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in: Songs, 1937, Audio Catalog

The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down

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The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down is a song written in 1937 by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin. It is best known as the theme tune for the Looney Tunes cartoon series produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, used from 1937 to 1969.

History[]

The original version contains an introductory verse that leads up to the main part of the song, as a young man tells of his date with a young woman, in which they go to an amusement park and find time to "spark" while riding the malfunctioning carousel. Although there are no verified connections, the tune closely resembles the traditional fiddle tune "Chinese Breakdown".

An adapted instrumental version of the song's main tune by Carl W. Stalling became the staple opening and closing credits theme for the Looney Tunes series, most memorably featuring Porky Pig stuttering "Th-th-that's all, folks!" over the tune at each cartoon's end. The first use of the song as the Looney Tunes opening theme was in October 1937's "Rover's Rival", a Porky Pig cartoon. However, the song was first used a few months prior in "Sweet Sioux".

A different vocal version, sung by Daffy Duck (voice of Mel Blanc), appeared in "Daffy Duck & Egghead", a 1938 entry in the Merrie Melodies series, a sister series to the Looney Tunes, at about five minutes into the cartoon. Daffy also sang a specially-modified version of the song in the 1950 Looney Tunes short "Boobs in the Woods". An instrumental version of the song also plays during the closing scene of the 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon "Aviation Vacation".

During the late 1960s and early 70s, The Grateful Dead -- who, incidentally, were signed to Warner Bros. Records during that time -- occasionally used this piece as filler material while one or several members of the band were tuning up.

In 1983, the song was recorded by the British folk band Pyewackett with vocal by Rosie Cross, on the LP The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret. The liner notes read, "'Finding love for only a dime' ... A 'Looney Tune' based on a Roy Fox recording from the 1930s."

The song was revived for the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), an animation/live-action blend based upon the cartoons of the 1940s. "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" is performed twice in the film (with substitute lyrics): first by cartoon character Roger Rabbit (voice of Charles Fleischer) and later by his human partner Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), as Eddie is trying to force Judge Doom's weasel henchmen to laugh themselves to death. The lyrics in both sequences were written specifically for the film.

An instrumental version of the tune also appears at the end of Gremlins 2: The New Batch, in Space Jam (1996) and Space Jam A New Legacy (2021), and at the end of Looney Tunes Back in Action (2003). The song is also the intro to The Looney Tunes Show and New Looney Tunes, and is also one of the main theme tunes in Looney Tunes Cartoons.

A small part of the song appears during the "That's All, Folks" title sequences just before the closing credit sequences in the Looney Tunes CGI theatrical shorts since 2010, beginning with "Coyote Falls".

Color Rings variants[]

As with "Merrily We Roll Along" used for the Merrie Melodies series, several different variants of the theme was used as the series evolved. The theme would play during the opening and closing Color Rings, with a higher-pitched abridged version used during the "That's all Folks!" sequence. The following variants were used during the series:

  • The original opening variant was used for the 1937-38 season from "Rover's Rival" until "The Daffy Doc", which featured a lighter arrangement of instruments including an off-tune piano and a woodwind flute on the opening version. The original ending variant also debuted in "Rover's Rival", and would be used until "Porky's Party" which featured a much quieter underscore during the portion of the sequence where Porky pops out of the drum. A more brassier version of the ending variant would be used from "Porky's Spring Planting" until "Joe Glow, the Firefly".
  • The opening variant was changed in the 1938-41 season to feature prominent clanking sounds and a lighter trumpet starting from "Porky the Gob", which was used until "The Haunted Mouse".
    • A prototypical version of this theme was heard in Warner Bros. Breakdowns of 1939 which featured Porky Pig, although it has not been used in any known print of the Looney Tunes cartoons released.
    • A different transitional opening theme was used for "Joe Glow, the Firefly", sounding more energetic and brassier. It was later used for Warner Bros. Breakdowns of 1941 film reel.
  • A faster-paced modified and brassier version of the opening and closing themes would be used during the 1941-45 seasons, sounding more "perfected" and brassier with the closing theme also losing the twang at the start of the tune. This variant would be used from "Porky's Bear Facts" to "Behind the Meat-Ball", when the shortened credit sequences were discontinued.
    • "Puss n' Booty" used a more brassier version of the closing theme, which was also used in Warner Bros. Breakdowns of 1944.
  • When the opening credits for the cartoons were extended in the 1945-46 season, the opening theme would be shortened, having a tuba play midway of the sequence and cutting off the whistle part of the tune. This variant was used from "Ain't That Ducky" until "Acrobatty Bunny".
    • The 1941-45 closing theme was still used during this season as the closing drum sequence was not altered, which was used until the drum sequence was retired after "Hush My Mouse". "Kitty Kornered" would close with the "Merrily We Roll Along" closing theme used at the time, and "Acrobatty Bunny" would use a one-off underscore closing theme that was resemblant of the 1941-45 closing theme.
  • The well-known goofy version of the opening and closing theme was used during the 1946-55 seasons, first being used in "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" and remaining used until "Lumber Jerks". The theme in this version sounds more vivid and makes use of a drum.
  • Milt Franklyn would compose a new version of the theme in 1954 for the 1955-64 seasons, used from "Sahara Hare" until "False Hare". This variant used violins and woodwind instruments, with an electric guitar used for the opening twang. The underscore used midway of the ending sequence returned in this variant.
  • In 1962, a more modern, atonal variation of the theme was arranged by William Lava for use with the abstract opening sequences first designated for "Now Hear This", then later used again in "Bartholomew Versus the Wheel" and "Señorella and the Glass Huarache". It would later be used in all DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts cartoons. By this point, the Merrie Melodies cartoons have discontinued using "Merrily We Roll Along" in favor of this theme.
    • The theme would be newly-orchestrated to sound lighter starting from "Cool Cat" due to low budgets from the cartoon studio. Two experimental versions were also used; one being a more clunky and louder version used in "See Ya Later Gladiator" and "3 Ring Wing-Ding", and another being a piano and xylophone-like theme used in "Fistic Mystic".

Usage outside of Color Rings[]

Lyrics[]

"The_Merry-go-round_Broke_Down"_(Looney_Tunes_theme)

"The Merry-go-round Broke Down" (Looney Tunes theme)

Original Looney Tunes Theme Score

Oh, the Merry-Go-Round broke down
And we went round and round
Each time t'would miss, we'd steal a kiss
And the Merry-Go-Round went
"Um-pah-pah, um-pah-pah
Um-pah! Um-pah! Um-pah-pah-pah!'
Oh, the Merry-Go-Round broke down
And it made the darndest sound,
The lights went low, we both said "Oh!"
And the Merry-Go-Round went
"Um-pah-pah, um-pah-pah
Um-pah! Um-pah! Um-pah-pah-pah!'
Oh what fun - a wonderful time
Finding love for only a dime.
Oh, the Merry-Go-Round broke down
But you don't see me frown
Things turned out fine and now she's mine -
Cause the the Merry-Go-Round went
"Um-pah-pah, um-pah-pah
Um-pah! Um-pah! Um-pah-pah-pah!"
Oh, the Merry-Go-Round broke down

Daffy Duck & Egghead[]

Merry-go-round_broke_down

Merry-go-round broke down

Daffy's version from "Daffy Duck & Egghead"

My name is Daffy Duck,
I worked on a Merry-Go-Round,
The job was swell
I did quite well
Till the Merry-go-round broke down.
(Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo-hoo!)
The guy that worked with me,
Was a horse with a lavender eye,
Around in whirls, we winked at girls
Till the Merry-go-round broke down.
(plays flute)
Up and down and round we sped,
That dizzy pace soon went to my head,
Now you know why I'm dizzy
And do the things I do
I am askew [or "a screw"] and you'd be too
If the Merry-go-round broke down.
(Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo-Hoo-hoo-Hoo-hoo-Hoo-hoo!)
If the Merry-go-round broooooooookkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeee (while stretching his neck so far that the blue line on his neck becomes many blue lines instead of one) down (calmly; not singing)

Boobs in the Woods[]

Oh people call me Daffy
They think that I am goony
Ah just because I'm happy is no sign I'm Looney Tuney
Oh when they say I'm nutsy
It sure gives me a pain
Please pass the ketchup I think its going to rain
Oh you can't bounce a meatball
Though try with all your might
Ah turn on the radio I want to fly a kite
Good evening friends



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