Chameleon Days[1] | |
---|---|
![]() ' | |
Name |
"Chameleon Days"[2] by Mae Questel as Helen Kane |
Audio: |
Zelig: |
Everybody go chameleon
Everybody show chameleon
Take it fast or slow
Chameleon, chameleon, chameleon days
Everybody think chameleon
Every time you blink chameleon
In your kitchen sink
Chameleon, chameleon, chameleon days
They're all around us
When we wake up every day
Ooo, I'm glad they found us
'Cause they take the blues away
Hey, hey!
Everywhere you go chameleon
Everything is so chameleon
Top of your head to your toe
Chameleon, chameleon, chameleon days
They're so much fun
They'll even just right through a hoop
Ah, and they change color
When they're swimming in your soup
Flying in the air chameleon
Rolling in your hair chameleon
Take away all your care
Chameleon, chameleon, chameleon days
Trivia
- Mae Questel recorded "Chameleon Days" as Helen Kane with a 45-piece orchestra.
- Questel indirectly admitted in this song that she used to impersonate Helen Kane.
- The song was composed by jazz composer and musician Richard "Dick" Hyman.
- Hyman stated, "We got Mae Questel to do that in her Betty Boop voice. In the early 1930s she did the voice of Betty Boop, although she wasn't the original voice, and since then she's made a great career of character voices. She is Olive Oyl and occasionally Popeye."
- The "Chameleon Days" soundtrack was released in 1983.
- "Chameleon Days" contains a heavily Jewish instrumental, American actress Helen Kane of Irish-German descent did not sing Jewish-sounding songs. Though some of her hit songs were written by Jewish composers and lyricists. However with the producer, and both Betty Boop and Mae Questel being Jews, it makes sense that the song would sound Jewish.
- Questel's voice deepened with age, therefore she did not reprise her part as Betty Boop in 1984 for the 1985 animated film short The Romance of Betty Boop. Questel did, however, return a few years later to voice Betty Boop in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was her final stint as the character. Mary Healey was first choice for Betty Boop in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but Healey's voice-over dialogue was later replaced and redubbed by Questel for the finalized film.
- Hyman also noted that there is a Josephine Baker dance sequence in Zelig.
- The song "Chameleon Days" was inspired a 1920s song called "Crinoline Days" by Paul Whiteman.
- Recording engineer Roy Yokelson who helped produce the music collected old cartoons, and he was a big fan of Mae Questel.
- To make Fanny Brice sing about Zelig, Hyman completely reconstructed the music from the original film clip.
- The original author of "Crinoline Days" was Irving Berlin. It was granted copyright on November 2, 1922. The original vocalist was a vaudevillian named Grace LaRue.