"Heigh-Ho" is a song from

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

's 1937 animated film ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'', written by

Frank Churchill Frank Edwin Churchill (October 20, 1901 – May 14, 1942) was an American film composer and songwriter. He wrote most of the music for films produced by Walt Disney, such as ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', '' Dumbo'', ''Bambi'', '' The Ad ...

(music) and

Larry Morey Lawrence L. Morey (March 26, 1905 – May 8, 1971) was an American lyricist and screenwriter. He co-wrote some of the most successful songs in Disney films of the 1930s and 1940s, including " Heigh-Ho", " Some Day My Prince Will Come", and " ...

(lyrics). It is sung by the group of

Seven Dwarfs The Seven Dwarfs are fictional dwarfs in the 1812 fairy tale '' Snow White'' by the Brothers Grimm and other renditions and adaptations. History The Seven Dwarfs live in a tiny cottage and work in the nearby mines. Snow White stumbles upon thei ...

as they work at a mine with diamonds and rubies, and is one of the best-known songs in the film. It is also the first appearance of the

seven dwarfs The Seven Dwarfs are fictional dwarfs in the 1812 fairy tale '' Snow White'' by the Brothers Grimm and other renditions and adaptations. History The Seven Dwarfs live in a tiny cottage and work in the nearby mines. Snow White stumbles upon thei ...

. The other Dwarf Chorus songs are " Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum" (the washing-up song) and " The Silly Song". The song is actually only sung by six dwarfs due to Dopey being completely mute. The expression "heigh-ho" was first recorded in 1553 and is defined as an expression of "yawning, sighing, languor, weariness, disappointment". Eventually, it blended meanings with the similarly spelled "hey-ho". The phrase "hey-ho" first appeared in print in 1471, according to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'', which says it has nautical origins, meant to mark the rhythm of movement in heaving or hauling. The song was recorded by Horace Heidt and his Brigadiers, with vocal chorus sung by The Kings and Glee Club, for

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...

in January, 1938 (Brunswick 8074). The record made it to No. 4 on

Your Hit Parade ''Your Hit Parade'' is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year r ...

in April 1938 and stayed on the charts for 10 weeks.

In Disney-related media

Film, stage and television

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...

sings this song in " The Volunteer Worker" and " The Riveter". In ''

The Goodies The Goodies were a trio of British comedians: Tim Brooke-Taylor (17 July 1940 – 12 April 2020), Graeme Garden (b. 18 February 1943) and Bill Oddie (b. 7 July 1941). The trio created, wrote for and performed in their The Goodies (TV series), ...

'' final series special " Snow White 2" the trio and the dwarfs sing the song in the beginning. In ''

Gremlins ''Gremlins'' is a 1984 American black comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voic ...

'', during the local movie theatre scene, the gremlins were watching the film, and singing along with the song. The song was also featured in the 1979 stage adaption of the 1937 animated musical film. In the 1988 Disney animated film ''

Oliver & Company ''Oliver & Company'' is a 1988 American Animated film, animated musical film, musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is inspired by the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist''. I ...

'', Tito sings "Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, it's off to work we go" when he is rescuing Jenny. The song appears in the 2025 live-action remake of the original animated film, being extended and featuring new lyrics.

Music

The song appears, with altered lyrics, at the finale of

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is an attraction located in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort and in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and previously in Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort. First opened on June 23, 1963 at the Disneyl ...

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

and

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park is a Amusement park, theme park at the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It opened on October 1, 1971, and is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Disney Experiences, Expe ...

, and is also used at the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction. In 1955,

Jack Pleis Jack K. Pleis (May 11, 1917 – December 5, 1990) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, conductor, composer and producer. He recorded on London and Decca Records in the 1950s, and Columbia Records in the 1960s. During the course of his career, ...

recorded it for his album, ''Music from Disneyland''.

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") is a Mexican American rock group, rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional ...

recorded a Spanish-language cover of this song for their 2009 album '' Los Lobos Goes Disney''. On the 2011 album ''V-Rock Disney'', which features

visual kei , abbreviated , is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of '' Bounce'' wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it " ...

artists covering Disney songs,

Cascade Cascade, or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science * Air shower (physics), a cascade (particle shower) of subatomic particles and ionized nuclei ** Particle shower, a cascade of secondary particles produced as the result of a high ...

covered this song.

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

's version of the song appears on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the 2013 film '' Saving Mr. Banks.''

References

{{authority control 1937 songs Songs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) Music published by Bourne Co. Music Publishers Songs with music by Frank Churchill Songs with lyrics by Larry Morey Songs written for films Seven Dwarfs

In Disney-related media

Film, stage and television

Music

See also

References