Makin' Whoopee
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"Makin' Whoopee!" is a jazz/blues song, first popularized by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 musical Whoopee!. Walter Donaldson wrote the music and Gus Kahn the lyrics for the song (and indeed for the entire musical).
The title is a slang expression for sexual intimacy,[1] and the song itself is a "dire warning", largely to men, about the "trap" of marriage.[2] "Makin' Whoopee" begins with the celebration of a wedding, honeymoon, and the early years of marital bliss, but moves on to babies and responsibilities, and ultimately on to affairs and possible divorce, ending with a judge's advice.
[edit] In popular culture
- The Elton John track "Big Dipper" features an adapted version of "Makin' Whoopee" in its final verse.
- Arguably the most famous rendition of "Makin' Whoopee" was performed by Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1989 film The Fabulous Baker Boys.
- Hawkeye Pierce sings the song at the end of an episode of M*A*S*H titled Dear Dad... Three.
- In 2006, "Makin' Whoopee!" was covered by Rod Stewart in a duet with Elton John on his album The Great American Songbook, Volume 4. Harry Nilsson had previously covered it.
- The second episode of season 7 of the television series Gilmore Girls is titled "That's What You Get, Folks, For Makin' Whoopee", in which Lane Kim reveals that she got pregnant after having sex for the first time on the beach during a very horrible honeymoon in Mexico.
- The term was made popular again in the 1970s by The Newlywed Game, a U.S. game show with frequent sexual references.
- The Macon Whoopee was a minor-league ice hockey team from Macon, Georgia.
- The song was covered by Cookie Monster in a 1995 episode of Sesame Street called "Eatin' Cookie". It recalls Cookie Monster eating cookies in every season. The refrain goes "Another season/Another reason/For eatin' cookie" [1][2].
- The song was sung by Vicki Lewis in the NewsRadio episode titled "Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Show".
The most popular modern rendition of this song was Dr. John's Grammy winning duet with Rickie Lee Jones in 1989
[edit] References
- ^ whoopee[2,noun]. Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
- ^ Holden, Stephen. "Crooning About the Woes of Whoopee", New York Times, April 19, 2002. Retrieved on 2006-10-08. A review of a James Naughton cabaret performance. "Mr. Naughton pounces on the dire warning to men lurking beneath the song's playful surface: that once the honeymoon is over, marriage can become a trap from which there is no escape."
