Friday, April 15, 2011

Would You Like to Swing on a Star?

Or would you rather be a mule?  I alway thought this was a children's song but it was actually written for a movie from by-gone days.  This song, Swinging on a Star, is even from a movie I've seen with my own two eyeballs albeit probably 35 years ago.  Going My Way starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald is a stirring tale of the world's smoothest young priest, Father Chuck O'Malley, (Chuck!) and how he saved St Dominic's through the power of music.  A distaff Sister Act with fewer guns and biker bars?  Or more like Sister Act 2 what with the youth choirs.  Swinging on a Star won the Oscar for Best Song in 1944.  With lyrics like:
A mule is an animal with long funny ears
He kicks up at anything he hears
His back is brawny - and his brain is weak
He's just plain stupid with a - stubborn streak
And by the way, if you hate to go to school
You may grow up to be a mule

you can see why it was honored.  And why it's so fun for kids to sing!

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