You herd goats for a living. You live in the Alps. The initial outlook is bleak in this scenario, but fear not! The story of the lonely goatherd is a charming edition to the musical. It tells the story of a lonely boy who yodels the days away on a mountain, caring for his goats. His song is loud, and people all across the land hear. One day, a girl in a pale pink coat hears and yodels back, sparking a love story for the ages.
The pregnancy may relate to the real events the musical is based off of, as the real Maria and Captain von Trapp had two children after their marriage in addition to the children he had from a previous marriage.
Besides the adorable puppets, sweet story, and incredible yodeling, there are goats! In the original stage productions, Maria sings the song during the thunderstorm to comfort the children.
This was also the song placement during the widely publicized live on-screen performance of the musical in on NBC. When singing to the von Trapp children on her bed Maria has no prop goats to use, only singing. The goats are marionettes. Maria, played by the iconic Julie Andrews, works the marionettes with the children. An amusing feature of this version of the song is that the goatherd is a goat, and ends up with Miss Piggy, who is playing the girl in the pink coat.
This song is arguably the best part of a great movie and musical, and it centers around goats. Luckily, even as the musical ages, it and this song hold a place in American hearts and is preserved in the National Film Registry. I have so many mixed feelings about this! I feel so nostalgic, when I was younger, there were only two movies that I ever cared for watching: The Little Mermaid, and the Sound of Music! Watching those videos a nice touch, by the way made all of the memories come back from when I watched this movie with my mom on the VCR all those years.
