Bamboo Pole Song

Okay, so.. I've only seen (or "heard") this being sung in random animes... and it's usually after something happens with a character or characters that made them look really silly for doing it.. Nevertheless, I hear this baritone singing voice out of nowhere singing, can't really understand the Japanese words, but the subtitle shows things like "Bamboo, bamboo poles..." or something like that.

What's the story behind this recurring instance? Anyone know?:?

Is the song the one started at 0:23 on this video, by any chance?

わああ～スゲーいい声だ！
竿竹を買いたくなった！

But I'm curious, don't most people use plastic or metal ones these days?
Is he collecting old metal ones for recycle and just using the old-fashioned song? Or is he really selling and collecting traditional sao poles and bamboo goods etc? I can't see what's in his truck!

While we're on the topic of singing trucks, here's the 石焼芋やさん

And *sometimes* the 粗大ゴミ guy has a song too

And.... I found this
Maybe this is what all the ojisan do in their trucks on the weekends

bakaKanadajin said:

But I'm curious, don't most people use plastic or metal ones these days?
Is he collecting old metal ones for recycle and just using the old-fashioned song? Or is he really selling and collecting traditional sao poles and bamboo goods etc? I can't see what's in his truck!

Click to expand...

Right!
He's just selling metal and plastic poles used to hang out laundry.

The hawker call is traditional, so they're still using it, even when genuine bamboo poles are already out of use.

For Aurura:
Pole: Sao
*Fishing pole: Tsuri-zao
Bamboo for pole: Sao-dake

Edit: I still remember a number of hawker calls I used to hear as a child--peddlers selling goldfish and tinkerers. There were people who came to collect trash from homes, paying for items that have marketable value.
They now come in trucks now, offering free-of-charge pickup of "sodai-gomi" (large-sized trash that are now picked up by the municipal garbage collection service only with payment of a fee). FYI, they pay for items with value but charge a fee for others.