I need your help

[The Wolf]

I've been whistling a tune from the Bugs and Elmer cartoon "Wabbit Twouble" for years now and I have no idea what it is.
Carl Stalling tended to use a lot of previously written music in the Warner Brothers cartoons (including a lot of Raymond Scott) and I presume that is the case here.
It is a jaunty tune that plays in the opening credits and is repeated though the cartoon.
If anyone can help I would be eternally grateful.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[jdjs]

The song is "Am I Blue?" Words & Music by Grant Clarke & Harry Akst.
Originally recorded by Ethyl Waters in 1929, it has been covered by almost every jazz and blues singer, with the most recent being Linda Ronstadt and by Bette Midler. And yep, that is the Stalling interpretation.

 

[The Wolf]

Thanks jdjs but I think "Am I Blue" is what plays at the end.
I curious about the peppy music at the beginning and when Elmer is washing his face in the "morning".
Are there any other ideas?

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[jdjs]

Incidental

Having probed a little bit deeper, the only external copyright for music on the cartoon appears to be 'Am I Blue?' That being said (and having watched the cartoon several times again), I would suspect that the music was stock Warner (developed for incidental scenes in movies); the clue is the reuse and rescore of the piece within the cartoon. You might try posing the question to the great wiz, Jerry Beck (http://www.cartoonresearch.com/); if he can't find it, no one can.

 

[The Wolf]

Thanks again

Jdjs, I appreciate your help.
You are probably right.
I will follow your lead.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Trickeration]

I'm not sure about this but...

I think the song is "Says Who? Says You, Says I?" written by Johnny Mercer. I looked up the cartoon last night and I think it's what my son was watching today. I came in just after the cartoon started, so I missed the title, but it looked like the same scenes that I saw stills of. The uptempo song I heard sounded like a song I heard and liked in the movie "Blues In The Night".

I checked the soundtrack listing for the movie on the internet movie database ( imdb.com ) and came up with the name that matched the lyrics from the movie. I then went to CDNow and did a song title search and found a Glenn Miller CD called "Miller Plays Mercer" that had song samples you could listen to. Seems to be the song I heard in the cartoon. Now if it's the cartoon you mentioned, then we may be onto something!

I know it sounds like a lot of research but I do it all the time when I hear a song I like. Here's the link to CDNow if you want to give it a listen. And let me know if it's the right song, please. I'm kind of curious to know if my research paid off . Good luck! Trix

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...103-9031797-6541406?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

 

[The Wolf]

Thanks also

You are correct!
I followed jdjs's lead and the man e-mailed back with the same information. But I must say, Trickeration, very nice detective work!
I'm going to have to get that CD.
I found that Cab Calloway also recorded it.

Sincere thanks,
The Wolf

 

[Trickeration]

Thanks! I'm glad you found the song either way. It drives me nuts to hear a great song and not know the title. I liked that song too when I first heard it. I also like "The Five O'Clock Whistle" by Will Bradley. It's the song Little Red Riding Hood sings in "Little Red Riding Rabbit" with Bugs Bunny.

Trix

 

[The Wolf]

1.000 thanks

I went to ebery music store in Santa Rosa and even Sebastopol (which is one) and could not find a CD with the song. A couple of stores said they could order the Miller version for me.
After searching I went to the little indepent music that has been in town for >20 years. They found the Cab Calloway!
I now own "Cab Calloway and His Orchestra 1941-1942". It has "Says Who? Says You, Says I!" , "Blues in the Night" and "Minnie the Moocher". This version of Minnie is closer to the Blues Brother version than the 1931 version I have.

Thanks again,
The Wolf

 

[Veronica Parra]

Interesting ... I once heard Chuck Jones explain why so many Tin Pan Alley songs from the 1920s were included in the (late) '30s, '40s, and even '50s Warner Bros. cartoons. Apparently, the studio hired a silent-era movie theater organist/arranger to "do" the music for those cartoons. He stayed on the job for two decades, using the tunes he was most familiar with.

As a result, most people born after the Jazz Age unconsciously associate '20s dance tunes with cartoons. They can't hear "Tea for Two" without thinking of Porky!

 

[jdjs]

One of the many saving graces about the Warner Animation catalogue (and to a lesser extent, the Disney and MGM ones) is the fantastic music that they have managed to keep in the public conciousness. This year I started teaching a new course in introductory animation and "forced" the students to view a lot of classic cartoon work. They are amazed at the number of tunes that they knew (usually only the tunes) and didn't realize that they were actual popular songs of the period. And of course, some of the earlier ones showed them the power of both the animated and sound pieces (today we viewed "I Haven't Got a Hat" and a couple of them were still humming it at the end of the day!)

 

[Veronica Parra]

Exactly. Back in the '70s and '80s, a number of TV commercials took old Broadway songs, adapted the words, and turned them into jingles. I remember a commercial for Grecian Formula: "I'm gonna wash that grey right outta my hair!" Then I saw SOUTH PACIFIC. What a surprise to find the jingle "ripped off" by the musical!


Here's another one. "Put On a Happy Face" was recycled as "Put on a Windex shine!" [huh]

 

[The Wolf]

I tip my hat to you, jdjs

You are right. I was raised in a house where my mother played classical piano and my father played jazz records. A lot of my friends know the classical composers from Warners cartoons. I still see the cartoons with "Blue Danube".
Many of the songs were evocative because of title: "Flight of the Bumblebee" for any flying pest, "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat" for dreams, "The Lady in Red" for Red Riding Hood, etc.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

"Welcome to my shop,
let me cut your mop,
let me shave your crop,
dain-tily"