Chitty Flies Home (Finale) Lyrics – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Song Overview

“Chitty Flies Home (Finale)” is the curtain-lift goodbye of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stage score - a reprise that folds spoken bustle into a full-cast celebration. It’s the kind of theatre closer that turns plot into parade: dialogue snaps into rhyme, the hook returns, and the chords land like confetti.

Personal Review

This finale works because the lyrics are familiar enough to feel earned. The engine is pure reprise craft: voices stack, the rhythm lifts, and a family becomes a chorus. As a listener you can hear the bodies moving - calls of “stand clear” click into tempo, then the title hook carries everyone through the doors. Snapshot: after a mad rescue, the company sings the world back into order and takes a victory lap.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Function first: it ends the story by returning to the show’s thesis - together is greater. The finale’s dialogue fragments set the stage bustle, then the lyrics fold the crowd into unison as the “fine four fendered friend” becomes more than a vehicle. It’s the musical saying out loud what the plot already proved.

Genre and feel: a brisk show-tune march with parade shine. Brass and winds pop like pennants; strings add the last shimmer. The groove is steady rather than flashy - a runway for the ensemble to land on.

Context: this is the capstone of the 2002 London Palladium production - a stage adaptation with new material and expanded orchestrations. The album presents it as the final track, after a sequence of reprises that tie the score’s motifs together. The theatre magic - yes, the flying car - lingers in the ear even without the stage rig.

Message

“Pretty Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

The closing message is simple: joy shared is joy doubled. The lyrics treat gratitude like propulsion - name the friend, keep moving.

Emotional tone

Buoyant, tidy, un-sarcastic. No final twist, just release. The chorus wraps the narrative with a grin and a bow.

Production

The London cast album credits producer Chris Walker and musical direction under Robert Scott, with orchestrations and dance arrangements by Walker. You can hear the pit writing make room for applause without losing tempo.

Instrumentation

Theatre orchestra: bright brass, clarinets and flutes for sparkle, a firm rhythm section, and strings that lift the cadence. It’s all clarity and sheen, so the lyrics ride above the band.

About metaphors and symbols

The car is community. By the finale, “Chitty” means family, safety, and travel beyond fear. Calling the name functions like a cheer that brings the crowd home.

Verse Highlights

Spoken bustle

Announcements and asides - “stand clear please” - flip from chatter to count-in. The writing turns stage business into rhythm.

Refrain return

The title hook lands with everyone on the mic. It’s the same melody you met in Act 1, now wearing confetti and closure.

Tag

Those last “four fendered friend” hits release the air. Curtain, lights, lobby buzz.

Key Facts

• Featured: Company - Original London Cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
• Producer: Chris Walker
• Composers/Lyricists: Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman
• Release Date: January 1, 2002
• Genre: Musical theatre - ensemble reprise finale
• Instruments: brass, woodwinds, strings, percussion, rhythm section
• Label: ? 2002 Chitty UK Ltd
• Mood: celebratory, communal, forward
• Track #: 23 on the Original London Cast album
• Language: English
• Album: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Original London Cast Recording)
• Music style: march-pulse chorus with bright orchestration
• Poetic meter: mixed - trochaic snap in the hook over even march pulse
• © Copyrights: © 2002 Chitty UK Ltd

Questions and Answers

Who produced the Original London Cast recording?

Chris Walker, who also handled orchestrations and dance arrangements.

When was “Chitty Flies Home (Finale)” released?

It appears on the 23-track London cast album released January 1, 2002.

Where does the number sit in the show?

It closes the story - the Act 2 finale after the heroes reunite and the company salutes their “four fendered friend.”

Who led the music team on the London production?

Musical direction and supervision by Robert Scott, with orchestrations and dance arrangements by Chris Walker.

Is this finale in the original 1968 film score exactly as heard here?

No. The stage version expands and reshapes material, and this recorded finale reflects the 2002 West End adaptation.

Awards and Chart Positions

The production housing this finale drew major recognition: the West End run opened April 16, 2002, earned Olivier attention, and became the Palladium’s longest-running show of its time. Its flying car was cited by Guinness as a record-setting stage prop. The finale itself was not a single and has no separate chart history.

How to Sing?

Ensemble blend. Keep vowels unified on “Chit-ty / Bang-Bang” so the hook doesn’t fray. Let consonants ping just ahead of the beat; the chorus sits best when diction feels like light percussion.

Breath & pacing. Think long phrases over a steady march. Don’t rush the lyric; trust the band’s lift to make the ending feel big without pushing.

Balance. Brass will sparkle; ride on top, don’t fight it. If you’re on the dialogue cues, keep speech crisp and forward so the handoff into the sung hook is seamless.

Songs Exploring Themes of homecoming and family

“You Can’t Stop the Beat” - Hairspray. Another full-cast closer that turns politics into street-party. Where “Chitty Flies Home” uses reprise to settle the story, “Beat” rides gospel-pop energy to fling the doors open. Both end with everyone singing the same truth: community is velocity.

“Finale Ultimo” - The Sound of Music. A family flees the dark by singing as one. Compared to Chitty’s bright march, the mood is more solemn, but the function overlaps: shared harmony as courage you can hear.

“Spread the Love Around” - Sister Act. Not a reprise, but a curtain-call engine that sprays joy. It’s glossier and funkier than Chitty’s finale, yet both treat the closing number as a promise the audience can carry into the street.