On the Good Ship Lollipop

"On the Good Ship Lollipop" was the trademark song of child actress Shirley Temple. Temple first sang it in the 1934 movie Bright Eyes. The "ship" in the song is an aircraft; the scene in Bright Eyes where the song appears takes place on an American Airlines Douglas DC-2 which is taxiing. It was especially popular because Shirley herself had choreographed it.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 and the lyric was supplied by Sidney Clare. 500,000 copies of the sheet music, published by Sam Fox Publishing Company were sold, and a recording by Mae Questel (the cartoon voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl) reputedly sold more than 2 million copies.

Cover versions and other uses in music

James Dunn, 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 entitled Run, Clown Run.

The Chipettes covered the song for the Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "My Fair Chipette".

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

Q-Tip references the song in A Tribe Called Quest's song "What?" off of The Low End Theory.

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

References in popular culture

William Riker references the song in the Star Trek the Next Generation episode Arsenal of Freedom. When confronted by a holographic version of the captain of the USS Drake, who asks "What is your ship?", a question the captain should have known, Riker responds "The Lollipop, it's a good ship."

Showtime television program Weeds references the song in episode #3, titled "Good Shit Lollipop".

The song was ranked at #69 on the list of AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.

The song was a puzzle on the October 12, 2011 episode of Wheel of Fortune.