# SDMB Musicals: Meet Me in St. Louis **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137 "2008-10-16T02:16:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137/41 "2008-10-23T23:01:36Z")
They should put a warning on that disc box: I have “The Trolley Song” so embedded in my mind’s ear that I’m about ready to take a claw hammer to my head. Which reminds me. Would someone please explain a couple things for me? “Clang! Clang! Clang! went the trolley / Ding! Ding! Ding! went the bell” Uh . . . isn’t that the bell _clanging_? The trolley itself doesn’t actually clang, does it? “Plop! Plop! Plop! go the wheels” Excuse me? _Plop_? See, I woulda wrote “Round and round go the wheels.” Fine, the lone line that’s not onomatopoetic, but still, it works, no? Thanks in advance for your agreement. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137/42 "2008-10-23T23:12:21Z")
The clang could refer to the sound of the wheels on the tracks. twicks, who lived on a street with a trolley running down it, a mere 40 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137/43 "2008-10-23T23:28:48Z")
I really like this musical. I consider it a musical because the songs help advance the plot (sometimes only tangentially). I haven’t seen it in awhile, but I think I’ll try to find it this weekend. I never warmed up to Tootie–I dimly remember reading about the making of MMiSL and someone saying that they wanted a child who wasn’t gaggingly sweet or mawkish–I think they got it (I also remember reading that she was very hard to work with, a real brat). I agree that it has not aged or become stale–unlike some other musicals (I like the songs and the dance numbers of WSS but I can no longer watch it–it’s tedious and loooong and the Puerto Ricans are lavender. I know about the makeup choices and deplore them. I think WSS could be redone today and updated a bit (keeping the songs) and it would be great). I find I actually like the more bittersweet lines to the Xmas song. I do like the family feeling and the energy between the sibs and others. And Grandpa rocks. Now I have to watch this and soon… ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137/44 "2008-10-23T23:43:06Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > The clang could refer to the sound of the wheels on the tracks. > > twicks, who lived on a street with a trolley running down it, a mere 40 years ago. I don’t think so. A trolley bell definitely clangs. I can’t summon to my memory the sound of a trolley wheel doing anything other than, like, chucka chucka, or whiska whiska, or say kachunkachunkachunk. Definitely percussive, not, um, belly. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137/45 "2008-10-23T23:47:11Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I do like the family feeling and the energy between the sibs and others. And Grandpa rocks. Now I have to watch this and soon… yeah, I love the odd little details, like Grandpa’s awesome hat collection. Never part of the plot, just there, but a HUGE amount of energy obviously went into it, just as a background character detail. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137/46 "2008-10-23T23:57:52Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I don’t think so. A trolley bell definitely clangs. I can’t summon to my memory the sound of a trolley wheel doing anything other than, like, chucka chucka, or whiska whiska, or say kachunkachunkachunk. Definitely percussive, not, um, belly. Maybe it was supposed to be “clank clank clank” and Judy screwed it up? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137/47 "2008-10-24T00:17:49Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I don’t think so. A trolley bell definitely clangs. I can’t summon to my memory the sound of a trolley wheel doing anything other than, like, chucka chucka, or whiska whiska, or say kachunkachunkachunk. Definitely percussive, not, um, belly. I think there is more than one bell on the trolley. There is the alarm bell, telling other vehicles and pedestrians that the trolley is coming, but there might also be another bell, similar to the one on the subway or Tube, which you use to summon the conductor. Just an idea. It’s a song–go with it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137/48 "2008-10-24T00:24:43Z")
My take? According to the songwriter, he was handed a newspaper photo by Arthur Freed, with the caption, “Clang, clang, clang goes the jolly little trolley.” And the song was born. So my theory is that the songwriter did no research of his own, and didn’t realize that the “clang” was the clanging of the bell. Just a theory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-musicals-meet-me-in-st-louis/468137.md?page=2)