My son (AKA "Mookie" for purposes of this page)became obsessed with the 1968 MGM movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang about two months ago. And then we found the soundtrack available on CD from Amazon.com, and well, the rest is history. The Chitty Experience is a public record of the kinds of things you think about when you have to listen to the soundtrack of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang every day, sometimes twice a day.

The comments listed below are those of the people forced to ride in the minivan listening to the CD. They are not the opinions of the two year old addict.

What the hell is Dick van Dyke singing in Me Old Bamboo? Something about his shoes? All those guys are singing slightly off so you can't hear what any one of them is singing. Shoes? Booze? Blues?

Those children have the weakest singing voices on the planet. To paraphrase Scrooge, "A puff of wind would blow them away." This is most noticeable on Truly Scrumptious, where they are forced to hold each other up.

I wonder if Truly Scrumptious got the job because she sounds so much like Julie Andrews.

That love song she sings is atrocious. I'm so glad we have stereo controls on the steering wheel so I can zip past quickly. Lovely Lonely Man my arse. He treated you poorly and you thought he was just awful. One day at the beach and you can't live without him?

Hey, that Roald Dahl...he's obsessed with candy factories. I do prefer Willy Wonka's factory, but Toot Sweets is a good song. Mookie wants me to give HIM a Toot Sweet so he can "make a noise". I guess it's time to tell him that movies are not reality.

Isn't it amazing that Dick van Dyke, in an effort to hide from the man with the funny hair, knows all the words to the song in the show? And why would these men let him sing lead? Aren't they afraid he's going to screw up the words?

I don't need to listen to two versions of Hushabye Mountain. I'm going to fall asleep halfway home.

The Roses of Success sounds like a Disney Song. I love this song. It's my favorite, so Mookie says it's his favorite too. Good boy. Anyway, I love this song. "Every shiny dream that fades and dies /Generates the steam for two more tries." Well, I don't know about that...

I wonder if anyone ever actually made toot sweets? (update: Yes, as many of you wrote to tell me. Thanks for the info!)

What page would be complete without a few links to satisfy my faithful Big DumpTruck readers? Here are a few necessary links...the first being to a page about the real car that apparently inspired Ian Fleming to write the original book.

The Brookland's Society Chitty Chitty Bang Bang page and why the car was REALLY named Chitty

The Official MGM page for the movie

How to Hire the Movie Chitty for your next party (if you live in the UK)

A Song Lyrics page (Whew!)

Anything You ever wanted to know about Chitty and then some

Sept 2002 Update: Sadly, this CD isn't in our current rotation. Plus, we don't spend as much time riding around in the car as we used to. But I do pull it out occasionally and ask if he wants to listen.

© 2000 Jody LaFerriere and the Big DumpTruck.