By a Waterfall
{{Infobox song
| name = By a Waterfall
| artist =
| released = 1933
| recorded = His Royal Canadians
| label = Brunswick Records
| composer = Sammy Fain
| lyricist = Irving Kahal
| producer =
| chronology =
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File:WaterfallTitleFootParade1933Trailer.jpg
File:Footlight Parade lobby card 3.jpg
"By a Waterfall" is a 1933 song with music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Irving Kahal. It was featured in an extravagant choreographic arrangement in the film Footlight Parade by Busby Berkeley that features his trademark human waterfall, with vocal performances by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. It features a water ballet of chorus girls diving and swimming into the water in elaborate geometric and floral patterns.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-dD3p8eTYUC&pg=PA10 | title=Synchronized Swimming: An American History | publisher=McFarland | author=Bean, Dawn Pawson | year=2005 | pages=10| isbn=9780786419487 }}
The lyrics of the song use the phrase "I'm calling you - oo-oo-oo" in much the same way as the Indian Love Call from the operetta Rose-Marie.
Berkeley realized that screen choreography involved the placement and movement of the camera as well as the dancers. Instead of filming numbers from fixed angles, he set his cameras into motion on custom built booms and monorails and if necessary, cut through the studio roof to get the right shot.
Berkeley used a {{convert|40|by|80|ft|m|adj=on}} swimming pool that filled an entire soundstage. Its walls and floor were glass, and before shooting started 100 chorus girls took two weeks to practice their routines in it. The actual filming lasted six days and required {{convert|20,000|USgal|liter|abbr=off|sp=us}} of water a minute to be pumped across the set.[https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/12783 Spotlight on James Cagney: Footlight Parade]
Recordings
The recordings by Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (vocal by Carmen Lombardo), Leo Reisman & His Orchestra (vocal by Arthur Wright) and by Rudy Vallee are assessed by Joel Whitburn as the most popular in 1933.{{cite book|last1=Whitburn|first1=Joel|title=Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954|date=1986|publisher=Record Research Inc|location=Wisconsin, USA|isbn=0-89820-083-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/481 481]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/481}}
=Other recordings=
- Chick Bullock's Levee Loungers recorded the song for Oriole Records (catalog No. 2780A) on October 30, 1933.{{cite web |title=The Online Discographical Project |url=http://www.78discography.com/OR2500.htm |website=78discography.com |accessdate=September 28, 2018}}
- Dick Powell recorded the song for Brunswick Records (catalog No. 6667) on September 27, 1933.{{cite web |title=The Online Discographical Project |url=http://www.78discography.com/BRN6500.htm |website=78discography.com |accessdate=September 28, 2018}}
- Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra recorded the song for Vocalion Records (catalog No. 2547) on September 5, 1933.{{cite web |title=The Online Discographical Project |url=http://www.78discography.com/VOC2500.htm |website=78discography.com |accessdate=September 28, 2018}}
In popular culture
{{trivia|date=March 2024}}
- Welcome Back, Kotter: On a season one episode, Horshack gets up in front of the class and sings this song. Barbarino and Washington also join in.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
- Diff'rent Strokes: In a season one episode, Mrs. Garret sings this song about Arnold.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
- In animated shorts such as How Do I Know It's Sunday (1934), September in the Rain (1937), Goofy Groceries (1941), The Pest That Came To Dinner (1948), and Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (1964), both from the Merrie Melodies series but the one Looney Tunes series, the song is often used to punctuate jokes, as in the shorts when it is literally sung by a waterfall. {{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
- The British Comedy/satire band the Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band also covered this song, recording it on their third album "Tadpoles", released in 1969, and also performing it earlier on a UK television show called "Do Not Adjust Your Set".{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
- The song could be heard accompanying a recreation of the waterfall sequence of Footlight Parade in Disney's The Great Movie Ride before its closure in 2017.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
- In the novel The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst, protagonist Will describes how a 'hard-on might pass from one end of the room to the other with the foolish perfection of a Busby Berkeley routine', evoking this choreography.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}