Shipoopi

“Shipoopi” is a song in the 1957 musical "The Music Man". The song is sung by the character Marcellus Washburn, friend of Harold Hill. In the play, the song is about finding love and occurs at about the same time that Marian begins to fall for Professor Hill’s wooing. Some adaptations of the musical don’t feature Harold and Marian at the dance, and it is not acknowledged that the song is specifically about them, so the song may be regarded as somewhat of a non sequitur.

In the 1962 film version of The Music Man, the character of Marcellus Washburn was played by Buddy Hackett. According to the film documentary included with the extended DVD release, choreographer Onna White was able to take someone not well known as a dancer, and make him (Hackett) a dancing star for this number.

Cultural References

* On the premiere episode of "Blue Collar TV", which originally aired July 29, 2004, it was sung by guest star Drew Carey during a camping trip while the men took turns singing songs.
* In the early days of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with Craig Kilborn, a video of a performance of this song from a high school production of "The Music Man" was shown; one of the dancers was a teenage Monica Lewinsky.
* Shipoopi is also the tag line for a series of humorous commercials for Vern Fonk, a Seattle area insurance salesman.
* The solfege used by the chorus is not the common English version; they respond "Do re mi fa sol la si do", however, the English major scale was changed to "Do re mi fa sol la ti do" by John Curwen. The interval between la and si is not a full step in the traditional scale, but is instead a half step. To have the notes align with the solfege, the chorus should have sung "Do re mi fa sol la "te" do." At one point, the solfege forms the phrase "do si do", a basic dance step (sometimes called a dosado). The actual notes sung by the chorus are not really do or si in the solfege scale.
* The "Buddy Hackett" episode of Al Franken's TV news satire "LateLine" which originally aired April 7, 1998, deals with an unconfirmed report that Hackett has died. This prompts the news director (Miguel Ferrer) to cut away from Franken's biggest interview ever to play the "Shipoopi" number in memoriam. Everyone in the booth sings along and a pleased Ferrer delivers his catchphrase: "Kick-ass show!" The wrap-up has a still-alive, and furious, Hackett vowing to sue the show.
* In the episode "Patriot Games" of Family Guy, Peter Griffin sings the song complete with choreography, leading the crowd into chorus, as a victory dance after scoring a touchdown and after guest Tom Brady tells him "no showboating".