the film
"fantasia"and
the song "chattanooga"
"Chattanooga"
This song was written for Sun Valley Serenade, a 1941 movie. It became the first song across the US in December of that year, and remained there for nine weeks, due in large part to the performance in the movie. The 78 recording sold 1.2 million copies.
The Glenn Miller Orchestra stars in Sun Valley Serenade and performs the song in the film.
The band recorded the song at Victor studios in Hollywood on May 7, 1941, shortly after completing work on the film.
The original Chattanooga Choo Choo train that inspired this song was a wood-burning steam locomotive owned by the Cincinnati Southern Railway that traveled from Cincinnati to Chattanooga - it was a newspaper reporter who dubbed it the "Chattanooga Choo Choo."
The lyric for this song tells the story of a man traveling south on a coal-burning train from Pennsylvania Station in New York, where he will meet up with his girl. It's a jubilant song with every aspect of the train ride a delight - even the whistle sounds like a song.
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