This article is about the song. For the horse, see Mairzy Doates.
"Mairzy Doats"
Song
Published
1943 by Miller Music Publishing Co.
Genre
Novelty
Songwriter(s)
Milton Drake Al Hoffman Jerry Livingston
Composer(s)
Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston
“Mairzy Doats” is a novelty song written and composed in 1943 by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston. It contains lyrics that make no sense as written, but are near homophones of meaningful phrases. The song's title, for example, is a homophone of "Mares eat oats".
The song was first played on radio station WOR, New York, by Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists. It made the pop charts several times, with a version by the Merry Macs reaching No. 1 in March 1944. The song was also a number-one sheet music seller, with sales of over 450,000 within the first three weeks of release.[1] The Merry Macs recording was Decca Records' best-selling release in 1944.[2] Twenty-three other performers followed up with their own recordings in a span of only two weeks that year.[3]
^Smith, Kathleen E. R. (28 March 2003). God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 137. ISBN 0-8131-2256-2.
^Popular Music, 1920–1979: A Revised Cumulation, Volume 2, , Nat Shapiro & Bruce Pollock;, Gale Research Company, 1985, ISBN 0810308479; page 190
^Simon, 1981, page 190, referenced in JStore Randall, Dale B. J. preview
song's refrain, as written on the sheet music, seems meaningless: Mairzydoats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you? However...
breeder Preston W. Madden. Schefler named her for the novelty song "MairzyDoats" made popular in a 1943 recording by bandleader Al Trace. Trained by...
as to challenge the listener (or reader) to interpret them: Mairzydoats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you? The...
Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984. The popularity of Hoffman's song, "MairzyDoats", co-written with Jerry Livingston and Milton Drake, was such that newspapers...
Lily (2013). "Bayou Maharajah: The Tragic Genius of James Booker". MairzyDoats Productions. Archived from the original on March 31, 2014. "Unplugged:...
further hit singles, "There's Got to Be a Word!" (U.S. #34, 1966) and "MairzyDoats" (U.S. #75, 1967). Following the LP release, the duo released another...
"Under a Blanket of Blue", "Blue and Sentimental", "Close to You", "MairzyDoats", "Wake the Town and Tell the People", "The Twelfth of Never", and "Young...
nonsense texts are actually riddles, such as the popular 1940s song MairzyDoats, which at first appears to have little discernible meaning but has a...
active from the 1920s until 2000. They were best known for the hits "MairzyDoats", "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" and "Sentimental Journey"...
nonsense verse, but actually are not, such as the popular 1940s song MairzyDoats. Lewis Carroll, seeking a nonsense riddle, once posed the question How...
Belmonts Baby Doll / Write Me A Letter (1962) - Carlo Little Orphan Girl / MairzyDoats (1963) - Carlo Five Minutes More / Story Of Love (1963) - Carlo Ring-A-Ling...
Livingston Dies; Wrote 'MairzyDoats'". The New York Times. July 10, 1987. Retrieved 2009-04-21. Jerry Livingston, the composer of MairzyDoats, The 12th of Never...
happy at times, exhibited by singing the 1940s popular nonsense song "MairzyDoats", before crashing into grief. The arrival of his niece-in-law Madeline...
Josephine Carringer and Bernice Idins; with music by Saxie Dowell in 1939 "MairzyDoats", composed by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston in 1943...
Could Hide Inside This Letter" 20 – – "Don't Sweetheart Me" / 2 – – "MairzyDoats" 16 – – "Is My Baby Blue Tonight?" b/w "One Little Lie Too Many" 13 –...
Freddy Martin 2 May 1941 "Der Fuehrer's Face" Spike Jones 3 October 1942 "MairzyDoats" the Merry Macs 2 February 1944 "Cocktails for Two" Spike Jones 4 January...
with titles such as Knees-Up Roaring 20s Party, Crazy Rhythm, MairzyDoats and Dozy Doats, Just Mrs Gladys Mills, and Welcome To Mrs Mills' Honky Tonk...
"I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)" 12 — "It's Love-Love-Love" 4 — "MairzyDoats" 21 — "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet" 13 — "The Trolley Song" 13...
Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth", "Wreck the Halls with Boughs of Holly", "MairzyDoats" and "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". In 1983, a group called the...
Goodnight, Sergeant Major", "I'll Be Seeing You", "Lili Marlene", "MairzyDoats and Dozy Doats", "The Army, the Navy and the Air Force", "Bless 'em All", "Run...
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