"The Silly Song", also known as "The Dwarfs' Yodel Song", is a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

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 1937 animated

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

'' sung by

Otis Harlan Otis Harlan (December 29, 1865 – January 21, 1940) was an American actor and comedian. He voiced Happy, one of the Seven Dwarfs in the Disney animated film ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''. Early years Harlan was born in Zanesville, Ohio ...

Billy Gilbert William Gilbert Barron (September 12, 1894 – September 23, 1971), known professionally as Billy Gilbert, was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects ...

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. C ...

Roy Atwell John Leroy "Roy" Atwell (May 2, 1878 – February 6, 1962) was an American actor, comedian and composer, known for playing characters that mis-deliver their lines or stammer, most notably Doc from Walt Disney's classic Snow White and the Seven Dwa ...

, and

Scotty Mattraw Winfield Scott Mattraw (October 19, 1880 – November 9, 1946) was an American film and television actor. He provided the voice of Bashful in Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''. The son of William Henry and Philamon Dano Mattraw ...

. This features an instrument

septet A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry. ...

. The Seven Dwarfs

yodel Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from th ...

in this song. The melody is taken from the Irish folk song "Peggy Lettermore". :Sleepy:

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

-like wind instrument, similar to a tarogato or

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

in sound, shaped like a

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

:Grumpy: finely carved organ :Dopey:

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsti ...

:Sneezy:

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

:Bashful:

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

:Doc:

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

-like instrument called a swanette; also Sneezy's lute. :Happy:

er; also Doc's swannette and Dopey's drum kit at the end.

Synopsis of the number

After discovering Snow White in their house and having dinner, the dwarfs throw a party for Snow White. In the song, Happy and Bashful each sing about something silly, both of which are followed by a chorus. After which, the dwarfs all take turns dancing with Snow White. A little more than halfway through the song, Dopey climbs onto Sneezy's shoulders while wearing a long cloak so that he could seem like a tall enough dance partner for Snow White. They dance with her for a little while, and then she lets them dance on their own. Dopey's dance is abruptly ended when Sneezy lets out a really big sneeze causing Dopey to pop out, fly upward and out of the coat, and safely into the cottage's rafters. This song includes a drum solo by Dopey, driven by his pursuit of a pesky housefly, an organ solo by Grumpy, and a lute solo by Doc. This segment is immediately followed by the "

Someday My Prince Will Come "Someday My Prince Will Come" is a song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated movie ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''. It was written by Larry Morey (lyrics) & Frank Churchill (music), and performed by Adriana Caselotti (Snow White's voice in the ...

" segment. An additional verse for Sneezy is found on the 1938 ''Snow White Soundtrack'' 78 record. Verses for Doc are not used during the song in the movie.

Disney Sing-Along Edits

The song is featured on the

Disney Sing-Along Songs ''Disney Sing-Along Songs'' is a series of videos on VHS, betamax, laserdisc, and DVD with musical moments from various Disney films, TV shows, and attractions. Lyrics for the songs are sometimes displayed on-screen with the Mickey Mouse ...

volumes, "Heigh Ho" and "Topsy Turvy". Since it is a fairly long number with not many lyrics to sing along to, the versions on the Sing-Alongs are edited down. The following edits were made for such videos: * After Bashful's verse and the following chorus, the sing-along versions immediately cut to Dopey and Sneezy coming out to the dance floor in the coat. * Doc's lute solo is cut from both sing-along versions. * After Sneezy sneezes Dopey out of the coat, there is a shot of Dopey showing where he landed in the rafters. This clip was cut from the version on "Heigh Ho" but was restored for "Topsy Turvy".

References

1937 songs Comedy songs Songs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) Songs with lyrics by Larry Morey Songs with music by Frank Churchill Seven Dwarfs {{1930s-song-stub