Merrily We Roll Along

Merrily We Roll Along is a song written by Charlie Tobias, Murray Mencher, and Eddie Cantor in 1935, and used in the Warner Bros. cartoon "Billboard Frolics" that same year. It is best known as the theme of Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies cartoon series. 
== History ==
The first cartoon to use the song as its title theme was 1936's "Boulevardier from the Bronx". The series continued to use the tune until 1964, when both the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies title sequences were completely revamped following Termite Terrace's closure.
In Gremlins 2: The New Batch, the song plays in the Looney Tunes sequences at the beginning and end of the movie, composed by Jerry Goldsmith. When Daffy interrupts, the song winds down. Later, when Daffy tries to recreate the sequence, the song starts playing again, but stops when the shield overshoots. At the end, the song plays as Daffy says "That's all Folks!" 
In Space Jam, the song plays several times. This also happens once in Space Jam A New Legacy, as the camera pans through the Warner Bros. Studios into the Serververse.
In the 1990s, Chuck Jones Film Productions returned to using the song as the opening theme for their Looney Tunes cartoons. The shorts produced by Larry Doyle in 2003 also used the theme. 
The theme song is later split in half to be used as the opening and closing music respectively for the Looney Tunes CGI theatrical shorts since 2010, beginning with "Coyote Falls".
In the 1970s, it was adopted by WGN as the theme music to The Ray Rayner Show (Ray Rayner used Warner Bros. cartoons on his show), and in 1995, it was used as the ending theme of The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries. It's also one of the main theme tunes in Looney Tunes Cartoons. An atonal jazz remix of the song appears in the title cards for the Merrie Melodies music videos in The Looney Tunes Show, and a new version of the song is used as the theme music of Bugs Bunny Builders.
The song shares a title with the 1934 play Merrily We Roll Along by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, but is unrelated to it.
For years, the song is also used as a fanfare for the Warner Bros. brand, appearing in some of its logos.
=== Color Rings variants ===
As with "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" used for the Looney Tunes series, several different variants of the theme was used as the series evolved. The theme would play during the opening and closing Color Rings, with an abridged version used during the "That's all Folks!" sequence. The following variants were used during the series:
*During its first set of usages in the 1936-37 season, several variants of the theme was composed. The first cartoon to use the theme, "Boulevardier from the Bronx", played the theme at a fast tempo and utilized trumpets as the main instrument. It would be sparsely modified throughout the next few cartoons until its tempo was reduced starting from "I Only Have Eyes for You", and it would then continue to have slightly modified arrangements. "Egghead Rides Again" would add the twanging sound for the Warner Bros. shield's zoom-in, which would be used until "Dog Daze".
**The ending variant of the theme did not debut until "Plenty of Money and You", which included the twanging sound at the beginning of the tune. Two separate variants were also used for "Speaking of the Weather" and "Dog Daze".
*The theme would be largely re-orchestrated starting with "I Wanna Be a Sailor", which now have more woodwinds being played during the theme. Alongside, a finalized ending theme was used for this change, which makes bombastic use of the woodwinds. The opening theme was used until "My Little Buckaroo", while the ending theme was used until "Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas".
*The opening theme would be modified again starting from "Jungle Jitters" until "Cinderella Meets Fella", making use of a lighter tuba and xylophone.
*Starting from "The Major Lied 'Til Dawn" until "Dog Gone Modern", a bass and string-dominated opening theme was used. Additionally, a "perfected" closing theme was created and was used from "You're an Education" until "Goofy Groceries".
**"The Major Lied 'Til Dawn" used a higher-pitched, faster version of the closing theme due to its special ending card gag.
**"Cracked Ice" used a one-off special variant of the opening theme, using a trumpet during the midway point of the theme.
**"Daffy Duck in Hollywood" used a one-off prototypical version of the closing theme from "You're an Education", with a different zooming noise at the start of the tune. This variant would later be used for Warner Bros. Breakdowns of 1941.
*The opening theme would be more refined during the 1939-40 season, which debuted on "Hamateur Night" and remain used until "Malibu Beach Party". Trombones primarily dominated this version of the theme. The opening theme was slightly modified during the 1940-41 season, featuring drum rolls and cymbals in the instrumentation, which would be played from "Stage Fright" to "Goofy Groceries".
**"Good Night Elmer" used a much more brass-heavy version of the 1940-41 opening theme.
**"The Cat's Tale" had a different closing theme, sounding more of a prototype of the next version of the theme.
*A faster-paced modified and brassier version of the opening and closing themes would be used during the 1941-45 seasons. This sounded more "perfected" and brassier with the ending tune also losing the twang sound effect at the start. This variant would be used from "Toy Trouble" to "Life with Feathers", when the shortened credit sequences were discontinued. It is also widely used in the Blue Ribbon releases of shorts reissued from the 1943-56 seasons that had their original titles replaced.
**A slightly different version of the ending theme with an underscore during the end of the tune was used in "The Wacky Wabbit" and a few Blue Ribbon reissues in the early 1950s, such as "The Merry Old Soul" and "Tick Tock Tuckered".
*When the opening credits for the cartoons were extended in the 1945-46 season, the opening theme would be shortened, cutting off the second half of the violin lead, the piano glissando and the entire xylophone portion of the tune. This is the widely known version that remained in use during the 1945-55 seasons, being used from "Hare Trigger" until "Tweety's Circus". Unlike "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" at the time, the ending theme was not altered.
**A shorter version of the ending tune was used in "Stop! Look! And Hasten!" due to its special ending card gag.
*Milt Franklyn would compose a new version of the theme in 1954 for the 1955-64 seasons, used from "Hare Brush" until "Hawaiian Aye Aye". This variant used violins and woodwind instruments, with an electric guitar used for the opening twang. This is the last version of the theme that was used, as the series used William Lava's atonal version of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" from "Now Hear This" when the series transitioned to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.
**"This Is a Life?" uses a different version of the opening theme, sounding more brassier.
== Usage outside of Color Rings ==
* "Billboard Frolics" - The cartoon's soundtrack is centered on this track.
* "Toy Town Hall" - Eddie Cantor sings this (reused from "Billboard Frolics").
* "Hollywood Steps Out" - Reserved tables.
* "Porky Pig's Feat" - The ending.
* "What's Cookin' Doc?" - The "The End" card at the end of Bugs' reel.
* "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" - "No, that a Bugs Bunny."
* "Stage Door Cartoon" - A Bugs Bunny cartoon begins to start.
* "Odor-able Kitty" - Claude Cat disguises himself as Bugs to hide from Pepé Le Pew.
* "The Goofy Gophers" - Mac imitates Bugs.
* "Mississippi Hare" - "Eh, what's cookin' doc?"
* "A Ham in a Role" - The "That's all Folks!" card shows up after The Dog is pied in the face for the first time.
* "What's Up Doc?" - "You got too much talent! I need you in my act!"
* "This Is a Life?" - Opening credits.
* "Piker's Peak" - Any time the band plays music, including at the ending.
==Lyrics==
:Merrily we roll along, my honey and me
:Verily there's no one half as happy as we
:Though we′re twice as poor as mice, say what do we care?
:For we've been so wealthy in the love that we share
:Merrily we dance along while facing the sun
:Merrily our slogan is: 'say, don′t we have fun?′
:We live in style, with a smile and a song
:As we merrily roll along!
:Merrily we roll along, my honey and me
:Why we get along is very easy to see
:She and I won't buy unless we pay for in cash
:And we still enjoy the thrill of corn-beef and hash
:Though we often quarrel for it′s human I'm sure
:Still, we find there′s nothing that a kiss cannot cure
:We're for each other, how can we go wrong?
:As we merrily roll along!
Category:Songs
Category:1936
Category:Audio Catalog
Category:1935