Lovely Lonely Man

"Lovely Lonely Man" is a song from the 1968 musical film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It was written by Richard & Robert Sherman and sung by Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious. In the song, she pines for eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts (played by Dick Van Dyke).

Trivia

When producer Cubby Broccoli first heard this song, he was so moved that it reportedly brought him to tears. It became his favorite song from the film.

Reasons for being cut

• Due to the length of the motion picture and the need to accommodate standard TV broadcast practices, entire sequences are often cut for television programming purposes. Because the song is a cutaway from the main plot line of the film, and its absence is not missed as much, it is often cut from TV broadcasts. The other song which is also sometimes cut from American broadcasts is "The Roses of Success."
• The song was cut from the 2002/2005 stage version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang due to length and plot changes to the book by Jeremy Sams. The songwriters fought for the song's inclusion but were eventually convinced by director Adrian Noble that its inclusion was impossible.

Literary sources

• Sherman, Robert B. Walt's Time: from before to beyond, Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.