Need help IDing a tune (Circus? Magic act ?)

There is a tune that I've always associated with the circus or comedy magic act, and as much as I can hear it in my brain, it's hard to put into so many words. It's the kind of tune you might hear if you see one of those guys who likes to balance plates on rotating broomsticks (or whatever) and eventually, they all fall down. Or a really frenetic phony magician's skits.

The only thing I can think of is that there is liberal use of a xylophone in it, and probably a lot of the brass section. It's supposed to be dramatic, I guess, but I can't remember ever hearing it in other than the scenarios above.

I know it would be difficult to figure it out from my really lousy description, but it's also one of those very old pieces of music that doesn't really belong anywhere else.

Can anyone point me in some direction?

Daa da da-da-da daa daaa... :)

Try YouTubing the Ed Sullivan Show. There might be a clip of a plate twirler.

as I could hear the music. Now I know what it was!

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LzTW7NqY2Y

Here's a midi file of the whole piece:

http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/midis/bigtop.mid

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrance_of_the_Gladiators

Is that the one?

:shrug:

But I knew it was a lot more dramatic than the "big top" tune. I very much would like to thank you for looking for it. :)

I certainly remember that played during Ed Sullivan show episodes.

Sabre Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqg3l3r_DRI

Thank you. This is the one. I'm glad you were able to figure it out by my half-assed description. :)

Growing up watching Ed Sullivan on Sunday Nights and the Plate Spinners. What more could you want out of life? On second thought there must be something better.

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The plate-spinning music I know was "The Sabre Dance", though maybe
not the version there -- I don't remember muted passages in it.
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The last fistfight that I started was in my senior year in high school. My
best buddy came along and swung his jacket at my face and a metal
ring on the sleeve hit me right in the open eyeball.
.
I exploded... it was broken up very quickly, but I had hit him so hard
that the white of his right eye was blood-red. I was sick about it.
.
Mikey (not his real name) decided that he would get me back. Spent a
whole week doing drama stuff, including humming a little tune on "THE
DAY" when we were about to go out in the parking lot. He had THOUGHT
it was "Taps", but it was that "Circus Song".
:rofl:
In the parking lot, his eye was STILL blood-red, and I didn't want to
hurt him further, so I was just swinging to keep him away until somebody
broke it up. He ducked INTO one swing and I hit him on the side of his
(thick) skull without being prepared for it and broke my little finger.
.
This satisfied him though... and we were best friends again.
.