MovieChat Forums > Day of the Outlaw (1959) Discussion > I'm A Lumberjack

I'm A Lumberjack

posted 15 years ago by jacksonfelts
3 replies | jump to latest

Does anybody else think the song that was played on the piano during the dancing scene in the saloon sound almost exactly like "I'm A Lumberjack and I'm OK" from Monty Python?

[–] ddaanntt 15 years ago

Actually I didn't notice that, but what I did notice was that this song went on and on and on without the least sign of a slip up from the piano player, and at breakneck speed. Guess I'm picky, but one thing that unnecessarily strains credulity in a western is a Carnegie Hall performance in a cowboy saloon. Sort of like those small town parades in Andy Hardy-type movies that sound like the brass section of the New York Philharmonic. I've always liked this movie, though - just sayin' about the saloon song.

[–] lawspeaker 11 years ago

I can see your point, but I think there is another issue here. If the piano playing was done "realistically," replete with mistakes, I think the viewer would be distracted by the music and would be listening for the next flub. As it is, the music stays in the background, where it is meant to be.

[–] JJ-N 11 years ago

Just saw this movie, and yes, I noticed the resemblance too. Perhaps because incidentally I had heard the Monty Python's version again just last week.

And now that there was this discussion here, I made a brief investigation. On "I'm a Lumberjack", Wikipedia says that:

"The music is similar to Là ci darem la mano, Don Giovanni's and Zerlina's duet in Act 1, Scene 2, of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. The music has also been compared to the English folk song "The Foggy Dew", this is particularly apparent in the verses ('I cut down trees...')."

I do not know "The Foggy Dew", but according to Wikipedia it originates from around 1815, and being an English folk song it makes sense that this would have played during saloon dancing.