"Me and My Shadow" is a 1927 popular song. Officially the credits show it as written by Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer; in fact, Billy Rose was exclusively a lyricist, Dreyer a composer, and Al Jolson a performer who was often given credits so he could earn some more money, so the actual apportionment of the credits would be likely to be music by Dreyer, lyrics by Rose, and possibly some small contribution by Jolson.
Contents
The song has become a standard, with many artists performing it. In the movie Funny Lady, Billy Rose admits to wife Fanny Brice that the shadow in the song was Nicky Arnstein, Fanny's criminal husband before Rose.
Recorded versions
In film and television
The song is performed in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, for Napoleon. The dwarves perform it very badly and end up fighting. However, Napoleon is actually pleased, as he wants, for entertainment, "little things hitting each other."
The song was used in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, "The Great Petrie Fortune," in which Van Dyke (playing his own uncle) sings the song on a home movie as part of his will. It referred to an old photograph he had had of himself as an infant, with a "shadow" that was actually Abraham Lincoln.
The song is performed in an episode of Maude, "Maude's Musical", (Season 2, Episode 10), by Beatrice Arthur and Esther Rolle as part of a charity show that Maude is putting together.
The song was performed by Rip Taylor and Christopher Knight in the final episode of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.
The song was performed in an episode of "Gimme a Break!" by Nell Carter and Joey Lawrence.
The song is used in an episode of HBO show Carnivale, (Season 2, Episode 15) sung first by Stroud and then by Brother Justin.
The song is parodied in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo episode, "Me and My Shadow Demon," in which the main characters, Scooby and Shaggy, fool a crowd of monsters with a musical number. In 1998 it was included on the soundtrack, Scooby-Doo's Snack Tracks: The Ultimate Collection.
The song is performed by Pardon-Me-Pete the Groundhog (voiced by Buddy Hackett) in the 1979 Rankin/Bass television special Jack Frost (TV special).
Performed by Ted Lewis and Eddie Chester in Abbott and Costello's "Hold That Ghost' (1941)."
The song is performed by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. in a commercial for the game Titanfall.
The song is also performed in the sitcom "Welcome Back Kotter" by Gabe Kaplan and the actors playing the sweathogs: Ron Palillo, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and John Travolta.
On October 9, 2015, the song was performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert by host Stephen Colbert and guest James Corden.