On Top of Old Smoky - Use in Popular Culture

Use in Popular Culture

The Mexican trio in the Goofy short, "For Whom the Bulls Toil", made in 1953, attempted to sing "On Top of Old Popocatépetl".

The song is parodied often. One well-known parody version which was a hit in 1963, "On Top of Spaghetti" by Tom Glazer, deals with the loss of a meatball "when somebody sneezed." That parody was also a parody of Chicago disc jockey Dick Biondi's "Pizza Song." Some of "On Top of Spaghetti" was sung by DJ & Stephanie in an episode of the TV show Full House.

Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for their 1962 album The Chipmunk Songbook.

In his "Schticks of One and a Half Dozen of the Other" medley, Allan Sherman invented this lyric: "On top of Old Smokey / All covered with hair / Of course, I'm referring / To Smokey the Bear."

The country music singer Kenny Rogers sometimes uses the first part of "On Top Of Old Smoky" as a joke in concert. The opening bars to Lucille (one of his biggest hits) play with Rogers saying to the crowd something along the lines of "None of you know what song this is", when the audience reply with "Yes we do", Rogers then begins to sing "On Top Of Old Smoky."

The Swedish comedian Povel Ramel wrote and recorded a Swedish version: Högt uppe på berget, jag har till en vän, förlorat en femma, jag lär nog aldrig se den utigen (High up the mountain, I gave to a friend, lost 5 kronor, I doubt I'll see them again). Also, Swedish comedy group(s) Galenskaparna och After Shave performed a variant in their "Grisen i Säcken" revue.

Little Eva, singer of "The Loco-Motion", recorded a version called "Old Smokey Locomotion", with lyrics describing how the residents of Old Smokey caught on to The Locomotion.

The 1959 single "We're Coming To Your House" by the Three Stooges is sung to the tune of "On Top Of Old Smoky."

In Germany, the tune of the song was used as the chorus to singer Manuela's hit single "Ich geh' noch zur Schule" in 1963. The recording, though, had nothing to do with the traditional heritage of the original song: "Ich geh' noch zur Schule" (meaning "I Still Go to School") tells the story of a teenage girl deniyng the tempting offers of a talent scout, claiming she wants to finish school first, but she might agree to a recording contract the following year after her final exams.

Alternative country band The Gourds gangstered the lyrics to "On Top Of Old Smoky" in the song "I'm troubled" on their 1998 release Gogitchyershinebox.

On the Sesame Street album Bert & Ernie Sing-Along, Grover does a version where the second line is "all covered with dirt," then proceeds to tell of him losing various clothing and personal items, including his way home. He then finds his way home, and finds his mother with all the stuff he thought he had lost.

In Guiding Kids, Season Three, "Franny Saves the Day", Franny and The French-Canadian Children's Chorus sings "On Top of Old Smoky". Lyrics: On top of Old Smoky, all covered with snow I lost my true lover, for courtin' too slow... in 2 times.

In Family Guy, Season Four, "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High", Chris' principal receives a massage from "Estovan", and sings "On Top of Old Smoky".

In the 2010 film The Runaways, Joan Jett (played by Kristen Stewart) changes the third and fourth lines to "I dumped my poor sweetheart, for screwing too slow"

In the That's so Raven episode titled "On Top of Old Oaky", Towards the end of the episode, Chelsea sings a song about Old Oaky with similar lyrics to On top of Old Smoky. The only lyrics heard were, On top of Old Oaky, All covered with leaves. In another episode of the show. When Raven's memories are projected onto a screen and it shows the time Raven, Chelsea & Eddie when they planted a new tree sapling to grow into another Old Oaky. When they sing the song, On the captions. The lyrics to On Top of Old Smoky appear on the Television screen rather than the Old Oaky lyrics.

The comedian Tom Lehrer commented that true devotees of folk songs find singing fifty verses of "On Top of Old Smoky" twice as enjoyable as singing twenty-five.

Fans of English football League One side Notts County FC chant the song during games. However, they have changed the lyrics to 'I had a Wheelbarrow, the wheel fell off' after mishearing a Shrewsbury Town fan sing the original song in a west country accent.

In 1978, "On top of old Smokey" was released by Swedish pop group ABBA as part of a medley that included "Pick a bale of cotton", "On top of old Smokey" and "Midnight Special". The medley featured as B-side to the group's single "Summernight City".