Toon Talk Special: The 101 Greatest Disney Songs - Part 1 of 2
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#11 - "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart
Makes"
Music and Lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston
Whatever you wish for, you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through"
Lead Vocals: Ilene Woods as
Cinderella
Source Album: Cinderella Original Soundtrack
Alternate Tracks: Linda Ronstadt recorded two versions (with
added verses by David Pack) for The Music of Cinderella, one in English and one
in Spanish, titled "Un Precioso Sueno".
Behind the Music:
- After World War II, Walt turned to the prolific songwriters of New York's fabled "Tin Pan Alley" to write the tunes for his toons, beginning with Cinderella.
- Woods was hired by the songwriters to record Cinderlla's songs for a demo record.Walt was so impressed with her vocals, she was cast in the role.
This film's music was the first released by Disney's own music publishing company.
(c) Disney
#12 -
"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo"
Cinderella - 1950
Music and Lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
It'll do magic believe it or not
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo"
Lead Vocals: Verna Felton as the
Fairy Godmother
Source Album: Cinderella Original Soundtrack
Alternate Track: Michelle Nicastro's swinging Andrews Sisters'
track on Toonful, Too.
Behind the Music:
- A.k.a. "The Magic Song".
- Oscar nominations for Best Song and Scoring of a Musical Picture.
- The songwriters had an early hit with the song "Chi-Baba", which was in the same style that Walt wanted for the fairy godmother number.
- Perry Como had back to back hits with these two Cinderella songs, and the original soundtrack album (the first on the Disney label) was the number one pop album for the year on the Billboard charts.
(c) Disney
#13 - "All In The Golden
Afternoon"
Alice in Wonderland - 1951
Music by Sammy Fain, Lyrics by Bob Hilliard
"You can lean a lot of things from the flowers
For especially in the month of June
There's a wealth of happiness and romance
All in the golden afternoon"
Vocals: The Disney Studio Chorus,
with Kathryn Beaumont as Alice
Source Album: Alice in Wonderland Original Soundtrack
Behind the Music:
- Oscar nomination for Scoring of a Musical Picture.
- Over 40 songs were written for this film, with the final tally at 14, more then any other Disney film.
#14 - "The Second Star To The
Right"
Music by Sammy Fain, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
So we'll know where you are.
Gleaming in the skies above
Lead us to the land we dream of"
Vocals: The Jud Conlon Chorus
Source Album: Peter Pan Original Soundtrack
Alternate Track: The Voices of Ascension, this time in the style
of Tallis, on Heigh Ho Mozart.
Behind the Music:
The music for this song was originally for an Alice in Wonderland song titled "Beyond the Laughing Sky".
#15 - "The Ballad Of Davy
Crockett"
Music and Lyrics by George Bruns and Tom Blackburn
The greenest state in the land of the free
Raised in the woods, so's he knew ev'ry tree
Kilt him a bear when he was only three"
Vocals: The Wellingtons
Source Album: Classic Disney, Volume III
Alternate Track: Tim Curry sings with campy gusto on Music From
the Park.
Behind the Music:
- Blackburn was a Studio scriptwriter, not a lyricist. It only took him and composer Bruns less then an hour to write.
- An enormous (and unexpected) hit, it spent six months on the Hit Parade, was recorded by more than 200 international labels and artists and sold an amazing 10 million copies.
- Extra verses were added as Davy's adventures continued, totaling 120 linesof 20 stanzas with 6 lines each in the completed version.