“Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune”

Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard (1868-1930) drew the popular newspaper comic strip Abe Martin of Brown County. A strip in July 1923 made a one-line observation about classical music:
   
“Classic music is th’ kind that we keep thinkin’ ‘ll turn into a tune.”
   
“Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune” is the form that is often used. Kin Hubbard’s line has been frequently cited.
   
   
Wikiquote: Kin Hubbard
Frank McKinney Hubbard (born 1 September 1868 in Bellefontaine, Ohio - died: 26 December 1930 in Indianapolis, Indiana) was an American cartoonist, humorist, and journalist better known by his pen name “Kin” Hubbard.
 
He was creator of the cartoon Abe Martin of Brown County which ran in U.S. newspapers from 1904 until his death in 1930, and was the originator of many political quips that remain in use. North American humorist Will Rogers reportedly declared Hubbard to be “America’s greatest humorist.”
 
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
27 July 1923, Brooklyn (NY) Standard Union, “Abe Martin” (comic strip), pg. 14, col. 7:
Classic music is th’ kind that we keep thinkin’ ‘ll turn into a tune.
 
11 January 1946, Naugatuck (CT) Daily News, “Coast-to-Coast” by Walter Winchell, pg. 4, col. 4:
Kin Hubbard said of a musical: “I don’t like th’ kind o’ music we keep thinkin’ will turn into a tune.”
 
22 January 1948, Kansas City (MO) Star, “Daffynitions” by Paul H. Gilbert, pg. 28, col. 3:
Classical Music—The kind we keep hoping will turn into a tune.
 
Google Books
Concerto,
The Glowing Story of Clara Schumann
By Bertita Harding (Leonarz)
Indianapolis, IN: The Boob-Merrill Company
1961
Pg. 174:
“To him the words of one of the subltest American humorists (Kin Hubbard, who disguised himself as a rustic character named Abe Martin) could not be applied: “I don’t like music we keep hoping will turn into a tune.”
 
Google Books
The Subject Is Singing:
Chronology, Discussion, and Method for Teaching
By Florence Russell
Los Alamintos, CA: Hwong Pub. Co.
1979
Pg. 76:
To quote Kim Hubbard: “Classical music is the kind that we keep hoping will turn into a tune”
   
Google Books
Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations
By Gyles Brandreth
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
2013
Pg. 219:
Classic music is th’kind that we keep thinkin’ll turn into a tune.
. Frank McKinney Hubbard 1868-1930
American humorist: Comments of Abe Martin and His Neighbors (1923)
 
Twitter
Alan Liddell
‏@alancliddell
Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune.—Kin Hubbard, “Abe Martin’s Sayings” (via #UNIX fortune)
10:08 AM - 30 Oct 2016