Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart

The song was first sounded in 1935 in the Broadway musical “Thumbs Up!” Performed by Hal Lee Roy and Eunice Healy ^{[3] [4]} .

Dear, when you smiled at me I heard a melody.

It haunted me from the start.

Something inside of me started a symphony.

Zing! Went the strings of my heart!

'Twas like a breath of spring. I heard a robin sing

About a nest set apart.

All nature seemed to be perfect harmony.

Zing! Went the strings of my heart!

Your eyes made skies seem blue again.

What else could i do again

But keep repeating through and through

I love you, love you!

I still recall the thrill, I guess I always will,

I hope 'twill never depart.

I knew you were mine for keeps.

Zing! Went the strings of my heart!

(all repeats)

Listening on September 13, 1935

Garland performed the audition at MGM on September 13, 1935 ^[5] . There are many memories of different people about that day, often contradictory. According to the most common version, the news of the audition caught the thirteen-year-old Francis (it is not known exactly when the pseudonym “Judy Garland” was used ) by surprise while playing in the courtyard, and due to time constraints, her father took her to the studio in the clothes she wore was dirty and unkempt ^[5] . In the room where the audition was held, there was MGM music director Roger Edens . Judy sang him "Zing!" Went the Strings of My Heart to the accompaniment of the piano played by her mother ^[6] . Years later, Edens recalled:

I understood everything as soon as the eight bars of music passed. It was an innate talent. <...> She was tall and plump, dressed in a dark blue blouse and puppet sandals, with a shock of tousled hair and no lipstick. I was really shocked ^[6] .

Original Text (Eng.)

I knew instantly, in eight bars of music. The talent was that inbred. <...> She's wearing a navy-blue midday blouse and baby-doll sandals, she is just so high and chubby. I really flipped.

The most important thing that happened in the MGM music department was the opening of Judy Garland. ^[7] .

Original Text (Eng.)

The MGM musician was the discovery of Judy Garland.

Edens immediately called Luis B. Meier’s secretary Ida Coverman, and she notified her boss, who immediately decided to sign a contract with Garland ^[6] .
Famous Hollywood producer and songwriter Arthur Fried claimed that he also attended the audition with Edens. According to his version, Judy came along with her sister, and her mother accompanied her on "the worst piano I've ever heard . " So he offered to sing a cappella , and Garland performed “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart . ” Fried was delighted, personally rushed to Mayer and convinced the head of the studio to listen to a new singer ^[7] .
Even Judy’s own memories of that day are extremely contradictory. In an interview in 1938, she said that she first sang “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart ” for Edens, then the song “ Dinah ” for Mrs. Coverman, and finally “ Eli, Eli ” for Meier, each time more and more surprised that all these “ Very Important Persons (write with large letters, please) " did not say to be driven away. After that, she went home and returned to her interrupted lesson - skating, and the next day she signed her first contract ^[8] .
However, in one of the radio interviews of the 60s, Garland claimed that in 1935, Edens was not yet the musical director of MGM, but a simple pianist who played the Broadway star Ethel Merman , and to which no one paid much attention. According to her, that day her mother was ill and could not accompany her to the audition, so Edens was invited only as an accompanist ^[9] .

Radio appearance on November 16, 1935

On November 16, 1935, Judy Garland spoke on the radio for the second time in three weeks on Shell Chateau . A day earlier, her father was hospitalized with a diagnosis of meningitis , and the doctors were almost certain that he would not survive. However, Garland was not informed about how critical his condition was. Judy felt only some concern in the voice of the doctor Marcus Rabvin, who called her in the studio before the start of the broadcast. In addition, Rabin assured her that the radio will be brought to his father’s room, and he will listen to the program ^[10] .
During the broadcast, Garland performed “Zing!” Twice . Went the Strings of My Heart ” and gave an interview to presenter Wallace Biri ^{[10] [11]} . Beerie and the first version of the song in 1998 were published on the collection “Judy” ^{[11] [12]} , the recording of the second performance “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart " on the air at the moment there is only in private collections ^[11] .
The next day, November 17, 1935, Judy's father died. He was only 49 years old ^[10] .

Judy Garland :

I sang for him with all my heart. And in the morning he was gone ^[10] .

Original Text (Eng.)

I sang my heart out for him. But by morning he was gone.

This is the most terrible thing of all that has happened to me in my whole life ^[13] .

Original Text (Eng.)

The most terrible thing that ever happened to me in my life.

Movie Version

In 1938, the song performed by Judy was used in the film " Listen, dear ." The recording was made on September 16, 1938 ^[14] (one source indicated the date June 16, but it also clarified that this is most likely a typo of the creators of the disc Collector Gems from the MGM Films , since all other documents indicate exactly 16 September ^[15] ), and the song was recorded in two versions - both a slow ballad and an energetic swinging one ; however, the film included only an abbreviated version of the ballad version ^[16] . The full version was published only in 1995 on the six-disc compendium of "That's Entertainment! The Ultimate Anthology of MGM Musicals" ^{[14] [16] [17]} , and the swing version was published in 1996 on Collector's Gems from the MGM Films ^{[15] [16]} .
September 22, 1938 took place the shooting of the song for the film. Like the overwhelming majority of similar scenes, it was a performance with a previously recorded phonogram ^[14] .

Single version

On July 29, 1939, the song was recorded by Garland during a regular recording session for Decca Records ^[18] . This version of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart ” was a combination of two versions - the first part was a ballad, and the second part was a swing one. For unknown reasons, “Decca” did not release the song shortly after recording, as it usually did, and the song lay on the shelf until 1943, until it was finally released on a single with the same day “Fascinating Rhythm” ^[19] , and not independently, but as part of the four-singular collection “Judy Garland Second Souvenir Album” ^{[18] [20]} . In the UK, the single was released as early as 1940 at the Decca branch of Brunswick Records ^[21] .
Interestingly, in the single version, the text of the last verse is slightly modified:

I still recall the thrill, I guess I always will

I hope 'twill never depart.

Dear, with your lips to mine, a rhapsody devine

Zing! Went the strings of my heart!

Other Versions

“Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart ” became almost the same trademark of Judy Garland as“ Over the Rainbow ” ^[22] . Throughout her career, she regularly performed this song in the studio, on radio, television and concerts. The most famous versions are listed below:

• Performed on radio in the programs "Shell Chateau" (1935), "Good News of 1939", "The Chase and Sanborn Hour" (1941) and "The Frank Sinatra Show" (1944) ^[23] .
• The song opens Garland 's fourth studio album , Judy in Love (1958) .
• Present on the Garland at the Grove live album (1959) .
• The concert version was included on the album " Judy at Carnegie Hall " (1961) , which won the Grammy Award in the nomination "Best Album of the Year . "
• It was performed on television in the fourteenth episode of The Judy Garland Show (1963) ^[24] .

If the song was first published many years later, then it is not the year of release, but the year of recording that is indicated.

• Sounds in the 1938 film “ Listen, dear ” performed by Judy Garland (see above).
• The orchestra performs an excerpt from the song in the movie "Humoresque" (1946) ^[70] .
• Used in the film "The Lullaby of Broadway " (1951). On the screen "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart was performed by Gene Nelson , but in fact Hal Derwin dubbed him ^[71] .
• In 1956, the song performed by Pearl Bailey sounded in the film “That very feeling” ^[33] .
• The melody of the song is played by the orchestra in the movie "The Nude and the Dead" (1958) ^[72] .
• In the biographical feature film Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001), the song sounds twice ^[73] - during scenes about listening to Judy and the death of her father. Actress Tammy Blanchard who played the role of Garland in her youth played Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart " to the soundtrack of the 1939 single-player version of Judy Garland.