Trip the light fantastic (phrase)

For other uses of the phrase, see Trip the light fantastic (disambiguation).

To "trip the light fantastic" is to dance nimbly or lightly, or to move in a pattern to musical accompaniment.

History

This phrase evolved through a series of usages and references. The phrase is typically attributed to Milton's poem L'Allegro , but a somewhat similar phrase appears in Shakespeare's The Tempest. The phrase in this modern usage comes from the lyrics of the song The Sidewalks of New York. The following chronological list outlines a few notable usages of this and similar sounding phrases.

The phrase 'tripping on his toe' appears in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, written in 1611:

Before you can say come, and goe,

And breathe twice; and cry, so, so:

Each one tripping on his Toe,

Will be here with mop, and mowe.

In this context, "mop, and mowe" means 'a grimace'.

In the poem L'Allegro by John Milton, published in 1645, a similar phrase appears, which seemingly refers to the dance-like gracefulness of the goddess Mirth:

Come, and trip it as ye go,

On the light fantastick toe.

And in thy right hand lead with thee,

The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty;

The term trip in this passage means to step lightly or nimbly. The adjectives light and fantastick (as Milton spelled it) refer to the movement of the feet (toe, or dance step).

Similarly, in Milton's masque Comus the first speech by Comus ends with the lines:

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground,

In a light fantastic round.

William Makepeace Thackeray borrows the phrase in Men’s Wives (published in 1843), as an elegant and humorous reference to dancing:

Mrs. Crump sat in a little bar, profusely ornamented with pictures of the dancers of all ages, from Hillisberg, Rose, Parisot, who plied the light fantastic toe in 1805, down to the Sylphides of our day.

Somewhat earlier, William Jones, Esq., Secretary of the 1832 Beaumaris Eisteddfod nods in flowery prose toward his countryman Milton, in The Gweneddion (published in 1839), as he describes the events' closing ball:

The ball room in evening at the Royal Victoria, was crowded as before by fashion, youth, and beauty; and many tripped it on the light fantastic toe, "till bright Aurora tinged the morn."

This expression became popular from the song "Sidewalks of New York" (melody and text by Charles B. Lawlor and James W. Blake) in 1894.

Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O'Rourke

Tripped the light fantastic

on the sidewalks of New York

In a 1935 Three Stooges episode, "Horses' Collars", a cowboy asks a girl if she would like to "trip the light fantastic."

Also, in a 1943 Three Stooges episode, "Phony Express", a girl in a western bar asked Curly if he would like to "trip the light fantastic."

Similarly, on March 1, 1945 the Tennessee Williams play The Glass Menagerie opened on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre in New York City. In the opening monologue the character Tom, delivers these lines:

"This was our father who left us a long time ago.

He was a telephone man who fell in love with long distances;

he gave up his job with the telephone company and skipped the light fantastic out of town . . . "

In 1967, Procol Harum released its hit song, "A Whiter Shade of Pale", with lyrics by Keith Reid, that included a play on the phrase, casting Milton's light and nimble dancing in a modernist perspective:

"We skipped the light fandango

turned cartwheels 'cross the floor

I was feeling kinda seasick

but the crowd called out for more..."

On March 8, 1969, during the 24th episode of the TV series The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, entitled "The Medicine Ball", In a short scene at a dance, Claymore Gregg (Charles Nelson Reilly) asks Mrs. Colburn (Kathleen Hughes) to dance by saying: "Mrs. Colburn, Would you care to trip the light?", where she then replies "Fantastic".

In 1972, the rock band Bread released a song, "Aubrey", with lyrics by David Gates, that included a slightly shorted version of the phrase:

"And Aubrey was her name,

we tripped the light and danced together to the moon,

but where was June..."

In 1975, Stephen Sondheim's musical, A Little Night Music premiered, featuring the song, "The Miller's Son," sung by the character "Petra" in the 2nd Act. In it, She muses on the joy and freedom she longs for, before becoming trapped in marriage:

"I shall marry the miller's son,

Pin my hat on a nice piece of property.

Friday nights, for a bit of fun,

We'll go dancing.

Meanwhile...

It's a wink and a wiggle and a giggle in the grass

And I'll trip the light fandango,

A pinch and a diddle in the middle of what passes by."

The Douglas Adams book "Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy" also references the quote.

Also featured in the original hit musical Fame in reference to dancing.

In 1997, the Dallas, TX band Old 97's makes a reference in their song "Barrier Reef" from their album Too Far To Care".

So I sidled up besides her, settled down and shouted, "Hi there."

"My name's Stewart Ransom Miller, I'm a serial lady killer."

She said, "I'm already dead," that's exactly what she said.

So we tripped the lights fantastic, we was both made of elastic.

Midnight came and midnight went, and I thought i was the President.

She said, "Do you have a car?" And I said, "Do I have a car?"

In 2007, Sophie Ellis-Bextor named her third album Trip The Light Fantastic

In the 2009 Quentin Tarantino movie Inglourious Basterds, Diane Kruger says after having been shot in the leg :

"Have I been shot? Yes! I don't see me tripping the light fantastic up a red carpet anytime soon."