“Shipoopi” is a song in the 1957 musical The Music Man

The Music Man

The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...

by Meredith Willson

Meredith Willson

Robert Meredith Willson was an American composer, songwriter, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man...

. The song is sung by the character Marcellus Washburn, friend of Harold Hill. In the play, the song is about finding love and occurs at about the same time that Marian begins to fall for Professor Hill’s wooing.

In the 1962 film version of The Music Man

The Music Man (1962 film)

The Music Man is a 1962 musical film starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. The film is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Meredith Willson...

, the character of Marcellus Washburn was played by Buddy Hackett

Buddy Hackett

Buddy Hackett was an American comedian and actor.-Early life:Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York, New York, the son of a Jewish upholsterer. He grew up on 54th and 14th Ave in Borough Park, Brooklyn, across from Public School 103...

. According to the film documentary included with the extended DVD release, choreographer Onna White

Onna White

Onna White was a Canadian choreographer and dancer nominated for eight Tony Awards.-Career:Born in Inverness, Nova Scotia, White began taking dance lessons at the age of twelve, and eventually her studies took her to the famed San Francisco Ballet Company, where she danced in the first full-length...

 was able to take someone not well known as a dancer, and make him (Hackett) a dancing star for this number.

Continuity and factual accuracy

• The surrounding dialogue does not specify the meaning of the term "shipoopi," which Willson invented for the song. The chorus implies that it means a "girl who's hard to get", and the first stanza says a woman who waits until the third date to kiss is a shipoopi.
• The solfege
  Solfege
  In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
  
   used by the chorus deviates from standard English-language solfege in several ways; within the context of the musical, some or all of these errors may be attributable to the fact that Marcellus, a former con artist
  Confidence trick
  A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
  
  , does not have formal musical training in his "professional" background.
  • The chorus sings "Do re mi fa so la si do" despite the fact that the work of John Curwen
    John Curwen
    Reverend John Curwen was an English Congregationalist minister, and founder of the Tonic sol-fa system of music education. He was educated at Wymondley College and University College London.-Tonic sol-fa:...
    
     had earlier substituted "Do re mi fa so la ti do" as the English standard. The syllable si is generally used for a raised 5th (instead of sol) or a g#, in the fixed do system. (Although si is commonly used for the 7th scale degree in non-English speaking countries.)
  • With regards to the tonal context of the song, while the Chorus sings "do re mi fa so la si do - si la so fa mi re do", the actual scale degrees are "sol la ti do re me fa sol - fa mi re do ti la sol." The line actually begins and ends on the 5th scale degree creating a half cadence. The second time the chorus sings the following line: "do re mi fa sol la si do - si do". However, the actual scale degrees sung by the chorus are "sol la ti do re mi fa sol - sol do" creating a proper full cadence tonicizing do.
  • At one point, the chorus sings the phrase "do-si-do," a basic dance step (sometimes called a dosado
    Dosado
    Dosado or Dos-a-dos or do-si-do is a basic dance step in such dances as square dance, contra dance, polka, various historical dances, and some reels....
    
    ), but the note for this "si" syllable does not fall on the "si" of the Solfège scale
    Solfege
    In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
    
    .