Me and My Shadow

"Me and My Shadow" is a 1927 popular song. Officially the credits show it as written by Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer, with Jolson and Dreyer being shown on the sheet music as being responsible for the music and Rose the lyrics. Al Jolson was often given credits on sheet music so he could earn more money by popularizing them, but he played no actual part in writing this song.[1] Jolson never recorded the song although he did use it in the touring version of "Big Boy" in 1927.[2]

This article is about the 1927 song. For the compilation album of "Whispering" Jack Smith songs, see Whispering Jack Smith. For the unreleased DreamWorks Animation film, see List of unproduced DreamWorks Animation projects.
Sheet music cover, 1927

Popular recordings in 1927 were by "Whispering" Jack Smith, Nat Shilkret (vocal by Johnny Marvin) and the separate recording by Johnny Marvin himself for Columba Records. [3] The song became particularly associated with Ted Lewis who used it to close his act. The song has since become a standard, with many artists performing it.

Some other recorded versions[4]

In film and television

In the movie Funny Lady, Billy Rose admits to wife Fanny Brice that the shadow in the song was Nicky Arnstein, Fanny's criminal husband before Rose though, in fact, the song was written in 1927, two years before Rose’s marriage to Brice in 1929.

The song is performed in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, for Napoleon. The dwarves perform it very badly and end up fighting. However, Napoleon is actually pleased, as he wants, for entertainment, "little things hitting each other."

The song was used in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, "The Great Petrie Fortune," in which Van Dyke (playing his own uncle) sings the song on a home movie as part of his will. It referred to an old photograph he had had of himself as an infant, with a "shadow" that was actually Abraham Lincoln.

The song is performed in an episode of Maude, "Maude's Musical", (Season 2, Episode 10), by Beatrice Arthur and Esther Rolle as part of a charity show that Maude is putting together.

The song was performed by Rip Taylor and Christopher Knight in the final episode of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

The song was performed in an episode of "Gimme a Break!" by Nell Carter and Joey Lawrence.

The song is used in an episode of HBO show Carnivale, (Season 2, Episode 15) sung first by Stroud and then by Brother Justin.

The song is parodied in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo episode, "Me and My Shadow Demon," in which the main characters, Scooby and Shaggy, fool a crowd of monsters with a musical number. In 1998 it was included on the soundtrack, Scooby-Doo's Snack Tracks: The Ultimate Collection.

The song is performed by Pardon-Me-Pete the Groundhog (voiced by Buddy Hackett) in the 1979 Rankin/Bass television special Jack Frost (TV special).[5]

Performed by Ted Lewis and Eddie Chester in Abbott and Costello's "Hold That Ghost' (1941)."

The song is performed by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in a commercial for the game Titanfall.

In 2010, DreamWorks began development on an animated film called Me and My Shadow. However, due to scheduling and management issues, the film was canceled.[6][7] The film would've been the first to blend CGI animation with 2D animation.

The song is also performed in the sitcom "Welcome Back Kotter" by Gabe Kaplan and the actors playing the sweathogs: Ron Palillo, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and John Travolta.

On October 9, 2015, the song was performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert by host Stephen Colbert and guest James Corden.[8]

On the October 21, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite, the song was performed by All Elite Wrestling's Chris Jericho and MJF during their "Le Dinner Debonair" segment, with modified lyrics.[9] Wesley Morris of The New York Times recognized the performance as one of the 'Best Performances of 2020'.[10][11]

References
  1. Cohen, Mark (2018). Not Bad for Delancey Street: The Rise of Billy Rose. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-1611688900.
  2. Goldman, Herbert G. (1988). Jolson - The Legend Comes to Life. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 148. ISBN 0-19-505505-5.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 548. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
  4. "secondhandsongs.com". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  5. "Jack Frost (TV 1979)". The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc. 13 December 1979. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  6. Staff, T. H. R. (2013-02-05). "DreamWorks Animation Pushes Back Release for 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  7. Stelter, Brian (2016-04-28). "Comcast buys DreamWorks Animation in $3.8 billion deal". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  8. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Stephen & James Corden Sing 'Me & My Shadow'". YouTube.
  9. *Tony Award Nominee* Chris Jericho and MJF "Me and My Shadow" | AEW Dynamite, 10/21/20. All Elite Wrestling. October 21, 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  10. Morris, Wesley (December 4, 2020). "Best Performances of 2020". The New York Times. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  11. Nason, Josh (December 4, 2020). "MJF 'Le Dinner Debonair' performance named NYT Best of '20". Figure Four Online. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
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