Doll on a Music Box / Truly Scrumptious Lyrics – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Song Overview

The sparkling counter-melody of “Doll on a Music Box/Truly Scrumptious (Reprise)” spins into Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) at the film’s Viennese-toy-factory midpoint. Dick Van Dyke’s floppy rag-doll Caractacus tries—again and again—to woo Sally Ann Howes’s clockwork-rigid Truly Scrumptious. Robert and Richard Sherman weave two complete tunes—one staccato, one legato—into a single duet, a trick that lets viewers hear friction and flirtation at the exact same time.

Long after the credits rolled, the number found afterlives: it resurfaced in the 2002 West End stage adaptation, popped up in Johnny Depp’s arthouse dreamscape Arizona Dream (1992) and even earned a winking homage at the top of Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week” video in 1998.

Song Credits

• Featured: Dick Van Dyke & Sally Ann Howes
• Producer (film): Albert R. Broccoli
• Composers/Lyricists: Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman
• Conductor / Arranger: Irwin Kostal
• Release Date: December 17 1968
• Genre: Show-tune counterpoint / Toy-waltz
• Instruments: Celeste, pizzicato strings, glockenspiel, chamber wind ensemble
• Label: United Artists Records
• Mood: Playful, coaxing, bittersweet
• Length: 2 min 16 s (film edit)
• Track #: 14 on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — Original Cast Soundtrack
• Language: English
• Music style: 3/4 music-box waltz overlaid with 4/4 croon; true contrapuntal duet
• Poetic meter: Trochaic snaps against lilting iambs
• Copyright ©: 1968 EMI Unart Catalog Inc.; renewal 1996

Song Meaning and Annotations

The Sherman Brothers built the sequence as a living diorama: Truly spins atop a gilded plinth, porcelain-still, while Caractacus flops about like a rag doll patched together from spare gears. Her tune—Doll on a Music Box—snaps in rigid dotted eighths, every note locked to an unseen spring. His answering reprise of Truly Scrumptious oozes legato warmth, bending time to reach her. Together they create a musical Venn diagram where discipline and impulse briefly overlap.

Visually, the scene mirrors the couple’s real-world standoff: she, the prim confectioner’s heiress; he, the scatter-brained inventor. Each failed kiss lands like a comic cymbal crash, but the subtext is tender—Van Dyke’s doll momentarily spots his reflection, realizes his clownery, and tries a softer touch. The camera lingers on gears and mirrors, hinting that love itself is an intricate machine that hums only when both parts sync.

Truly’s Solo

You see a doll on a music box that’s / Wound by a key

Every clipped consonant feels like a metallic click; the melody barely moves, locked into a two-note seesaw—aural proof of her emotional “spell.”

Caractacus’s Counter-Serenade

Truly Scrumptious, you’re truly, truly scrumptious …

Legato crooning glides across her rigid beat; his elongated vowels act like oil easing stubborn gears.

Combined Refrain

When the two themes collide, the music blossoms into baroque polyphony—Truly’s high staccato dances atop Caractacus’s swooping line. It’s a brief miracle of mutual comprehension before she resumes her clockwork turn.

Similar Songs

1. “Anything You Can Do” – Irving Berlin (from Annie Get Your Gun, 1946) Another competitive duet where contrasting melodies lock horns; both pieces stage flirtation as a good-natured duel, though Berlin’s sparring happens in belting 4/4 rather than clock-tick 3/4.
2. “Feed the Birds”/“A Spoonful of Sugar” Counterpoint – Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins Returns medley, 2018) Sherman craft meets Sherman craft: new orchestrations let two previously separate tunes overlap, as here. The tonal shift from lullaby to pep echoes Truly’s rigid-to-warm journey.
3. “Master of the House” – Les Misérables (1980) Though rowdier, the Thénardiers’ number also uses relentless oom-pah accompaniment and comic choreography to expose relationship power games, making it a distant cousin in musical DNA.

Questions and Answers

Is the song available outside the 1968 soundtrack?

Yes—the 2002 West End cast (Michael Ball & Emma Williams) cut a bright studio version now streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.

Did any cover chart?

No mainstream chart entries, but the track holds 1.4 million Spotify plays and appears on many Broadway lullaby compilations.

Has the number shown up in other movies?

Emir Kusturica’s surreal comedy Arizona Dream (1992) recreates the toy-box duet, with Johnny Depp miming Van Dyke’s rag-doll routine.

Any subtle pop-culture nods?

The Barenaked Ladies slip a blink-and-miss-it homage into their 1998 “One Week” video—lead singer Ed Robertson bounces beside a life-size doll on a rotating stand.

Will the upcoming film remake keep this duet?

Amazon MGM’s in-development Chitty remake is still script-less, but producers hinted all “toy-box counterpoints” will survive the polish, a wink many fans read as code for retaining this sequence.

Awards and Chart Positions

• Stage revival: Center-piece of the Olivier-nominated Chitty Chitty Bang Bang West End production (2002); transferred to Broadway in 2005.
• Film legacy: Frequently cited by critics as the movie’s most inventive musical set-piece, helping the film’s score earn Oscar and Golden Globe nominations (for the title song).

Fan and Media Reactions

“Whenever the melodies overlap I get goose-bumps—two songs flirting across the staff.” – YouTube comment under the 4K remaster

“Kids laugh at the slaps; grown-ups wince at the metaphor. Perfect.” – @ClassicMusicals newsletter

“West End staging had Ball chasing an actual turntable; the audience squealed every spin.” – Theatre blogger Maria S.

“I showed the scene in my choreography class—students clocked the strict ¾ against Van Dyke’s loose limbs in 4/4. Brilliant tension.” – Dance professor L. Kim

“If the Amazon remake cuts this, we riot.” – Fan tweet, 20 K likes