“I owe, I owe, so off to work I go”
“I owe, I owe, so/it’s off to work I go” is a popular saying on bumper stickers and other gift items. The saying is sung to the tune of “Heigh-Ho” (the Dwarfs’ marching song) by Frank Caroll (music) and Larry Morey (lyrics) in the Disney animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), where the line was “Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go.”
“I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go” was made into a bumper sticker slogan in 1984.
Wikipedia: Heigh-Ho
“Heigh-Ho” is a song from Walt Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, written by Frank Churchill (music) and Larry Morey (lyrics). It is sung by the group of seven dwarfs as they work at a mine with diamonds and rubies, and is one of the best-known songs in the film.
The melodic theme for “Heigh-Ho” might have been inspired by Robert Schumann’s composition for piano “The Happy Farmer, Returning From Work” from his 1848 work Album for the Young, Opus 68.
Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
heigh–ho interj \ˈhī-ˈhō, ˈhā-\
Definition of HEIGH-HO
—used typically to express boredom, weariness, or sadness or sometimes as a cry of encouragement
First Known Use of HEIGH-HO
circa 1520
OCLC WorldCat record
Heigh-Ho : the Dwarfs’ marching song - Walt Disney’s first full length feature production “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,”
Author: Frank Churchill; Larry Morey
Publisher: New York : Irving Berlin Inc. Music Publishers, [©1938]
Edition/Format: Musical score : English
Publication: Cotsen Children’s Library Diana R. Tillson collection of children’s sheet music, 116
Google Books
Plum Jelly and Stained Glass & Other Prayers
By Jo Carr and Imogene Sorley
Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press
1973
Pg. 223:
They work to pay the bills— “I owe, I owe, it’s off to we go.”
1 May 1984, The Capital (Annapolis, MD), pg. 16, col. 2:
A bumper sticker on a commuter’s car laments: “I owe, I owe. It’s off to work I go.”
30 December 1984, Seattle (WA) Daily Times, “Careers” by Joyce Lain Kennedy, pg. G7, col. 4:
Your question reminds me of a bumper sticker: “I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go.”
18 August 1985, San Jose (CA) Mercurty News, “What the Mentors Wear,” West, pg. 23:
All those people commuting to work—it’s a Silicon Valley ritual best summed up in the bumper sticker reading, “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.”
OCLC WorldCat record
Who switched the price tags? : a search for values in a mixed-up world
Author: Anthony Campolo
Publisher: Waco, Tex. : Word Books, ©1986.
Edition/Format: Book : English
Contents: Clarifying our values. The end of the age of Aquarius ; Reflecting : giving more thought to things ; Risk-taking : the stuff that heroes are made of ; Doing things that last—
On the job. I owe, I owe, it’s off to work we go ; Getting a kick out of work—
OCLC WorldCat record
I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go: how to stop worrying about money and start living
Author: P H Naden
Edition/Format: Article : English
Publication: MSDA JOURNAL, 39, no. 3, (1996): 137-138
Database: British Library Serials