"Get Me to the Church on Time" is a song composed by Frederick Loewe, with lyrics written by Alan Jay Lerner for the 1956 musical ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

'', where it was introduced by

Stanley Holloway Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in ''My F ...

. It is sung by the

cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

character Alfred P. Doolittle, the father of the one of the show's two main characters,

Eliza Doolittle Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character and the protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's play '' Pygmalion'' (1913) and its 1956 musical adaptation, ''My Fair Lady''. Eliza (from Lisson Grove, London) is a Cockney flower woman, who comes to Prof ...

. He has received a surprise bequest of four thousand pounds a year from an American millionaire, raising him to

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...

respectability. Consequently, he feels he must marry Eliza's stepmother, the woman with whom he has been living for many years. Doolittle and his friends have one last spree before the wedding and the song is a plea to his friends not to let his drunken merriment forget his good intentions and make sure he gets to his wedding.

Covers and parodies

*On the children’s show ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

'', Oscar the Grouch and his girlfriend Grundgetta get engaged by accident, but they agree to get married anyway to have a huge trashy party. Amid the chaos of all the wedding preparations, Oscar sings "I'm Getting Married in the Trash Can", a spoof of "Get Me to the Church on Time" *On ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Har ...

'' the song is performed by Burnett with

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, bl ...

. *On ''

Gavin & Stacey ''Gavin & Stacey'' is a British sitcom written by James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one in Billericay, Essex; one in Barry, South Wales. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the titular characters Gavin and Stacey and the writers ...

'', Uncle Bryn is singing this song as he carries in the flowers for Gavin and Stacey’s wedding. Gwen, Nessa, and Stacey happily join in. The scene ends abruptly as Stacey’s brother, Jason, enters the room and whatever awkwardness exists between him and Uncle Bryn regarding the "fishing trip" evaporates the joy of the moment and everyone stops singing.

Notable recordings

* André Previn and Shelly Manne - ''

'' (1956) * Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1956 for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set ''The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56)'' issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009.

References

1956 songs Andy Williams songs Songs with music by Frederick Loewe Songs with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner Frank Sinatra songs Songs from My Fair Lady 1950s jazz standards Songs about marriage {{Show-tune-stub