"Is this the little girl I carried, is this the little boy at play?" Tevye sings at his eldest daughter's wedding in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. The parents marvel at how quickly time has passed and can't believe their children are old enough to be married when they don't feel any older themselves. The sentiment turned out to be universal, to the surprise of the song's lyricist Sheldon Harnick (who wrote songs for Fiddler along with composer Jerry Bock). He recalled in a 2014 NPR interview:

"I do remember when we wrote 'Sunrise Sunset,' the first person we played it for was Jerry Bock's wife... and when I finished, then I looked at Jerry's wife Patti and I was startled to see that she was crying. And I thought my goodness; this song must be more effective than we even know. And the same thing happened - I am not a pianist but the music to 'Sunrise Sunset' is easy enough so that I could learn the piano part - and I played it for my sister. And when I finished I looked and she had tears in her eyes. And that was a very unusual experience."

Bob Saget performed this with Dave Coulier and John Stamos in the 1987 Full House episode "First Day of School." It was also featured on the TV shows That '70s Show (performed by Debra Jo Rupp, Charo and Spiro Papadatos in the 2000 episode "Red Sees Red") and The Simpsons in the 1994 episode "Bart's Girlfriend."

Jan Hooks & Nora Dunn performed this in a Saturday Night Live skit on the November 22, 1986 episode.