I think you're going to make summer more tuneful for a lot of youngsters. SIMON: Producer, composer, director RZA, who has created the new tune for Good Humor trucks, have a wonderful summer. We have one member who passed away, but he always was - we called him the ODB. RZA: I don't know if you know the Wu-Tang, Scott. SIMON: And little kids all over this country are going to grow up humming your melody. This is given to Good Humor and the whole ice cream community, all the trucks in perpetuity, no royalty.
SIMON: Do you get residuals every time a driver plays the jingle? SIMON: I have to ask you an ugly business question. SIMON: You were a deliberate man even then. Because of the process of eating it, mine lasted longer. I would have my ice cream for at least seven minutes longer than the rest of the kids. And also, you know, it's good to savor things, right? So I remember being a kid. Then you have fun eating the ice cream, then you eat the last thing. So you eat, like, the crispy outside first and the strawberry. I'm the guy that eats the outside first, then eats the ice cream, then eats the strawberry center. I'm going to be honest with you on that, strawberry shortcake. SIMON: May I ask, do you have a favorite Good Humor flavor? RZA: And I used sounds from that to, you know, emulate this ice cream truck sound and those high bells you hear. And so they have a new version of it that came out about five years ago - have all these great, great old sounds. And then there's this piece of equipment called a Mellotron that has a lot of analog samples. Well, I started on the guitar first to get the progression, and then I moved over to the piano. SIMON: How did you write this tune - electronically, piano? But I think simple enough, good major scale notes with a minor 7 jazz chord in there to, you know, to twist it a little bit, you know, and have some fun.
Took about eight different tries to finally end up on the melody that was, I think, simple enough as well, 'cause I can be complicated. I actually kept repeating these three phrases in my head. So for inspiration, I just thought of joy. I'm a kid that used to pack bags to make a dollar and wait for the ice cream truck to spend a dollar.
You know, look I'm a kid that chased ice cream trucks (laughter). RZA: The first creative process, I would say, is think about joy. SIMON: How do you write a good ice cream truck jingle? I mean, what's the creative process? So when they reached out to me, they said the same. Now, a lot of things that, you know, is coming to the light, people are digging and bringing out a lot of things that have bad history or negative connotations towards, you know, racism or things of that nature. I mean, I didn't know the history, like, when I was - you know, last year, I didn't know the history. Did you know that history before you started taking on this new tune? SIMON: "Turkey In The Straw," we should explain, was on Good Humor trucks for years and had been used in minstrel shows. And I was like, wow, why not? It's better to do positive than negative, baby. And they felt like, let's do something about it. They wanted to do something about the negative energy that "Turkey In The Straw" had out in the world. RZA: Well, the Good Humor team reached out to me.
SIMON: Well, how did a music maker of your eminence get drawn into the world of frozen desserts? The composer of this new Good Humor jingle is RZA, the founder of Wu-Tang Clan, who joins us now from Los Angeles. Imagine this tune lifting your spirits on a warm summer's night. Good Humor trucks got a new jingle this week from a distinguished source.