What would we do without puns...

Beethoven's Ninth

The symphony orchestra was
performing Beethoven's Ninth.
In the piece, there's a long passage,
about 20 minutes, during which the
bass violinists have nothing to do.
Rather than sit around that whole
time looking stupid, some bassists
decided to sneak offstage and go to
the tavern next door for a quick one.

After slamming several beers in quick
succession, one of them looked at
his watch and said,
"Hey! We need to get back!"

"No need to panic," said a fellow bassist.
"I thought we might need some
extra time, so I tied the last few
pages of the conductor's score
together with string. It'll take him
a few minutes to get it untangled."
A few moments later they staggered
back to the concert hall and took
their places in the orchestra.
About this time, a member of the
audience noticed the conductor seemed
a bit edgy and said as much to her
companion.

"Well, of course," said her companion.
"Don't you see? It's the bottom
of the Ninth, the score is tied,
and the bassists are loaded."