DEEPLINKS: Ending a cliff hanger

If you were lucky enough to be a student at the University of New Brunswick a few years ago, matriculating along the banks of the St. John River, you could spend your free time in the many coffee shops and open bars that spill out of Fredericton much as they do any North American college town. You might have even taken in the entertainments of a performer known as Petunia, whose real name is Robert, a musician whose act was dominated by the kazoo and the yodel. Petunia, while given over mostly to light comedy, had some mad kazoo skillz that occasionally shone through, such as on her rendition of "La Vie En Rose." The yodeling skills were not as appreciated, and as one reviewer said, were "apparantly (sic) picked up from watching The Price is Right."

I'm willing to bet hard-earned money that at the end of that sentence a sound popped into your head, a yodel that has been buried in the subconscious of millions of people around the world. It is the most famous yodel of all time, a lilting, driving, circular phrase that is both instantly recognizable and completely anonymous:

"Ah-de-lu-de ah-de-li-do ah-de-lu-di-ah,
ah-de-lu-de ah-de-li-do ah-de-lu-di-o"



That sound comes from "Cliff Hangers," a game that's been on "The Price is Right" since 1977. According to those who know, the sound came from a record called "Swiss Mountain Alp Music, Circa 1975-'76," and to the best of my knowledge, has yet to find its way onto the Web in unadulterated form.

"Cliff Hangers" is a stupid, stupid game. For those whose "TPIR" memories are obscured by strep-throat fevers: Players have to guess the price of everyday items, and if they're wrong by more than $25 (an amount which has not changed in the 28 years that the game has been played) the mountain climber crashes into the ravine apparently filled with broken glass. Despite its inanity, that yodeling has become a universal code for waiting. It's not in the same league as its more famous "Jeopardy!" theme, but it gets a fair share of references, with a more subtle syntax. The "Jeopardy" theme suggests cheery impatience; "Cliff Hangers," despite the yodel, is more blase, even sarcastic, a musical tag for waiting with the knowledge that the end can only mean falling off a cliff.

As it turns out, "TPIR" has spawned a litany of aural cues that have spread throughout modern culture. I can't go to my gym without hearing the original theme song set into a thumping dance groove, popular about four years ago. Others have noted the appropriateness of the loser's refrain -- "Buh-bump-a-nahhhhh, wahhhhhhhh" -- for many of life's little messes. And while children today may never be drilled with a singular set of sounds as we were, they will still be able to enjoy "Cliff Hangers" for generations to come.