This song was written for Noel Gay's show The Little Dog Laughed, which opened on 11 October 1939, at a time when most of the major London theatres were closed. It was a popular song during World War II, especially after Flanagan and Allen changed the lyrics to poke fun at the Germans (e.g. "Run, Adolf, run, Adolf, run, run, run...").[1][2]
The lyrics were used as a defiant dig at the allegedly ineffectual Luftwaffe. On 13 November 1939, soon after the outbreak of the Second World War and also soon after the song was premiered, Germany launched its first air raid on Britain, on flying boats that were sheltering in Sullom Voe, Shetland. Two rabbits were supposedly killed by a bomb drop, although it is suggested that they were in fact procured from a butchers' shop and used for publicity purposes.[1][3][4][5][6]
Walter H. Thompson's TV biography I Was Churchill's Bodyguard rates the song as Winston Churchill's favourite as Prime Minister. Jock Colville, Churchill's private secretary during much of the war, mentions the Prime Minister singing part of the song.[7]
In popular culture
At the beginning of the 1958 movie Dunkirk, the modified Run, Adolf, Run song is performed with a morale boosting cartoon during newsreels played for British troops stationed in France.[citation needed]
In 1980, sung by Fozzie Bear (Frank Oz) in Season 4, Episode 21 of The Muppet Show, as he attempts to protect a colony of rabbits, which he had accidentally conjured while attempting to perform the pulling a rabbit from a hat magic trick, from a farmer who plans to shoot them. - Original Air Date: Saturday, May 3, 1980 [8]
^Bennett, Daniel (17 November 2019). "A bomb, a song, a rabbit – the first WW2 bombs to fall on British soil". BBC. Archived from the original on 18 December 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2021. The rabbit in the photo is curiously intact," observes Dr Tait. "The fact is a rabbit was killed in the attack, but was eaten. Some people claim this rabbit (in the photo) is a prop – that's an over-rectification of history. The rabbit in the photo isn't the one the bomb killed." Robbie Williamson, a photographer from Lerwick, had a keen eye for a shot. When he heard about the rabbit's death, he went to record the "historic bombing" for the purposes of a postcard. But his camera wasn't the only gear he brought. "He had a good eye for something that would sell. But before going north he went to a butcher's shop to buy a rabbit," explains Dr Tait.
^"The event made headline news across Britain and a photograph was taken of a man holding two dead rabbits at the site of the crater. The rabbits came from a butcher shop in Lerwick. The story popularised the song Run, Rabbit, Run, which was seen as a skit on the ineffectiveness of the German air force (Luftwaffe)." Photo Number NE02730, Bomb crater, 13 Nov 1939, at https://photos.shetlandmuseumandarchives.org.uk/. Accessed 4 January 2021
^Ratter, JD. "Photo #R01263, 13th Nov 1939". Shetland Museum & Archives. Retrieved 4 January 2021. A popular myth in Shetland is that the song "Run, Rabbit, Run" commemorated this event, as a skit on the ineffectiveness of the German air force, but this is wrong – the song was released before the event.
^Hickman, Tom: Churchill's Bodyguard: The Authorised Biography of Walter H Thompson. Headline Book Publishing, 2005, ISBN0-7553-1448-4
