Original version(s)

• First know performance: sung by Eddie Cantor on his radio show on February 10, 1935
• Heard in Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoons "Billboard Frolics," November 1935; subsequently used as theme song for the Merrie Melodies cartoon series

 

FZ album(s) in which song has appeared

• none

 

Tour(s) on which song is known to have been performed (main source: FZShows, v. 7.1)

• May-July 1980 (Europe)—known performances: 3; known quotations: 1
• September-October 1984 (Europe)—known quotations: 1

 

Comments

Charles Ulrich, July 25, 2023

"Merrily We Roll Along" was written by entertainer Eddie Cantor, his brother-in-law Charles Tobias, and Murray Mencher. The title phrase is taken from the refrain of the nineteenth-century song "Good Night, Ladies". (That refrain has the same melody as "Mary Had A Little Lamb".) The seven-note melody of the title phrase of "Merrily We Roll Along" matches the melody of the same lyric in "Good Night, Ladies", except that the sixth note is lowered a half-step.

Sheet music of "Merrily We Roll Along" was published in 1935. Although no record was released at that time, Cantor sang the song on his radio show on February 10, 1935, and this performance was released on CD in 2000.

Part of the original mission of Warner Brothers' cartoon series Merrie Melodies was to promote songs for which Warner Brothers had an interest in the publishing. "Merrily We Roll Along" was heard in two Merrie Melodies cartoons directed by Friz Freleng, "Billboard Frolics" (1935) and "Toy Town Hall" (1936). In both cartoons, it was sung by a caricature of Eddie Cantor. An abridged version of "Merrily We Roll Along" was subsequently adopted as the theme for Merrie Melodies from late 1936 through 1964. Twenty-four measures (or later just sixteen measures) of the 32-measure chorus were heard in the opening, and eight measures in the closing. (The theme for the sister series Looney Tunes—from late 1937 through 1969—was "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down".)

More background on "Merrily We Roll Along".

A Partial List of "Merrily We Roll Along" performances and quotations, compiled by Charles Ulrich

80/06/28 Sindelfingen (stand-alone)
80/06/30 Vienne (Chunga's Revenge, stand-alone)
80/07/01 Mulhouse (stand-alone)
84/10/02 Böblingen (Penguin In Bondage)