Chattanooga Choo Choo
Chattanooga Choo Choo is a swing title by Mack Gordon , who wrote the lyrics, and Harry Warren , who composed the music. It's about a ride on a steam train from New York City to Chattanooga , Tennessee . Glenn Miller's recording of the 1941 song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks and in the top 10 for a total of 23 weeks.
history
Allegedly, the writing team wrote the title during a trip on the Birmingham Special Train of the Southern Railway ; at that time Chattanooga was an important hub in the US railroad network. The song is from the film Adopted Glück (Sun Valley Serenade) with Sonja Henie , John Payne , Milton Berle and Joan Davis . It was recorded there by the Glenn Miller Band with Tex Beneke and Paula Kelly and The Modernaires with Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers in front of a train backdrop. At the Academy Awards in 1942 , Warren and Gordon received a nomination for best song ; However, they could not prevail against The Last Time I Saw Paris by Jerome David Kern and Oscar Hammerstein .
The version released on a 78 / min record was recorded on May 7, 1941 for RCA Victor's Bluebird label, with Chattanooga Choo Choo on the B-side and I Know Why (And So Do You) on the A-side . It was awarded the gold record on February 10, 1942 for 1,200,000 copies sold. In the 1990s, a two-channel recording of the film soundtrack was found, which enabled a stereo reconstruction of the song. In 1996, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra's inclusion of Chattanooga Choo Choo on Bluebird, B-11230-B was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame .
Cover versions
Chattanooga Choo Choo has been covered many times.
Cab Calloway and His Orchestra recorded a version of Chattanooga Choo Choo for Conqueror Records (Conqueror 9914) in 1941 . In post-war Germany, singer Hans Bardeleben recorded the title with Heinz Both's band . Bill Haley & His Comets released a cover version in 1954. In 1962, the inclusion of US pianist Floyd Cramer was represented on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and advanced to number 36.
In 1967, the American band Harpers Bizarre released a cover version that reached number 45 on the US pop charts and number 1 on the Easy Listening charts for two weeks. George Benson recorded a version of the song on his 1968 album Shape of Things to Come . A cover version of Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums can be heard in the film Be Cool (2005).
The song was first recorded in German in 1947 by Bully Buhlan and Peter Rebhuhn as a train to Kötzschenbroda . The much better known version from 1983 with the title Sonderzug nach Pankow was made by Udo Lindenberg . It became popular because of the political allusions to Erich Honecker .
Puns
The line of the piece “ Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo? ”Was also used for well-known puns, for example by Roy Rogers , to whom his film partner says:“ Pardon me Roy, is that the cat who chewed your new shoes? ”
In the Mel Brooks Frankenstein Junior comedy , Gene Wilder says, “ Pardon me, boy. Is this the Transylvania Station? "Answer of the boy:" Yes! Yes! Track 29! Oh, can I give you a shine? "Gene Wilder:" Uh ... No, thanks. ”
In the 1970s the song was used in the UK to advertise Toffee Crisp Candy Bars : “ Pardon me, boy, is that a Toffee Crisp you chew chew? ”
Individual evidence
- ^ Joel Whitburn: Top Pop Records 1940–1955 . Record Research, Menomonee Falls / Wisconsin 1973, p. 36 .
- ↑ Chattanooga Choo Choo. Rhapsody in Books
- ↑ Chattanooga Choo Choo. cover.info, accessed November 14, 2019
- ↑ Hello, Erich . In: Der Spiegel . No. 16 , 1983 ( online ).