"Chim Chim Cher-ee" is a song from the film Mary Poppins. It was sung by Bert, Mary Poppins, Jane, and Michael. It is also featured prominently in the award-winning Cameron Mackintosh/Disney stage musical of the same name which premiered in London at the Prince Edward Theatre in 2004 and on Broadway on November 16, 2006. It was heard in the Mary Poppins scene of The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios and during the Mary Poppins segment of Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations at Disneyland.
The song won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 2005, Julie Andrews included it as part of "Julie Andrews Selects Her Favorite Disney Songs." It was included in Disney Sing Along Songs: Be Our Guest.
Songwriters
The song was written by the Sherman Brothers, who also won an Oscar and a Grammy Award for the film's song score.
Inspiration
The song was inspired by one of the drawings of a chimney sweep created by the film's screenwriter, Don DaGradi. When asked about the drawing by the Sherman Brothers, DaGradi explained the ancient British folklore attributed to "sweeps" and how shaking hands with one could bring a person good luck. In their 1961 treatment, the Sherman Brothers had already amalgamated many of the P.L. Travers characters in the creation of "Bert". His theme music became the song.
In addition to the "standard" version of the song which Bert sings to Jane and Michael, he sings short snippets of it to himself at various times, with different verses specific to an unfolding plot element.
Lyrics
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-oo
I does what I likes and I likes what I do
Today I'm a screever and as you can see
A screever's an artist of highest degree
And it's all me own work
From me own memory
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-oo
I draws what I likes and I likes what I drew
No remuneration do I ask of you
But me cap would be glad of a copper or two
Me cap would be glad of a copper or two
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky
As lucky can be
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-oo!
Good luck will rub off
When I shakes hands with you
Or blow me a kiss
And that's lucky too
Now as the ladder
Of life has been strung
You may think a sweep's
On the bottommost rung
Though I spends me time
In the ashes and smoke
In this whole wide world
There's no happier bloke
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky
As lucky can be
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-oo!
Good luck will rub off
When I shakes hands with you
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky
As lucky can be
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-oo!
Good luck will rub off
When I shakes hands with you
I choose me bristles
With pride, yes, I do
A broom for the shaft
And a brush for the flue
Up where the smoke
Is all billered and curled
'Tween pavement and stars
Is he chimney sweep world
When there's hardly no day
Nor hardly no night
There's things half in shadow
And halfway in light
On the rooftops of London
Cool, what a sight!
Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee!
When you're with a sweep
You're in glad company
Nowhere is there
A more happier crew
Than them what sings
"Chim chim cher-ee
Chim cher-oo!
Chim chiminey chim chim
Cher-ee chim cher-oo!"
Musical Version
Winds in the east, theres a mist comin' in
Like somethin' is brewin' and 'bout to begin.
Can't put me finger on what lies in store,
But I feel what's to happen all happened before.
A father, a mother, a daughter a son -
The threads of their lives unraveling undone -
Somethin' is needed to twist 'em as tight,
like string you might use when you're flyin' a kite -
Chim chimeny chim chim, cheree chim cheroo
[...]
Of all London's by-ways where I doff my cap
This one's the hardest to find on a map
Cherry Tree Lane, as sweet as a song
But the nannies who come here don't stay for long
Chim chimeny chim chim, cheree chim cheroo
The wind may blow, but who's to know
Exactly what it's bringing
Good news or bad, happy or sad
The pendulum keeps swinging
[...]
A game is played, a change is made
But still the road is long
And though they might yet fly a kite
Sometimes with winds too strong
[...]
Twists and turns, ups and downs
One moment smiles, next moment frowns
But bad tempered faces had better change quick
'Cos if the wind changes, the face might just stick
Chim chimeny chim chim, cheree chim cheroo
Bert: Up where the smoke is all billowed and curled
Pavement and stars is the chimney sweeps world
When it's hardly no day nor hardly no night
There's things off in shadows and upways in light
On the Rooftops of London...
(Spoken)
ooo what a sight
Mary: Oh you're a sweep now, are you?
Bert: Best view in the world aye?
And who gets to see it?! The birds, the stars, and the chimney sweeps.
Nothing can beat it, aye?
(Sung)
Now as the ladder of life has been strung
You might think us sweeps are the bottom most wrung
Though I spends me time in the ashes and smoke
In this whole wide world there's no happier bloke.
Both: Chim Chim-in-ey
Chim Chim-in-ey
Chim Chim Cher-ee
A sweep is as lucky as lucky can be
Chim Chim-in-ey
Chim Chim-in-ey
Chim Chim Cher-oo
Mary: Good luck will rub off when he shakes hands with you
Bert: Or blow me a kiss
Mary: Bert!
Bert: And that's lucky too
(Spoken)
Does this mean you're going?
Mary: The wind has changed.
Bert: But they're good kids, Mary!
Mary: But I'd be bothering with them if they weren't!
But I can't help them if they won't let me and no one is as hard to teach as a child he knows everything.
Bert: So
Mary: So they've got to do the next bit on their own.
(Sung)
Both: Chim Chim-in-ey
Chim Chim-in-ey
Chim Chim Cher-ee
Mary: When you're with a sweep, you're in glad company.
(Spoken)
Goodbye, Bert.
(Sung)
Bert: Chim
Chim
Chim
Chim
Cher-ee
When you're with a sweep, you're in glad company.
Now where is there a more happier crew
Then thems to sing Chim Chim Cher-ee Chim Cher-oo
Chim Chim-in-ey Chim Chim
Cher-ee Chim
(Spoken)
Mary: Cheerio Bert! Keep an eye on them for me.
A chimney swept, a secret kept
Up here above the gables
Another world to be unfurled
It ain't just myths and fables
A chimney stack looks cold and black
Against a twilit sky
But never fear, there's warmth up here
Perhaps you'll find out why
[...]
Chim chiminey chim chiminey chim chim cher-ee
Now guardian angels you don't often see
They're not high fallutin', not grand nor aloof
Nah, they're covered in soot and they're up on your roof
Jane. Michael: Chim chiminey chim chim cher-ee
Bert: See it's true
(Transitions into "Step in Time")
Covers
- Plastic Tree in Japanese on the 2011 album V-Rock Disney
- On 2013 album Disney - Koe no Oujisama Vol.3, which features various seiyus covering Disney songs, the song was covered by Takuma Terashima
Video
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