Some Of The Best Recordings

Pearl Bailey
Frankie Carle
Jimmy Dorsey - 6 albums
Les Elgart
Merrymacs
Glenn Miller - over 50 albums
Russ Morgan

Pearl Bailey

Heard On Screen

Panic In The Streets
Royal Wedding
Where The Sidewalk Ends

For sheet music contact: www.halleonard.com

The Story Behind The Song

This was originally a 16 bar instrumental written and copyrighted in 1917 when I was 5 years old, by Hall and Kleinkauf. It had been long forgotten until Glenn Miller found it and recorded a great swinging version. The publisher called me in and asked if I would take a shot at turning it into a proper song with lyrics.

I added a verse and a middle part which the original had never had. When I wrote this in 1940 there were a lot of silly lyric ditties that were popular, like Mairzy Doats, etc. So I wrote my lyric as a series of funny sounds: Hep hep, juke juke, zoom zoom, etc. The silly song caught on, had many swing recordings and a fun version by Pearly Bailey.

Yes, it made the Hit Parade and was also included in an MGM film still being shown today with Fred Astaire and my dear friend, Jane Powell: "Royal Wedding."