John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
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"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" is a traditional children's song of obscure origin. Its lyrics are close variations of:
The Austrian version is slightly different and goes like this: "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, That's my name, too! Whenever he goes out, People always shout, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt!"[citation needed]
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[edit] Lyrics
The mock German name celebrated in the song suggests that English-speaking children find long northern-European names to be inherently funny words; compare the Blinkenlights faxlore in which English words are deformed to form a mock German warning text. The surname "Schmidt" and the surname suffix "-heimer" are of Germanic origin. Schmidt is one of the most common surnames in German heritage. What??
Furthermore, the given name of "Johann" was often given to boys with a secondary given name; when this occurred the secondary given name was often the name one was called by. In the song the English "John" is substituted for the traditional German "Johann". Thus, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt is not an unrealistic German name.
[edit] Origin
While the origins of the song are most definitely obscure, some evidence places its roots with vaudeville and theatre acts of the late 19th century and early 20th century popular in immigrant communities. Some vaudeville acts during the era, such as the work of Joe Weber and Lew Fields, often gave voice to shared frustrations of German-American immigrants and heavily leaned on malapropisms and difficulties with the English language as a vehicle for its humor.[2] Further, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt shares many characteristics with "My Name is Jan Jansen" a song that can trace its origin to Swedish vaudeville in the late 19th century.
The song can conceivably be sung in an infinite loop, like "The Song That Never Ends", "My Name is Jan Jansen", "Michael Finnegan", or "High Hopes".
Versions of this song also appear in other languages, such as the Spanish rendition; "Juan Pablo Pedro de la Mar".
[edit] Notable appearances
1. The song is featured in the 1997 film, RocketMan, and is sung by Harland Williams.
2. The song is featured in the 2001 film, Recess: School's Out, led by Robert Goulet as Mikey Blumberg (although Jason Davis provided Mikey's speaking voice).
3. The song is featured as "Shane Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" in the 2004 film, The Pacifier, sung by Lulu Plummer (Morgan York) and her Firefly Scouts.
4. This song also appears in Season 5, Episode 8 of Happy Days, happy-days episode: fonzie and leather tuscadero airing Tuesday November 8, 1977.
5. The song is used in Season 4, Episode 126 of the Andy Griffith Show: Back To Nature. Original air date May 11th, 1964.
6. This song is used in Season 1, Episode 23 of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager"
7. This song is used in the movie "Strawberry Shortcake Berry Big Journey"
[edit] References
- ^ Lynch, Dan (1991-06-23). "Bug Juice Days". Albany Times Union. p. B4. http://archives.timesunion.com/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=5605568. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
- ^ Wasson, Andrew. "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt is not a Person". Dairy River. http://www.dairyriver.com/wordpress/?page_id=224.
