"Inchworm", also known as "The Inch Worm", is a song originally performed by

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; ; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs. Kaye starred ...

in the 1952 film ''

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

''. It was written by

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser ( "lesser"; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls (musical), Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business ...

Lyrics

The song's lyrics express a

carpe diem () is a Latin aphorism, usually translated "seize the day", taken from book 1 of the Roman poet Horace's work '' Odes'' (23 BC). Translation is the second-person singular present active imperative of '' carpō'' "pick or pluck" used by Ho ...

sentiment, with the singer noting that the inchworm of the title has a "business-like mind", and is blind to the beauty of the flowers it encounters: :''Two and two are four'' :''Four and four are eight'' :''That's all you have on your business-like mind'' :''Two and two are four'' :''Four and four are eight'' :''How can you be so blind?'' Subsequent verses include the lines "Measuring the marigolds, you and your arithmetic / You'll probably go far" and "Seems to me you'd stop and see / How beautiful they are". Loesser wrote a

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

chorus that, sung by itself, has become popular as a children's song because of its arithmetical chorus: :''Two and two are four'' :''Four and four are eight'' :''Eight and eight are sixteen'' :''Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two'' In the film, a children's chorus sings the contrapuntal "arithmetic" section over and over inside a small classroom, dolefully and by rote, while Andersen, listening just outside, gazes at an inchworm crawling on the flowers and sings the main section of the song. Loesser loved the intellectual challenge of such contrapuntal composition, which he also did in other works such as ''Tallahassee''.

Reception

The composer received a fan letter (signed pseudonymously, "Respectfully, a Kansas inchworm") which said of the song: Loesser was so touched by the letter that he placed a large advertisement in the largest newspaper in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

— the ''Daily Journal World'' — in thanks. His correspondent wrote again, revealing herself to be teacher Emily Preyer.

Recorded versions

"Inchworm" has been recorded by many singers, including

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, Rachelle Ferrell, The Brothers Creeggan,

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian country, pop and adult contemporary music singer who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy ...

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark "Kenny" Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded with Jim Messina (musician), Jim Mess ...

We Five We Five was a 1960s folk rock musical group based in San Francisco, California. Their best-known hit was their 1965 remake of Ian & Sylvia's " You Were on My Mind", which reached No. 1 on the Cashbox chart, No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ...

John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his John Lithgow filmography, diverse work on stage and screen. He has rece ...

, Mary Hopkin,

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...

, Dan Zanes, Kurt Wagner,

Lisa Loeb Lisa Anne Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with " Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites'', the first number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

The Sandpipers The Sandpipers were an American easy listening trio who carved a niche in 1960s folk rock with their vocals and innovative arrangements of international ballads and pop standards. They are best remembered for their cover version of "Guantaname ...

, and

Patricia Barber Patricia Barber (born November 8, 1955) is an American songwriter, composer, singer, and pianist. Biography Barber's father Floyd was a jazz saxophonist who played with Bud Freeman and Glenn Miller. She played saxophone and piano from a young a ...

. Performed instrumentally, it was a regular feature of the

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

Quartet's repertoire and appears on the album '' Coltrane''. David Bowie said the song was the inspiration behind his 1980 song " Ashes to Ashes":

Use in film and television

* The 1954 Looney Tunes cartoon " From A to Z-Z-Z-Z" opens with a classroom of children reciting the verbatim arithmetic lesson in the same cadence. * A recording of

singing it was used as the underscoring for a shadow puppet segment on the ''

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program ...

'' television show. * Was sung in part by Principal Skinner in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' episode S2:E14 "Principal Charming". * Inchworm has been performed in skits on

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

's ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, 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 Worksh ...

'' and ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

''; the song was done twice by

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...

, once in a regular sketch, and then again with Danny Kaye and the Muppets when he was on the show. * The song was performed on the American children's television show '' Curiosity Shop'' (ABC). * In the television series ''

Quantum Leap Quantum leap or ''variation'', may refer to: In general * Quantum leap (physics), also known as quantum jump, a transition between quantum states ** Atomic electron transition, a key example of the physics phenomenon * Paradigm shift, a sudden ch ...

'' episode ''Another Mother'', Al ( Dean Stockwell) sang it as a lullaby. * It was used in a 1995 episode of the UK television programme '' BBC Horizons'' entitled "Nanotopia", during a segment explaining the "assemblers" of

Eric Drexler Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for introducing molecular nanotechnology (MNT), and his studies of its potential from the 1970s and 1980s. His 1991 doctoral thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology ...

. * The song was also briefly featured in the popular British schools drama ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

'', being sung by the school choir during rehearsals. * It was featured at the end of a fourth season episode of the show ''

Northern Exposure ''Northern Exposure'' is an American comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents in the fictitious town of Cicely, Alaska, that originally aired on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. It rec ...

''. * In 2010, twice

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

-nominated band The Leisure Society performed the song for the American Laundromat Records children's compilation, ''Sing Me to Sleep - Indie Lullabies.'' * The song was also sung as a children's lullaby during episode 17 of the first season of the popular TV sitcom ''

Everybody Loves Raymond ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' is an American television sitcom created by Philip Rosenthal that aired on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005, with a total of 210 episodes spanning nine seasons. It was produced by Where's Lunch and Wor ...

''. * A slightly re-worked version of "Inchworm" appears in the opening and closing sequences of the video game ''

Paper Mario ''Paper Mario'' is a video game series and part of the ''Mario'' franchise, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It combines elements from the role-playing, action-adventure, and puzzle genres. Players control a ...

''.

References

External links

Song page at FrankLoesser.com
{{authority control 1952 songs English children's songs Real Book Song Songs written by Frank Loesser We Five songs Danny Kaye songs