Robert Sherman who, with his brother Richard, wrote over 150 songs for Disney, plus many more (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, You’re Sixteen, Snoopy Come Home) has died at 86. I love this guy’s songs. I have a beloved three-disc set of Disney music, and it was dominated by their work, songs for animated features, live action, TV, and for the parks.
This article headlines “it’s a small world,” but the Mary Poppins score, and “Chim Chimeree” in particular was what they won Oscars for, and it’s probably their best work.
It’s sad that the two brother weren’t speaking to each other when Robert died.
Well, I know Sun Ra liked to do a lot of Disney standards.
But I also recall a great sketch from the movie Amazon Women on the Moon, in which their was a charitable appeal for black people with no soul. The poster child was David Alan Grier, singing “Chim Chim Cheree” (which, I gues, was the whitest song anyone could think of).
The score for Mary Poppins is very underrated. People do love “Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious,” “Spoonful of Sugar” and “Chim-Chim Cher-ee,” but the entire store is filled with great songs. “The Life I Lead” (which is sung multiple times, and each version shows Mr. Bank’s world slowly falling apart), “I Love to Laugh,” and especially “Feed the Birds” are great music.
The Sherman’s never topped it, but it was a very high standard.
I did download the John Coltrane version and I like it. True to the jazz stereotype, it’s not particularly recognizable as Chim Chim Cher-ee except for when they play the theme at the beginning and near the end. Sounds good, though.
Yes quite sad. After hearing of his death, I spent the rest of the day listening to some Sherman Disney classics.
As some of you may know, I visit Tokyo Disneyland a number of times monthly. Hearing “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from Mary Poppins in the background as I enter the Park is one of my favorite experiences.
And for the record, I LOVE “it’s a small world” and have quite a few different versions of it.
Wow, I actually did have that! I remember playing that album on my Fisher-Price plastic record player. And in 1986, I took dancing lessons at age 8 and my class did our final recital to this song. I think this album also had a disco version of Zip-a-dee-doo-dah.
It’s a Small World is brilliant. You have to remember that it’s not intended to be heard as a stand-alone piece of music, but as an installation piece. You’re moving through a space, and there are a multitude of speakers, so you’re getting all sorts of dynamic cross-fade, and the speakers are all playing different versions of the melody, with different lyrics and different instrumentation and it still has to sound like a coherent unified performance. Very avant-garde.
IT’S AN ORDERED WORLD (“It’s a Small World”–Disney)
COPYRIGHT F 2012 by Sam A. Robrin or whoever the hell it is who writes these things. Go ahead and use it (hey, I lifted the melody), but if you make a little money on it, I want some!
We have ways of making
You love The State.
Let’s unite! One world
Government is great!
You can try to resist,
But your name’s on The List.
There’s a new world order now.
There's a new world order now.
There's a new world order now.
There's a new world order now.
It's an ordered world.
You will learn the fate
Of the human race:
It’s a black jackboot
Stomping on a face.
You have orders–obey!
And survive one more day.
There’s a new world order now.
There's a new world order now.
There's a new world order now.
There's a new world order now.
It's an ordered world.
