curwin
October 15, 2019, 10:22am
1
As far as I can tell “It’s a Small World” is only really known as a song played on rides in Disney parks. And yet - it’s very well known.
First of all, I’m sure the popularity of the song is greater than the percentage of people who have been on those rides.
And secondly, you hear a song once on a ride, in a park you visit maybe every few years - why would that make it so memorable?
[DEL]Plastics[/DEL] records .
You don’t hear it once when you visit the ride. You hear it over and over and over each time you go.
It’s also a hell of an earworm.
As Darren Garrison observed, records. I’ve got it on some “Disney’s Hits” records.
It also appeared on TV when they opened the ride for the World’s Fair back in 1964, and it’s featured in Brad Bird’s 2015 film Tomorrowland
the ride is in at least five of the Disney Parks. The soing was written by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, who also wrote the theme song for “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” and al the songs in Mary Poppins , among many other films.
Robert J. Sherman, youngest son of Robert B. Sherman, has claimed that this song is the single most-performed and most-translated piece of music on Earth.[10] In 2014, it was estimated that the song had played nearly 50 million times worldwide on the attractions alone, beating out the radio and TV estimates for You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ and Yesterday, which were believed to have been played at least eight and seven million times respectively.[12][13]
"It's a Small World" (stylized in all lowercase) is an Old Mill boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks around the world, including Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California; Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida; Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. The inaugural version of the ride premiered at the 1964 New York World's Fair before permanently moving to Disneyland in 1966.
The ride features over 300 audio-animatro...
There;'s also this scary note:
In 2003, U.S. scientists translated this song into a series of DNA segments 150 base pairs long, inserted them into the extremophilic bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans and demonstrated that they could still retrieve it 100 bacterial generations later.
It’s frequently considered one of the most annoying songs ever. Here are three lists of annoying songs. One considers it the most annoying song, while the second considers it the 24th most annoying song, and the third lists it among the worst songs ever…
You can probably name ten tracks off the top of your head more annoying than those WNBC.com’s readers voted as those they find most aggravating (what’s with all the TV themes?), but hey, an obnoxious tune is an obnoxious tune. So, here’s the perfect...
Well…I like it. Always have.
To me it is the most annoying song because that ride broke down when as a kid I was riding it. 45 minutes the boat broke down but not the sound track or the puppets. That song does weird things to your psyche after about 30 minutes.
I can vividly remember staring at those stupid puppets clapping their hands to the song endlessly. Never rode the ride again.
My first though upon reading this thread title was, “Why isn’t this in the Pit?”
I played it in a piano recital when I was a kid. My poor mother had to listen to me practice it a lot. (She never complained.)
Voyager
October 15, 2019, 5:33pm
10
CalMeacham:
As Darren Garrison observed, records. I’ve got it on some “Disney’s Hits” records.
It also appeared on TV when they opened the ride for the World’s Fair back in 1964, and it’s featured in Brad Bird’s 2015 film Tomorrowland
In the UNICEF pavilion. The dinosaurs were in the Ford pavilion, and the robotic Abe Lincoln was in the Illinois pavilion.
Voyager
October 15, 2019, 5:34pm
11
Disgruntled_Penguin:
To me it is the most annoying song because that ride broke down when as a kid I was riding it. 45 minutes the boat broke down but not the sound track or the puppets. That song does weird things to your psyche after about 30 minutes.
I can vividly remember staring at those stupid puppets clapping their hands to the song endlessly. Never rode the ride again.
Happened to me also. I think it broke down for 10 minutes, but it seemed like an hour. Or five.
Disgruntled_Penguin:
To me it is the most annoying song because that ride broke down when as a kid I was riding it. 45 minutes the boat broke down but not the sound track or the puppets. That song does weird things to your psyche after about 30 minutes.
I can vividly remember staring at those stupid puppets clapping their hands to the song endlessly. Never rode the ride again.
Is that the origin story for your disgruntlement?
DrDeth
October 15, 2019, 6:09pm
13
Well, actually it isnt annoying at all, people just heard a meme- like fedoras are bad, and gingers are evil. Those memes spread and i would bet that some people who never even heard Small World would ranks it as annoying- as they had heard it was annoying. Kars is no doubt the worst, and they know it.
It’s a nice little tune- unless you get stuck on the ride, then as Disgruntled Penguin pointed out, it can be very annoying. But a lot of tunes are like that, i listened to “I love you yeah yeah yeah” by the Beatles once like five times in a row, and i now hate it.
We performed it in chorus when I was in 3rd grade, which was 1977. I still remember all the words to both of the verses we sang.
It’s the song that never ends. It just goes on and on, buddy.
How many languages can people sing it in?
E-DUB
October 16, 2019, 2:01am
17
The song was featured in an SNL sketch too. I tried to find it online but couldn’t.
Not surprising–it was in 1983 .
JpnDude
October 16, 2019, 6:45am
19
Same here and I still ride the attraction at Tokyo Disneyland at least a few times a year.
JpnDude
October 16, 2019, 6:53am
20
Here is the Tokyo Disneyland (YouTube) soundtrack. Contents below:
IT’S A SMALL WORLD
Theme Music (American Vocals)
Scandinavian
Accordion, Flute, Violin
Danish Drum and Bugle Corps
Big Ben
English Moon Singers
French Can Can Girls
Scottish Bagpipe
Irish Jig
Dutch Geese
German Band
Spanish Guitar
Italian Music and Singers
Swiss Yodeler and Bells
Greek Flute
Russian Band
Balinese Band
Japanese Music and Trio
Indian Snake Charmer
Indian Band
Camel Boy Drummer
Cleopatra Music
Laughing Hyena
Rhino Drummer
African Music
Elephant Boy Drummer
Egypt Harem Music
Spanish Singers
Marimba Band
Penguin Music
Spanish Guitar
Mexican Birds
Peruvian Flute
Samba Band
Rain Forest Birds
Hawaiian Hula
Tahitian Drums
New Guinea Drums
Theme Music (Japanese Vocals)
Scottish Bagpipe
Japanese Music and Trio
German Band
Dutch Geese