Why is Chicago a “Toddlin’ Town?”

“Don’t Spread It Around” is a parody on the iconic tune “Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)” and is my humble attempt to encourage my fellow Chicagoans to abide by the stay-inside mandate ordered by the Chicago City government to encourage the practice social distancing during this COVID-19 (Corona Virus) outbreak.  Take a listen.

*****************

Lyrics: Don’t Spread it Around

(Parody by Reno Lovison to the Tune of Chicago That Toddlin’ Town)

Chicago, That virus is spreadin’ around.
Chicago, Chicago stay out of downtown – I mean it!
They’re hootin’ and they’re hollerin’ and singing the blues in Chicago, Chicago

The Lakefront Lori Lightfoot had to shut down
On State Street, and Lake Street stay six feet away
Do the same thing if you travel on North or Broadway
This is a song that might save your life
Stay in your house with your kids and your wife
Hey, Chicago – – Don’t spread it around.

(Alternate lyric: Washing your hands just might save your life)
**************************

“Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)” now in the public domain, was written and published by Fred Fisher (a/k/a Fischer) in 1922.

The popular song has been recorded by a number of musicians over the years, most notably Frank Sinatra in 1953 who made it part of his regular repertoire for the rest of his life. Sinatra’s ties to Chicago included his purported close friendship with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, as well as his close ties with President John Kennedy whose family owned the Merchandise Mart.

Tony Bennett who is perhaps best known for another famous city song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” made a recording of “Chicago” with Count Basie in 1958 and has included it in his many appearances at Ravinia in suburban Highland Park over the years. Judy Garland also made a recording in 1961.

Why is Chicago a “toddling town?” According to a 1997 article by Mary Schmich of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE who set out to get to the bottom of the meaning of “toddling,” it seems the term is vague at best. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “toddle” as “to walk or run with short unsteady steps, as a child just beginning to walk.”

Now this could suggest that Chicago was town coming into it’s own, taking it’s first uneasy steps, but that doesn’t hold true because the city was already established as a rail capitol and had not long before hosted the World’s Columbia Exposition.

Some have suggested “toddling” to mean drunk and therefore unsteady on its feet. Suggesting that Chicago was a hard-drinking raucus environment and there is some truth to that. Though when this song was written the “Chicago Gangster Era” was only beginning and would not hit its full stride for a few more years, whereas the temperence movement had been around for many years and was gaining momentum.

I have an outright guess, with no facts on which to base this, but since nearby Evanston was the bastion of the temperance movement, headed by Francis Willard, I think it is possible that Fisher might have originally written something like “Chicago, Chicago that teetotaling town,” “teetotaler” being the popular term for a person who abstains from alcohol.  He then maybe found that lyric too awkward or just decided to go in another direction but changed “teetotaling” to “toddling” because it fits better rhythmically, paying little heed to whether it made sense. After all the “Roaring Twenties” was a time when slang was particularly in fashion among young sophisticates and many new terms were being added to the everyday lexicon. Many of which really never caught on and most of which have been replaced by subsequent generations. I believe the word “toddling” came to suggest a person ( or in this case a town )with a young, carefree attitude. You will find references to people who say they will be “toddling off,” suggesting a casual exit. Luckily in my parody I was able to omit the word entirely.

The original song has a lyric, “The town that Billy Sunday, couldn’t shut down” which was a contemporary reference that’s a bit more obscure to modern listeners.  Billy Sunday was a well-known baseball player from Iowa turned evangelist who was known to preach against the vices often found in big cities. Sunday was one of many preachers who appeared at the Des Plaines Methodist Campground, near Algonquin and River Road not far from the current O’Hare airport.

In Bennett’s 1958 version he substituted “Billy Sunday” for “Marty Faye,” a brash and outspoken Chicago disc-jockey and radio personality of the 1960’s whose reference is now equally as obscure.

In my “virus” version of the song I knew I wanted to have a name to replace “Billy Sunday” and “Lori Lightfoot” was perfect with the same number of syllables. As it happened as the current Chicago mayor she had recently closed the lakefront beaches after too many people gathered, ignoring the social distancing order, giving me the chance to reference, “The Lakefront, Lori Lightfoot had to shut down”

One of the lyrics that I never liked in the original song was “I saw a man who danced with his wife.” It always sounded a little “lame.” I think it is what my wife likes to call “An out to lunch lyric.” That is something you settle on because it sounds good enough and you are hungry and want to go to lunch. Fisher needed something to rhyme with “life” and “wife” seemed to fit the bill. This lyric does however in some way support my idea that Fisher was possibly trying to portray Chicago as a conservative place with conventional values. A teetotaling town where a man would dance with his wife, but once he said the town that Billy Sunday “couldn’t shut down” the lyrics are in conflict and the whole message of the song has to change. What we end up with is a song that has a nice beat for dancing a foxtrot but limps a bit in its message.

In the meantime, I hope my version with its coronavirus message hits the mark and encourages you to stay safe as long as this current crisis continues.

************************************

Lyrics: Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)

Chicago, Chicago that toddlin’ town
Chicago, Chicago I’ll show you around – I love it
Bet your bottom dollar you lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago
The town that Billy Sunday couldn’t shut down

On State Street, that great street, I just want to say
They do things they’d never do on Broadway — Hey
They have the time, the time of their life
I saw a man and he danced with his wife
In Chicago, Chicago, Chicago — that’s my home town