"On the Good Ship Lollipop" was the trademark song of child actress Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...

. Temple first sang it in the 1934 movie Bright Eyes. The "ship" in the song is an aircraft

Aircraft

An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...

; the scene in Bright Eyes where the song appears takes place on an American Airlines

American Airlines

American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...

 Douglas DC-2

Douglas DC-2

The Douglas DC-2 was a 14-seat, twin-engine airliner produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Corporation starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247...

 which is taxiing. In the song, the "Good Ship Lollipop" travels to a candy land. There is a direct reference to an aeroplane in the song: "Someday I'm going to fly/I'll be a pilot, too...". The song was composed by Richard A. Whiting

Richard A. Whiting

Richard Armstrong Whiting was a composer of popular songs including the standards, "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?" & "On the Good Ship Lollipop"....

 and the lyric was supplied by Sidney Clare

Sidney Clare

Sidney Clare was an American comedian, dancer and composer. His best known songs include "On the Good Ship Lollipop" , "You’re My Thrill" , and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" .In 1929, Clare wrote his...

. 500,000 copies of the sheet music, published by Sam Fox Publishing Company

Sam Fox Publishing Company

Sam Fox Publishing Company, American music publishing house founded in 1906 by Sam Fox of Cleveland, Ohio. The company was the first to publish original film scores in the United States, and was the publisher of numerous artists and international hit songs....

 were sold, and a recording by Mae Questel

Mae Questel

Mae Questel was an American actress and vocal artist best known for providing the voices for the animated characters, Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. She began in vaudeville, and played occasional small roles in films and television later in her career, most notably the role of Aunt Bethany in 1989's...

 (the cartoon voice of Betty Boop

Betty Boop

Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...

 and Olive Oyl

Olive Oyl

Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however Olive Oyl was a main character for 10 years before Popeye's 1929...

) reputedly sold more than 2 million copies.

Cover versions and other uses in music

James Dunn

James Dunn (actor)

James Howard Dunn was an American film actor.-Biography:Born in New York City of Irish descent, Dunn was the son of a Wall Street stockbroker who, according to Dunn, "either had a million or nothing." He joined his father in his business for three years...

, who appeared with Temple as she sang the song in Bright Eyes, performed his own rendition of the song decades later, in an episode of Follow the Sun

Follow the Sun (TV series)

Follow the Sun is an American drama series which ran for thirty episodes on the ABC television network from September 17, 1961, through April 8, 1962.-Synopsis:...

entitled Run, Clown Run.

The Chipettes

The Chipettes

The Chipettes are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers first appearing on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes...

 covered the song for the Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)

Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....

episode "My Fair Chipette".

The rapper Khia

Khia

Khia Shamone Chambers , better known just as Khia, is an American rapper, songwriter, singer, and record producer.-Early life:Khia was born on November 8, 1977 in Philadelphia and was raised in its Germantown neighborhood, and she moved to Tampa, Florida when she was 11. Khia attended Dowdell...

 made a reference to the song in her remix of Lil' Wayne's single Lollipop

Lollipop (Lil Wayne song)

"Lollipop" is the first single from Lil Wayne's sixth studio album, Tha Carter III. The track features the late R&B artist Static Major and is produced by Deezle and Jim Jonsin. The song was released digitally on March 13, 2008. The song is Lil Wayne's & Static Major's most successful to date,...

.

Q-Tip references the song in A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...

's song "What?" off of The Low End Theory

The Low End Theory

The Low End Theory is the second album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Released on September 24, 1991 through Jive Records, the album produced three singles: "Check the Rhime," "Jazz ," and "Scenario."-Conception:...

.
A portion of the song was featured in the music video of "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)

Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)

"Tonight ," also known as "Tonight " when played on radio during daytime, is a song by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias. It features American rapper Ludacris and producer DJ Frank E. The song was released to the US radio on November 1, 2010, and it was released digitally on November 22, 2010...

" by Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa...

.