"Ya Got Trouble" is a

patter song The patter song is characterised by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note. It is a staple of comic opera, especially Gilbert and Sullivan, but it h ...

Meredith Willson Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flautist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 1 ...

from the 1957 Broadway musical ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical theatre, musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns a confidence trick, con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and ...

'', and its 1962 filmed version. It is one of the most popular and recognizable songs in the musical. Willson considered eliminating a long piece of dialogue from his draft of ''The Music Man'' about the serious trouble facing River City parents. However, he realized it sounded like a lyric and transformed it into "Ya Got Trouble".

Content

A smooth-talking, yet corrupt, traveling salesman takes up the occupation of a musical-instrument dealer and tries to convince the citizens of River City,

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, to fund his idea for a boys'

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...

by playing on their fears of youth corruption, represented by a new pocket

pool table A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, pool, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that ...

in the local

billiard hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often ha ...

. The song is his

slippery slope In a slippery slope argument, a course of action is rejected because the slippery slope advocate believes it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends. The core of the slippery slope argument is that a specific decisi ...

argument of what could happen should the citizens fail to recognize the danger and not follow his suggestion for a more wholesome activity.

Title variations

The song is sometimes listed as "(Ya Got) Trouble". The original Broadway cast album lists the song title as "Trouble", both on the record jacket and label. "You Got Trouble" is a common misspelling of the song title.

Notable covers and parodies

A fully arranged cover of the song appears on the 1967 eponymous debut album of the sunshine pop band

Spanky and Our Gang Spanky and Our Gang was an American 1960s sunshine pop band led by Spanky McFarlane, Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The band derives its name from Hal Roach's ''Our Gang'' comedies of the 1930s (known to modern audiences as ''The Little Rascals''), ...

. A bar of the song's main chorus is featured in a mid-1970s episode of the children's TV series ''

The Electric Company ''The Electric Company'' is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. ...

''. The song was part of a skit featuring an irritable police commissioner ( Jim Boyd) and several of his inept recruits (

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony ...

, Luis Avalos and Skip Hinnant). American humorist, satirist, and advertising innovator

Stan Freberg Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, puppeteer, radio personality and advertising creative director. His best-known works include " St. George and the Dragonet ...

covered the song for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

in 1958. Though Freberg often directly parodied songs (or "kidded" them, in his phrase), his recording of "Ya Got Trouble" was a straightforward recording of the song, arranged and conducted by his longtime collaborator

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet (TV series), The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad (TV series), T ...

. Freberg wrote that the subtle parody in the recording lay in the fact that it was recorded in an empty concert hall, as were many Broadway soundtrack albums, with the characteristic echo of such large empty space. In an episode of the 1980s TV series '' Fame,'' Morgan Stevens, in character as David Reardon, performed the selection with the assistance of some of the regular cast. In ''

Ally McBeal ''Ally McBeal'' is an American legal comedy-drama television series created by David E. Kelley that originally aired on Fox from September 8, 1997, to May 20, 2002. It revolves around Calista Flockhart in the title role as a lawyer working ...

'' Season 2 episode "Sex, Lies and Politics" fictional lawyer John Cage spurs the jury into singing "Ya Got Trouble" with him. In an episode of the TV series ''

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 ...

'' titled " Marge vs. the Monorail", a fast-talking salesman named Lyle Lanley convinces the townspeople to buy a city monorail with " The Monorail Song", a parody of this song. When hosting the

58th Primetime Emmy Awards The 58th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 27, 2006, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET (00:00 UTC) with Conan O'Brien hosting the show. The ceremony attracted 16.2 million viewers, 2.5 ...

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...

sang a parody of the song about how NBC's ratings were starting to slip at the time. During the 2010 Writers Guild Awards,

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...

, creator of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'', did a parody of the song entitled "Ya Got Trouble" but it was about unscripted shows. MacFarlane performed the song in his second

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

appearance with The John Wilson Orchestra, "Prom 59: The Broadway Sound", on August 27, 2012. "The Bible, Part 3", an early version of the song "All-American Prophet" from ''

The Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as ''The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi''. The book is one of ...

'' was modeled stylistically after "Ya Got Trouble", and ended with the same line: "Remember my friends, listen to me because I pass this way but once!" In a 2016 episode of ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...

'', "Josh and I Work on a Case," the eponymous character Rebecca cajoles the tenants of an apartment complex to sue their landlord in a parody of this song entitled "Cold Showers Lead to Crack". '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' featured the song 'Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000' from the second season episode of the same name. The song was inspired by "Ya Got Trouble" while the whole episode is loosely based on ''The Music Man'', both the 1962

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and the 1957

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

. In an episode of ''

Schmigadoon! ''Schmigadoon!'' is an American musical comedy television series created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, with all songs written by Paul, who also serves as showrunner. The Apple TV+ series premiered July 16, 2021, starring an ensemble cast led b ...

'' titled "Tribulation", Mildred Layton (played by

Kristin Chenoweth Kristin Dawn Chenoweth (; born Kristi Dawn Chenoweth; July 24, 1968)Kristin Cheno ...

, and based on ''Music Man'''s, Mrs. Shinn) attempts to condemn the outsiders and tries to convince the townspeople to vote her for Mayor with "Tribulation", a direct parody of this song. Comedian Paul F. Tompkins performed this song during his 2025 Varietopia tour.

References

Bibliography

*''The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity'', Raymond Knapp. Princeton University Press, 2005 1957 songs Patter songs Hugh Jackman songs Songs from The Music Man Songs written by Meredith Willson {{show-tune-stub

Content

Title variations

Notable covers and parodies

See also

References

Bibliography