David Cameron's Ditty Analysed By Classical Music Buffs: 'It's Disconcerting'

'It quickly loses confidence when it mirrors the ascent later in the bar'.
The outgoing PM walks back into Downing Street, mid 'Cameron's lament'
The outgoing PM walks back into Downing Street, mid 'Cameron's lament'
CHRIS J RATCLIFFE via Getty Images

David Cameron’s swan song as prime minister - a bizarre ditty he hummed to himself as he re-entered Downing Street - has been analysed by classical music buffs.

After telling the press Theresa May would become prime minister on Wednesday, Cameron backed away from the cameras and walked back to Number 10 for one of the last times.

Seemingly not realising he was still wearing a microphone, he hummed to himself: “Do do do”.

When he walked through the door, he said: “Right, good. “ This was followed by the sound of his microphone being frantically removed.

Describing its 3/4 time as “secure”, writer Daniel Ross notes Cameron manages to be “disconcerting” for a couple of bars.

“Harmonically, too, it’s ambivalent, confusing. It’s almost fanfare-like in that confident leap of a fourth from G to C, but it quickly loses confidence when it mirrors the ascent later in the bar, plummeting down to D sharp, forming an awkward implied triad,” he wrote.

”And then the percussive spoken ‘Right’, which lands almost perfectly on the first beat of the next bar, is a strange dip into acted-out recitative - demonstrative of a reasonable knowledge of contemporary composition techniques.”

He added: “Does this composition demonstrate the unresolved nature of Cameron’s swift departure from office? Is it perhaps a comment on what might be next for 10 Downing Street?”

After Cameron hummed the ditty, there was a scramble to figure out what he was humming. The Huffington Post UK consensus was that it was The Beatles’ The Yellow Submarine.

But more astute observers claimed it was Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony... for... some... reason...

Close

What's Hot