The Silly Song (1937 song)

Not to be confused with The Muppets song of the same name.

The Silly Song is a song from Walt Disney's animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs sung by Otis Harlan, Billy Gilbert, Pinto Colvig, and Scotty Mattraw. This features an instrument septet. The dwarfs yodel in this song.

Sleepy: recorder shaped like a fish

Grumpy: finely carved organ

Dopey: drum kit

Sneezy: lute

Bashful: concertina

Doc (and also Happy): guitar-like instrument called a swanette

Happy: yodeler

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 guitar solo by Doc. This segment is immediately followed by the "Someday My Prince Will Come" segment.

A shortened version of the song was also used to be shown at the Now Closed attraction, the Mickey Mouse Revue and Mel Blanc, Paul Frees, Hal Smith, Hans Conried and Dallas McKennon did the voices of the Dwarfs in the show and in the Original Version of Snow White's Scary Adventures in Walt Disney World.

Trivia

• Nearly 40 years later, this song was used as background music in the earliest playings of The Price is Right's popular pricing game, Cliff Hangers.
• Originally, Sneezy was going to sing a verse in this song as well as Happy and Bashful. His verse was going to be followed by him letting out a little sneeze. This was not used in the film version of the song (most likely because the writers felt it would be overkill since the segment was going to end with Sneezy letting out an extreme sneeze anyway), but it can be heard on some LP records of the film's soundtrack.
• This song was originally going to be "You're Never Too Old to Be Young", but it later got adapted into "The Silly Song".