"The Gold Diggers' Song " is a song from the 1933 Warner Bros. film Gold Diggers of 1933, sung in the opening sequence by Ginger Rogers and chorus. The entire song is never performed in the 1933 movie, though it introduces the film in the opening scene. Later in the movie, the tune is heard off stage in rehearsal as the director continues a discussion on camera about other matters. The lyrics were written by Al Dubin and the music by Harry Warren. It became a standard with a well-known melody. It is one of the songs of the Broadway theatre's musical 42nd Street.
Lyrics
The song's lyrics reflect a positive financial turnaround and a fantasized end to the Great Depression, which in the U.S. began to turn around in early 1933 but wouldn't actually end until the late 1930s:
Early popular recordings of this song were by performed by Ted Lewis & His Band and by Hal Kemp & His Orchestra. Dick Powell, who does not sing a note of "The Golddigger's Song" in the motion picture, recorded a version that also sold well. Other 1933 versions were by The Dorsey Brothers, and Leo Reisman and His Orchestra.
Rosemary Clooney included the song in her album Dedicated to Nelson.
Mihoko Tokoro performs a version of this song in Japanese for the 1996 filmMy Fellow Americans. This version also appears on the film's soundtrack album.
The song was used again in three other Warner Bros. productions: as the theme song of the 1933 Merrie MelodiescartoonWe're in the Money; and as the theme and source music two years later in the 1935 film, We're in the Money. It also appears in other cartoons for scenes where a character has gained a lot of money or thinks that he's about to. The song also appears in the 1967 Warner Brothers movie Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, and also as the car horn on Rodney Dangerfield's Rolls Royce in the 1982 Warner Bros. movie Caddyshack.
Media
On the very first Simpsons episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", Bart and Barney sing the first three lines of the song. In the Simpsons episode "HOMR", the first two lines of the song are sung by a chorus in Homer's head during a scene when he thinks that he'll get rich by selling off his life savings. This song is also included in the Simpsons episode "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts". The song played at the end of the auction. The song was included in the stage adaptation of 42nd Street, along with other songs by Dubin & Warren, who wrote the songs for the original movie version. The song is featured in the gameDance on Broadway. An orchestral version of the song is used to denote a strong day on Wall Street in the podcast Marketplace.
