The Trolley Song

Album: Judy Garland (1944)
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Songfacts®:

  • Garland sang this in the 1944 film Meet Me In St Louis. The scene in the movie was shot in one take.
  • Ralph Blaine wrote the lyrics. He was told to write a song about trolleys for the movie, and was having a hard time coming up with inspiration. He finally came up with some lyrics when he went to the library and found a children's book with a picture of a St. Louis trolley car with the caption: "Clang, clang, clang went the jolly little trolley."
  • In 2004, the American Film Institute ranked this #26 on the 100 Greatest Songs in American Films list.
  • This was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, but it lost to Bing Crosby's "Swinging On A Star," from the movie Going My Way.

Comments: 3

  • Frederic from VirginiaThe music for the song was written by Hugh Martin, who wrote the score for Meet Me in St. Louis, in which Judy Garland sang three Martin songs, "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
  • V-starr from ?????????, MiThey play a shorter verson in Walt Disney World. The Disney verson is about one of those "love at first sight" songs where two people meet in a trolley on Main Street USA and fall in love. They deside to go Fantasyland for a date.
  • Garry from Anchorage, AkThe Trolley Song was written by composer Hugh Martin and lyricist Ralph Blaine who collaborated on the music for Meet Me In St. Louis. The movie also included their version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

    The Trolley Song was nominated for the Best Song Academy Award for 1944, but it lost to Bing Crosby's Swingin' On a Star from the movie, Going My Way.
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