wakamoto.
- Plasma Mongoose
  
  January 19, 2013 at 7:40 am | #
  
  Ah, the guy who voiced Mechazawa from Cromartie.

waldosan

January 19, 2013 at 1:05 am | #

am i the only one to notice that Joe’s shirt from two or three comic strips ago is the same shirt that Dino-Girl-Wonder here was wearing at the beginning of this particular web comic? i sense some Hanky Panky, i sense that dino-girl who’s name i seriously forgot is getting more action than any of our other main characters, except for Joe, becuase he hasn’t been gilt tripped by Joyce hard enough.

i sense that dino-girl-wonder, and joe, are in fact: a thing.

waldosan

January 19, 2013 at 1:05 am | #

SCANDALOUS!
begbert2

January 20, 2013 at 2:33 pm | #

When you forget the names, it’s good to check the tags.

For example, from this comic you can learn that the asian girl’s name is Sarah.

Shadowcthuhlu

January 19, 2013 at 2:23 am | #

Somebody should introduce her to Doctor Jane. Lot’s of Dino’s there.

Pyr05

January 19, 2013 at 2:36 am | #

I’m waiting for Dina to break out into the ‘Dinosaurs’ theme song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx9Wg03arxQ

If you want that show to cause you to lose your shit, watch this when you’re over-tired and can’t fall asleep. Guaranteed to keep you up for the next few weeks petrified.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vu0WqGYw7M

Leslie

January 19, 2013 at 12:54 pm | #

hahahaha…. Had to pull up a flash keyboard because I was too lazy to walk into the other room… Well played… (no pun intended?)

Pinja

January 19, 2013 at 2:17 pm | #

Sarah and Dina have a nice unexpected friendship

JA

January 19, 2013 at 3:11 pm | #

“I hate you, you hate me
Let’s get up and kill Barney
With a two by four
Barney’s on the floor
No more purple dinosaur”

^Sung my us in 2nd grade.

Jeff K!

January 21, 2013 at 5:27 am | #

We always sang it as
“I hate you, You hate me,
We all ha-ate Ba-arney!
With the bang of a shotgun,
Barney hits the floor!
No more purple dinosaur!”

Slight differences in cadence, you see.
- waldosan
  
  January 24, 2013 at 6:12 pm | #
  
  up here representing from new york it was always
  
  “i hate you, you hate me
  let’s all gang up and kill barney
  with a 22 shotgun shoot’im in the head,
  now we’ll say that barney’s dead”

Jerrod Kane

January 19, 2013 at 4:55 pm | #

My mind firmly had “Walk the Dinosaur” to the other tune..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGzetPIm_mM

Raphnarock

January 20, 2013 at 1:12 am | #

Why not anything Land Before Time related. I honestly gave that more thought than Barney.

Chronos

January 20, 2013 at 2:05 am | #

This old man, he played 5,348,193,209…

Patrick

January 20, 2013 at 2:22 pm | #

I’m just glad I wasn’t the only one wondering what “This Old Man” had to do with dinosaurs. Fortunately, I’m way too old for Barney.

Goldug

January 20, 2013 at 5:15 pm | #

Actually had to take out my piano app to recreate it in order to understand the song, though I had a hunch that it was this song. It’s not known in my country, so I’m impressed with myself that I even knew the song

Wixvhen

January 20, 2013 at 5:19 pm | #

Even Dina frowns at Barney

Fluffy

January 21, 2013 at 5:19 pm | #

And for those of us who can read sheet music but didn’t get the joke…
Nothing.

Romanticide

January 24, 2013 at 12:24 am | #

Barney es un dinosario que fuma mariguana, y cuando se hace grande el picha las caguamas. El viene a fumar cuando lo necesitas y siempre te va ayudar si siembras cocaíiina.. XD

Hinoron

July 15, 2013 at 10:59 pm | #

I just youtubed the JP theme to refresh my memory… isn’t it actually mostly strings (and brass, admittedly)?
Seems like Dina ought to have been able to play at least some of the major parts on her violin.