“Patty Andrews, the lead singer of the Andrews sisters group was born in Mound, Minnesota on February 16, 1918 in a house that occupied the property where The Gillespie Center stands today.
During the 1920’s Laverne, Maxene and Patty Andrews spent their summers in Mound, living with their parents in a house across the street from the grocery store that was owned by Pete and Ed Sollie, bachelor uncles of the three girls. (Today, Green T Accounting occupies the Sollie grocery store building and The Gillespie Center is on the land where the Andrews Sisters’ house once stood.)” - From a commentary by Tom Rockvam that appeared in The Laker Newspaper during 2005.
They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring on Vaudeville, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937. Their music entertained Allied troops worldwide during World War II, sold war bonds, appeared in several films (including a few Abbott and Costello features), and performed for soldiers serving overseas. Their first film with Abbott and Costello, the pre-war comedy Buck Privates, introduced their best-known recording, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" which would win Best Song at the Academy Awards.
They also recorded many songs with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and other popular artists of the era. Their popularity was such that after the war they discovered that some of their records had actually been smuggled into Germany after the labels had been changed to read "Hitler's Marching Songs."
After a brief hiatus after the war, the sisters regrouped, performing in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They broke up in 1953, with Patty's choice to go solo. Their last appearance together was in 1962 on The Dean Martin Show. Laverne, who had cancer, retired soon after; she died five years later, in 1967 at the age of 55.
After a long silence, the two surviving sisters had something of a comeback when Bette Midler recorded a cover of their song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Maxene and Patty appeared both together and separately throughout the 1970s, with Maxene releasing a solo album in 1986. Their most notable comeback; however, was in the Sherman Brothers' nostalgic World War II musical: "Over Here!" which premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in 1974. The musical featured the two then living sisters (Maxene and Patty) and was written with them in mind for the leads. It launched the careers of many, now notable theater and film icons (John Travolta, Marilu Henner, Ann Reinking, et al). Ironically it was the last major hurrah of the sisters and was cut short due to a frivolous lawsuit initiated by Patty's husband to the show's producers.
Throughout their long career, the sisters had sold over 60 million records. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
The last of the three sisters Patty Andrews died of natural causes at her home in Northridge, California on January 30, 2013, just 17 days before her 95th birthday. The sisters were interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, close to their parents.
Sabre Dance
The Andrews Sisters Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Zig-idee, zing, zing, zing, zig-I-dee zing zing
Ev'ry time they play the sabre dance,
My heart beats try to capture all the rhythm and the rapture;
Zig-idee, zing, zing, zing, zig-I-dee zing zing
Ev'ry time they play the sabre dance.
I love the spell I'm under when the drums begin to thunder,
Like the tempo of a tropic rain,
When I hear trumpets blaring I can feel adventure flaring
Ra-ta-ta tat tat, ra-ta-ta tat tat
I am in a mood I can't explain,
I drift to an isle of perfume where summer roses eternally bloom,
There in a golden gleam waits my one wonderful dream;
Music take me don't forsake me,
Let me be a ship lost at sea that the winds rock and roll;
Whirling, swirling, twirling, out of control,
That music drives me crazy,
Ev'rything becomes so hazy;
Drums are booming, cellos zooming,
Cymbals crashing, sabres flashing in a willy nilly sort of way,
I seem to hear it night and day;
Blending in romantic fashion, melody, moonlight and passion,
Riding high on heaven's highway,
Purple stars are guiding my way;
I am like a comet whizzing by,
Just when I get the feeling that the universe
Is reeling, suddenly the song is ending;
And I find that I'm descending like a star
Toppling! Twisting! Tumbling!
And down and down and down and down and
Roun' and roun' and roun' and roun' and
Down and down and down and down,
And I begin to spin into a trance
Ev'ry time they play that sabre dance
The Andrews Sisters' "Sabre Dance" is a lively and energetic song that expresses the thrill and excitement that comes with listening to lively music. The lyrics describe how the sound of the bells jingling, drums pounding, and the trumpets blaring makes the singer's heart race and her body feel out of control. The song is a celebration of music's power to transport us to another world, where we feel free, happy, and alive.
When the song starts, the singer's heart begins to tingle, and her body moves to the rhythm of the music. She describes how the sound of the cymbals and cellos crashing and the sabres flashing in a "willy nilly sort of way," make everything feel hazy and dreamlike. The music takes her on a journey to an island of perfume, where summer roses bloom, and her one wonderful dream awaits her. She emphasizes the idea that she is lost at sea and wants to be taken away by the music. The singer feels like a comet whizzing by and is in a trance every time the sabre dance is played. Although the song ends, the singer is not ready to leave this world and spin into a trance, but she will eventually come down.
Line by Line Meaning
My heart begins to tingle when the bells begin to jingle
I get excited when I hear the bells jingling
Zig-idee, zing, zing, zing, zig-I-dee zing zing
The sound of the bells is joyful and playful
Ev'ry time they play the sabre dance,
My heart beats try to capture all the rhythm and the rapture;
Whenever I hear the Sabre Dance, I try to feel every beat and emotion of the music
I love the spell I'm under when the drums begin to thunder,
Boom-I-dee boom boom, boom-I-dee boom boom,
The drums sound so powerful that I feel entranced and spellbound
Like the tempo of a tropic rain,
When I hear trumpets blaring I can feel adventure flaring
Ra-ta-ta tat tat, ra-ta-ta tat tat
I am in a mood I can't explain,
The music transports me to a tropical place where I feel excited and adventurous
I drift to an isle of perfume where summer roses eternally bloom,
There in a golden gleam waits my one wonderful dream;
Music take me don't forsake me,
The music takes me to a beautiful island filled with roses, where I hope to find my dream
Let me be a ship lost at sea that the winds rock and roll;
Whirling, swirling, twirling, out of control,
I want the music to take me on a wild ride like a ship lost at sea in a storm
That music drives me crazy,
Ev'rything becomes so hazy;
The music makes me feel crazy and disorientated
Drums are booming, cellos zooming,
Cymbals crashing, sabres flashing in a willy nilly sort of way,
I seem to hear it night and day;
The instruments all play together in a wild and unpredictable way, and I can't get the sound out of my head
Blending in romantic fashion, melody, moonlight and passion,
Riding high on heaven's highway,
Purple stars are guiding my way;
The music mixes romance and passion with a dreamy feeling, and I feel like I'm flying through the sky with the stars as my guide
I am like a comet whizzing by,
Just when I get the feeling that the universe
Is reeling, suddenly the song is ending;
I feel like I'm moving quickly like a comet, and just when I feel like the music has taken over the universe, the song ends
And I find that I'm descending like a star
Toppling! Twisting! Tumbling!
And down and down and down and down and
Roun' and roun' and roun' and roun' and
Down and down and down and down,
I suddenly feel like I'm falling like a star, spinning and tumbling out of control
And I begin to spin into a trance
Ev'ry time they play that sabre dance
Every time I hear the Sabre Dance, I feel like I'm falling into a trance and spinning out of control
Contributed by Sadie C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
John Burgess
They were wonderful
Pat S
How about some credit to Aram Khachaturan (the composer) and the Harmonicats (accompanying)???
Austin Johnson
Chill nerd
Pat S
Oops my bad -- it's the Harmonica Gentlemen.