"Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1935 film Top Hat, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire.
The song title refers to the formal wear required on a party invitation: top hat, white tie, and a tailcoat. Popular recordings in 1935 were by Fred Astaire and by Ray Noble and his Orchestra (vocal by Al Bowlly and The Freshmen).[1]
In Episode 1 of the ninth season of M*A*S*H, "The Best of Enemies", the character Hawykeye is singing "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails" in the first scene.
In a 1981 SCTV television skit, "Al's Sanitone Drycleaning", Eugene Levy sings the song and tap dances as he promotes the fictional company in a mock commercial.[13]
In the 1995 film Batman Forever, the character Edward Nygma sings a brief parody of "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails" using the lyrics "I'm, sucking up your I.Q., vacuuming your cortex, feeding off your brain!"[14]
Jim Carrey also parodied the song at the 69th Academy Awards when referring to Dirt Devil vacuum commercials featuring Fred Astaire footage: "I'm, sucking up the lint balls, getting in the corners, dump it out the back!"
References
^Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 598. ISBN0-89820-083-0.