He's a Tramp (Lady and the Tramp) Lyrics — Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. Film origin: written for Disney's Lady and the Tramp (1955), voiced and sung by Peggy Lee as Peg in the dog-pound sequence.
2. Songcraft: swing-jazz phrasing with a conversational lyric that sounds like gossip over a backbeat.
3. Recording trail: Lee cut commercial Decca versions around the film era, separate from the shorter movie performance.
4. Modern echo: the 2019 live-action remake features a new performance by Janelle Monae, credited on Disney's official music credits site.

Lady and the Tramp (1955) - film - diegetic. Dog-pound scene (mid-film): Peg leads a pack of inmates through a streetwise portrait of the Tramp while Lady listens, half shocked, half curious. Why it matters: it is character exposition delivered as a nightclub number, the kind of scene that turns a plot beat into a social world you can almost smell.

Musically, it is a lesson in controlled looseness. The rhythm lopes, the melody glides, and the lyric never tries to be "pretty" - it tries to be persuasive. Peggy Lee knew exactly what she was doing: sing it like a confession that also doubles as sales copy. You can hear the grin in the phrasing.

Key takeaways

1. Hook: a repeating title figure that lands like a punchline and resets the groove.
2. Vocal approach: talk-singing that still stays on pitch, with crisp consonants and relaxed vowels.
3. Arrangement: cartoon-era orchestration, but with real jazz attitude in the pocket.
4. Scene function: it builds the Tramp's legend while revealing Peg as the film's sharpest commentator.

Creation History

The track sits at the crossroads of animation and pop professionalism. Wikipedia notes that Peggy Lee co-wrote the film's original songs with Sonny Burke and also voiced multiple characters in Lady and the Tramp, which helps explain why the number feels tailor-made for the story instead of pasted on top. The Peggy Lee Discography documents Decca sessions and the odd detail that Decca issued different single variants tied to two recording dates, a reminder that "the" version is often a myth - especially for mid-century film songs chasing both screen timing and radio play.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

In the pound, Peg sizes up the Tramp for Lady. The other dogs chime in as a rough-and-ready chorus, treating the Tramp like a local celebrity with a complicated dating record. The scene is partly warning, partly fascination: Lady hears about a world where love is casual, survival is a skill, and reputation travels faster than a dogcatcher.

Song Meaning

The lyric is a portrait with a wink: the Tramp is framed as trouble, but the singer admits the attraction anyway. That is the heart of it - not romance as purity, but romance as appetite. The swing rhythm does the heavy lifting here: it makes risk feel playful, and it makes confession feel stylish. According to Variety, the 2019 remake rethought some of the film's musical material for modern audiences, yet it kept this number recognizable because its persona is the point, not just the tune.

Annotations

1. "He's a tramp, but I love him."

   Eight words, two angles. The first half is judgment, the second half is surrender. In performance, the trick is to make the pivot sound inevitable, like the thought arrived before the singer could stop it.

2. "Breaks a new heart every day."

   Hyperbole that behaves like street reporting. It is not a literal statistic, it is reputation-as-fact, the way a neighborhood turns one messy story into a legend by lunchtime.

3. "They adore him."

   This line shifts the blame away from the Tramp and onto the crowd. The song is quietly saying: do not pretend he is the only one making choices.

Genre and driving rhythm

At base, it is swing with a cabaret bite. The beat walks, not sprints. That "walking" feel is why the lyric can keep tossing details without sounding hurried. The chorus responses (those howls and comments) turn the groove into a social space - you are not listening to one narrator, you are listening to a room.

Emotional arc

The song starts as a warning label and ends as an admission. The humor masks vulnerability, but it does not erase it. Lee performs like Peg has seen enough to be cynical, yet still gets pulled by charisma. That push-pull is the drama, served with a smile.

Touchpoints and context

Mid-1950s Disney rarely let a female character sing with this much worldly edge. Peg is animated, but her voice carries nightclub DNA. I hear echoes of jazz storytelling standards where the singer plays both narrator and accomplice, and that is why the number has been covered so often across pop and jazz circles.

Technical Information

• Artist: Peggy Lee (as Peg)
• Featured: The Mellomen (group vocal responses on soundtrack releases)
• Composer: Sonny Burke, Peggy Lee
• Producer: Walt Disney Productions (film); Decca session production varies by issue
• Release Date: February 1955 (Decca single pairing noted in discography listings); June 22, 1955 (soundtrack album date shown by major music services)
• Genre: swing; film song; jazz-pop
• Instruments: vocal; studio orchestra with brass, reeds, rhythm section, and animated-style accent hits
• Label: Decca (commercial single); Walt Disney Records and later Disney catalog issues (soundtrack releases)
• Mood: sly, playful, streetwise
• Length: about 1:39 (film-style soundtrack cut as listed by Apple Music); other commercial versions run longer
• Track #: varies by edition and compilation
• Language: English
• Album (if any): Lady and the Tramp (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) and later Legacy Collection editions
• Music style: cartoon-era orchestral swing with cabaret phrasing
• Poetic meter: conversational, with syncopated stresses that lean trochaic in the title refrain

Questions and Answers

Who is singing in the original movie?

Peg sings it in the pound, voiced and performed by Peggy Lee.

Did Peggy Lee also write the song?

Yes. Major reference sources credit Burke and Lee as the songwriting team for the film's songs.

Why does it feel like jazz, not a typical animated number?

The phrasing is built on swing speech-rhythm, more cabaret than choir, with the lyric delivered like commentary from the sidelines.

Is the song diegetic in the film?

Yes. The dogs are shown performing it as part of the pound's social life, with chorus reactions baked into the scene.

What is the central idea of the lyric?

Attraction to trouble, admitted without apology. The singer warns you, then proves she is not immune.

Why do the background voices matter?

They turn the song into a community verdict. It is a chorus of lived experience, not a solo fantasy.

What is the best way to perform it without overdoing comedy?

Play it straight. Treat the lines like real gossip and let the rhythm carry the humor.

What changed in the 2019 remake?

The performance credit shifts to Janelle Monae, with production and vocal credits listed in Disney's official music documentation for the live-action soundtrack.

Are there multiple Peggy Lee recordings?

Yes. Discography notes describe different Decca single variants tied to separate recording dates, and the movie performance is shorter than some commercial releases.

Why is the song still referenced in film-song lists?

It is a clean character sketch that doubles as a catchy swing vehicle, and it made the AFI nominee list for movie songs.

Awards and Chart Positions

The song did not arrive as an awards campaign number, but it has a long tail in movie-song culture. The American Film Institute included it among the official nominees list for its 100 Years...100 Songs project, placing the tune in the same conversation as live-action standards from the classic studio era. That kind of institutional nod matters: it treats an animated character song as part of the broader American film-song tradition, not a kiddie sidebar.

How to Sing He's a Tramp

This number rewards restraint. Think smoky club storyteller rather than belt-it-to-the-back-row. Track metadata commonly lists the soundtrack cut around 107 BPM, while some practice tracks and arrangements run slower. Keys vary widely by edition: some sheet music publishes it in E-flat major, while soundtrack metadata is often tagged in G major. In other words, pick a key that lets you speak the lyric without strain.

1. Tempo: start near 104 to 108 BPM, then adjust until the lyric feels like natural speech on beat two and four.

2. Diction: keep consonants clean but not sharp. The attitude is confident, not aggressive.

3. Breathing: plan quick breaths before the title figure and before longer descriptive runs. Do not inhale like you are preparing for opera.

4. Flow and rhythm: ride the swing. Let some syllables land slightly behind the beat, then snap back for the hook.

5. Accents: punch the character words (scoundrel, rounder, cad) with timing, not volume.

6. Vocal range: many singer guides place it around C4 to E5 in common arrangements. If the top feels tight, transpose down and keep the bite.

7. Ensemble and doubles: if you add a chorus response, keep it tight and percussive. The joke is the group reacting like a peanut gallery.

8. Mic: sing closer on the quieter confessional lines and pull back slightly on the big title moments to avoid barking.

9. Pitfalls: do not turn it into a novelty voice. The humor comes from sincerity mixed with savvy.

Additional Info

Peggy Lee's Disney work is often summarized as "she sang a few songs," but the documentation paints a bigger picture: she co-wrote the film's tunes with Sonny Burke and voiced multiple roles, including Peg. That kind of creative footprint inside a major studio feature was not typical, and it helps explain why the song feels authored from inside the narrative. Meanwhile, the remake era proved the tune could be recast without losing its spine: Pitchfork and other music outlets covered Janelle Monae's 2019 release as part of the Disney-plus launch wave, framing it as a faithful swing-forward update rather than a radical rewrite.

Key Contributors

Sources: Lady and the Tramp (Wikipedia entry); Peggy Lee (Wikipedia entry); Walt Disney Music Credits - Lady and the Tramp (Live Action); Peggy Lee Discography - Decca Years (1952-1956); Peggy Lee 78 and 45 Index; AFI 100 Years...100 Songs nominees PDF; Pitchfork news item on Janelle Monae cover; Variety music feature on the remake soundtrack approach; Apple Music track listing for He's a Tramp (Lady and the Tramp); Musicstax tempo and key snippet for What a Dog / He's a Tramp; Singing Carrots vocal range listing