The Sound of Music (song)

"The Sound of Music" is the title song from "The Sound of Music", composed by Richard Rodgers to lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally sung by Mary Martin in the 1959 stage musical of the same name. It was sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film, with a reprise by the Von Trapp family later in the film. The song introduces the character "Maria", a young noviate in an Austrian abbey.

The song was ranked tenth in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest Songs in Movie History.

The stage version of the song has a four-line vocal prelude ("My day in the hills has come to an end I know...) followed by the familiar "The hills are alive with the sound of music..." The film soundtrack and the soundtrack album have two different instrumental preludes to "The hills are alive..." both of which contain portions of the original vocal prelude. The cast album to the 1998 Broadway revival contains the four-line prelude as well as the instrumental prelude present in the film version. This version is also the same key as the film version.

For Julie Andrews' performance in the film "S.O.B.", where she appeared topless, late night television host Johnny Carson thanked her for "showing us that the hills were still alive".

In 2007, Grammy-winning and multi-platinum country recording artist Carrie Underwood sang a rendition at the Movies Rock festival.

This song is referenced many times in the film "Moulin Rouge!".

Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue performed the opening lines at the beginning of her KylieFever2002 Tour [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KylieFever2002] .