This song is one of the most popular pieces from the famous musical, The Sound of Music. It is often sung as a Christmas song, though it doesn’t mention the holiday, nor does this scene take place near winter.

Maria sings (invents?) this song for the von Trapp children after they’re frightened by a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. The performance is actually interrupted by the arrival of Captain von Trapp, who disapproves of Maria’s music and ‘coddling’. He appears just as she begins, “When the dog bites,” and the entire song falters. He then refuses her request for fabric to make play clothes for his children.

The song resumes later when she realizes a way to get around his refusal by making clothes out of old curtains in her bedroom.