"I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" is a popular American song written in 1918, released in late 1919, becoming a number one hit for Ben Selvin's Novelty Orchestra. It has been revived and adapted over the years, serving as the anthem of Premier League club, West Ham United.
Origins
The music was composed by John Kellette in 1918. The lyrics are credited to "Jaan Kenbrovin" — actually a collective pseudonym for the writers James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent, combining the first three letters of each lyricist's last name. The number debuted in the Broadway musical, The Passing Show of 1918, and it was introduced by Helen Carrington.
The copyright to "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" was registered in 1919 by the Kendis-Brockman Music Co. Inc. It was transferred later that year to Jerome H. Remick & Co. of New York and Detroit. James Kendis, James Brockman, and Nat Vincent all had separate contracts with their own publishers, leading them to use the name Jaan Kenbrovin for credit on this song. James Kendis and James Brockman were partners in the Kendis-Brockman Music Company.
Reception
The waltz was a major Tin Pan Alley hit, and was performed and recorded by several singers and bands in late 1919 and 1920. Ben Selvin's Novelty Orchestra held number one for four weeks late in 1919, and ranked number 6 for the year. The Original Dixieland Jass Band recording of the number is an unusual early example of jazz in 3/4 time.
The writer Ring Lardner parodied the lyric during the Black Sox scandal of 1919, when he began to suspect that players on the Chicago White Sox (a United States-based baseball team) were deliberately losing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. His version began: "I'm forever blowing ballgames".
The song also became a hit with the public in British music halls and theatres during the early 1920s. Dorothy Ward was especially renowned for making the song famous with her appearances at these venues. The song was also used by English comedian "Professor" Jimmy Edwards as his signature tune—played on the trombone. Harpo Marx would play the song on clarinet, which would then begin emitting bubbles. The melody is quoted in the 1920s song "Singing in the Bathtub", and has frequently been used in animated cartoon sound tracks during bubble-related scenes; it is also repeatedly sung by Tweety Bird.
The song features extensively in the 1931 prohibition gangster movie The Public Enemy, starring James Cagney. It also was sung by a white bird in the Merrie Melodies cartoon I Love to Singa. The song is also sung in the 1951 film On Moonlight Bay, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, which was the prequel to the 1953 film By the Light of the Silvery Moon. A parody of the song was written and performed as "I'm Forever Blowing Bubble-Gum" by Spike Jones and his City Slickers. In Ken Russell's 1969 film Women in Love the song is featured in an unusual scene where two sisters, played by Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden, wander away from a large picnic gathering and are confronted by a herd of cattle. In the early 1970s, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's stage show featured a robot that sang the air while blowing bubbles. A solo guitar rendition is periodically featured within the action of Woody Allen's 1999 film Sweet and Lowdown. Director Brad Mays paid homage to that scene in his 2008 film The Watermelon, in which actress Kiersten Morgan sings the song while dancing on a Malibu beach.
Lyrics
The original lyrics (as per the first publication)
Verse 1
I'm dreaming dreams, I'm scheming schemes, I'm building castles high. They're born anew, Their days are few, Just like a sweet butterfly. And as the daylight is dawning, They come again in the morning.
Chorus
I'm forever blowing bubbles, Pretty bubbles in the air, They fly so high, Nearly reach the sky, Then like my dreams, They fade and die. Fortune's always hiding, I've looked everywhere, I'm forever blowing bubbles, Pretty bubbles in the air.
West Ham United connection
The song is well known in England as the club anthem of West Ham United, a London-based football club. It is said to have been adopted by West Ham's supporters in the 1920s (although there is no record of West Ham fans singing the song until 1940), and it is now one of the most recognisable club anthems in British football, alongside songs similarly adopted by other clubs, such as "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Blue Moon", "Blaydon Races", "Delilah", "Sunshine on Leith", and "Goodnight, Irene".