The Hut-Sut Song

The Hut-Sut Song is a novelty song from the 1940s with nonsense lyrics. The song was written in 1941 by Leo V. Killion, Ted McMichael and Jack Owens. The first and most popular recording was by Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights.

The lyrics state that a Swedish boy skipped school to sit by a stream and sing what is purportedly a Swedish folk song. The chorus goes in part:

Hut-Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and a brawla, brawla sooit.

The song then purports to define some of the words, a boy and a girl by a river and their dreams. The song has an unusual and contagious rhythm.

The song was also recorded by various artists such as Mel Torme, Freddy Martin and Spike Jones. The song is of the same genre as other novelty songs of the era, such as Mairzy Doats and Three Little Fishies (Itty Bitty Poo). Some contend that the song was a rewriting of an unpublished Missouri River song called Hot Shot Dawson.

The popularity of the song is lampooned in a 1940s film short . In the film, the King's Men (who also performed on Fibber McGee and Molly), play young men living in a boarding house who are endlessly singing the song while getting dressed, eating dinner, playing cards, etc., until the exasperated proprietor finally has them removed to an insane asylum.

The song is featured in the movies From Here to Eternity, Ace in the Hole, A Christmas Story, and the 1942 version of Horton Hatches the Egg.