Run Rabbit Run

"Run Rabbit Run" is a song written by Noel Gay and Ralph Butler. The music was by Noel Gay and the song was originally sung by Flanagan and Allen.

Background

This song was written for Noel Gay's show The Little Dog Laughed, which opened on 11 October 1939, at a time when most of the major London theatres were closed. It was a popular song during World War II, especially after Flanagan and Allen changed the lyrics to poke fun at the Germans (e.g. Run Adolf, Run Adolf, Run, Run, Run........)

On the farm, every Friday
On the farm, it's rabbit pie day.
So, every Friday that ever comes along,
I get up early and sing this little song
Run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!
Run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Goes the farmer's gun.
Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run.
Run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!
Don't give the farmer his fun! Fun! Fun!
He'll get by
Without his rabbit pie
So run rabbit – run rabbit – Run! Run! Run!

The lyrics were used as a defiant dig at the allegedly ineffectual Luftwaffe. On 13 November 1939, soon after the outbreak of the Second World War and also soon after the song was premiered, Germany launched its first air raid on Britain, on flying boats that were sheltering in Sullom Voe, Shetland. Two rabbits were supposedly killed by a bomb drop, although it is suggested that they were in fact procured from a butchers' shop and used for publicity purposes.[1][2]

Walter H. Thompson's TV biography I Was Churchill's Bodyguard rates the song as Winston Churchill's favourite as Prime Minister; also, Jock Colville, Churchill's private secretary during much of the war, mentions the Prime Minister singing part of this song.[3]

  • The 2017 horror film Get Out, written and directed by Jordan Peele, uses the original version in the opening scene and once again near the end.[4]
  • The 2015 movie Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children used the song during a Luftwaffe bombing raid.
  • The 2014 television series opener of “Outlander” used the song.
  • In a 1992 advert for Weetabix, the song is sung by Elmer Fudd trying to shoot Bugs Bunny to put into a rabbit pie, only for Elmer to be repeatedly outsmarted by Bugs. Elmer shoots a tree trunk Bugs hides in and ultimately Bugs reveals Weetabix from a secret supply in the tree trunk and sends him packing, boot camp style. [5]

References

  1. ↑ "The event made headline news across Britain and a photograph was taken of a man holding two dead rabbits at the site of the crater. The rabbits came from a butcher shop in Lerwick. The story popularised the song Run, Rabbit, Run, which was seen as a skit on the ineffectiveness of the German air force (Luftwaffe)." Photo Number NE02730, Bomb crater, 13th Nov 1939, at photos.shetland-museum.org.uk Accessed 7 January 2017
  2. ↑ "The idea that the popular song "Run, Rabbit, Run" commemorated it is nonsense." /comparing dates of song and bomb/ Photo Number 02963, Bomb Crater, November 1939, at photos.shetland-museum.org.uk Accessed 7 January 2017
  3. ↑ Hickman, Tom: Churchill's Bodyguard: The Authorised Biography of Walter H Thompson. Headline Book Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7553-1448-4
  4. ↑ Edelstein, David (23 February 2017). "Jordan Peele's Get Out Is Terrifying, Socially Conscious Horror". Vulture. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  5. ↑ {{https://youtu.be/ttZmwvCfhu4|title=Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd Weetabix advert}}
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