"Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee", also known as An Actor's Life for Me, is a song from

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

's animated film ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

'' sung by

Walter Catlett Walter Leland Catlett (February 4, 1889 – November 14, 1960) was an American actor and comedian. He made a career of playing excitable, meddlesome, temperamental, and officious blowhards. Career Catlett was born on February 4, 1889, in S ...

. The music is by

Leigh Harline Leigh Adrian Harline (March 26, 1907 – December 10, 1969) was an American film composer and songwriter. He was known for his "musical sophistication that was uniquely 'Harline-esque' by weaving rich tapestries of mood-setting underscores and ...

, and the lyrics are by

Ned Washington Ned Washington (born Edward Michael Washington, August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Life and career Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Bes ...

and

Oliver Wallace Oliver George Wallace (August 6, 1887 – September 15, 1963) was an English composer and conductor.''Home Front Heroes: A Biographical Dictionary of Americans During Wartime'', Volume 3, ed. Benjamin F. Shearer (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 200 ...

. The song is sung by the film's main antagonist, John Worthington "Honest John" Foulfellow, when he takes

Stromboli Stromboli ( , ; scn, Struògnuli ) is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the four active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sici ...

. A reprise of the song is sung when he takes Pinocchio to Pleasure Island. The reprise in the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

version on the disc contains none of the vocals as presented on the record and in the film. It is the very first Disney villain song in history. It also appears in Disney's 2022 live-action remake of the film, in which it was sung by

Keegan-Michael Key Keegan-Michael Key (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He co-created and co-starred alongside Jordan Peele in Comedy Central's sketch series ''Key & Peele'' (2012–2015) and co-starred in USA Netw ...

as Honest John.

References

1940 songs Disney songs Pinocchio (1940 film) Songs based on fairy tales Songs with music by Leigh Harline Songs with lyrics by Ned Washington {{1940s-song-stub