Little Black Rain Cloud/Sunny Skies - Maureen McGovern

Today you get two covers for the price of one! The bulk of this song is James Taylor's Sunny Skies, but the more interesting part of the song is Little Black Rain Cloud originally sung by Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and later in the compilation movie The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. This is the only cover of Little Black Rain Cloud that I have. Do you have any? Please let me know!

This pairing is rather odd seeing as the weather being sung about in each part of the medley are practically opposite. But they seem to work together in a typical 90's adult contemporary pop fashion, and this is largely due to the lovely vocals of MAUREEN MCGOVERN. Maureen's career began over twenty years before this 1995 recording. She found fame from her version of The Morning After from the 1972 blockbuster film The Poseidon Adventure.

If you are into animation other than Disney, you may already know that McGovern was the voice Joseph's mother, Rachel, in the Dreamwork's film Joseph: King of Dreams. If you are into superheroes like I am, you may also know that McGovern recorded a version of Can You Read My Mind, the love ballad from Superman: The Movie which went on to become a hit single. You can hear a sample here. Admittedly, I think the song sounds a bit goofy as a pop ballad, but it sure sounds better than when Lois Lane recites it during the film.

In 1995, McGovern recorded Little Black Rain Cloud/Sunny Skies for a compilation album called WINNIE THE POOH: TAKE MY HAND. All of the songs on the album are covers that apparently relate to Winnie the Pooh in some way, although this and a cover of the theme song by The Chieftains are the only songs from the cartoons that made the cut.

You'll Be in My Heart - Carlos Ponce

Author Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on this day waaaay back in 1875. He is most famous for his more than twenty novels starring Tarzan, the Ape-Man. Of course, us Disney fans know far too well the 1999 animated adaptation starring the King of the Apes.

Did you know that after the release of Snow White, Burroughs approached Disney about adapting Tarzan? It would be 60 years before this actually happened.

Today's cover is You'll Be in My Heart by Puerto Rican singer/actor CARLOS PONCE. Ponce is well known in the Spanish-speaking world, having a few number one albums and a Spanish soap opera acting gig. It wasn't until the late 90s that he began to be a recognized face on American television. Among other things, he is the creepy yoga instructor in Couples Retreat and sang the Spanish version of Star-Spangled Banner in Deuce Bigalo: European Gigalo.

Disney fans may also recognize this name as he covered Bella Notte for Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure. Ponce recorded You'll Be in My Heart in 2005 for the compilation album GOLDEN SLUMBERS: A FATHER'S LOVE which features fathers singing lullabies to their children.

Overture - Helge Lien Trio

I was too busy on Friday to conclude Film Score Week (sorry) so I am going to finish it up today with this cover of the Overture from The Jungle Book by Norwegian jazz act THE HELGE LIEN TRIO.

Strongly influenced by jazz pianist Bill Evans, Helge Lien puts a tremendous amount of effort, along with the rest of his trio, Frode Berg (bass) and Knut Aalefjær (drums), in creating complex harmonies as colourful layers of tones and melodies. They tackled Overture for the Japanese jazz Disney tribute MODAL JAZZ LOVES DISNEY.

Originally, Terry Gilkyson was brought on board to write all the music to the Jungle Book but Disney, unimpressed at how dark the music sounded, turned to the Sherman Brothers for help. He instructed them to NOT read the novel in order to get a fresh approach to the songs based on the characters the staff had already developed. The result is the music you hear in the film. One Gilkyson song did make the final cut - the upbeat and cheerful Bare Necessities.

The Sherman Brothers Composer George Bruns (thanks, Andy) wrote the Overture which you hear during the opening credits at the beginning of the film. The Helge Lien Trio version keeps the mellow, low-key feel of the original, but their jazz style puts the song more in line with the rest of the jazzy music in the film.

Busa - Lebo M and his South African Chorus

A year after the release of The Lion King, Disney released a "Music Inspired By" album. Usually I groan a these types of albums for not really having anything to do with the movie and simply being a cash grab. However, RHYTHM OF THE PRIDE LANDS has plenty to offer.

Included on the album are Hans Zimmer's He Lives In You, long before it was used in Lion King II and the Broadway Musical, and Elton John's Warthog Rhapsody, a song that was recorded for the film but cut before any animation was done.

A large portion of the CD is made up of extended versions of some of the African style songs Hans Zimmer wrote for the score along with his cohort LEBO M. The South African choir, led by South African Lebo M., sings the lyrics in the African language Zulu. To majority of world this language can not be understood, so the singers are used as another layer of instrumentation, giving off a very authentic African feel to the music.

Busa, which in English means "rule", can be heard when Simba returns to Pride Rock as well as at the end when he accepts his calling as King of Pride Rock. Lyrically the song is a song of worship to Simba that you can just imagine the animals singing at the end of the film. Here is a portion of the Zulu lyrics with English translation:

Busa le lizwe (Rule this land)
Busa le lizwe (Rule this land)
Busa lomhlaba wethu (Rule this land of ours)
Busa ngo xolo (Rule with peace)

Ubuse ngo thando (You must rule with love)
Ubuse ngo xolo (You must rule with peace)
Ubuse ngo thando (You must rule with love)
Busa Simba, busa Simba (Rule Simba, rule Simba)

A snippet of this version that I am posting today can be heard at the start of the credits, but I am sharing it with you today in its entirety. I hope you enjoy it!

No Quarter - Alestorm

Hey there, hi there, ho there… or should I say Yo-Ho, yo-ho, y'arr scurvy Dogs?!

I'm Sir Donnerbold, or Sir Quackly for all you out where who didn't grew up with the German translation of Carl Barks' Donald Duck stories. I'm a big Disney fan and also a passionate blogger. What am I doing here? Well, Kurtis was kind enough to walk the plank today and so I'm the Captain of Covering the Mouse. Well, for one day.

I want to present you a cover of one famous score tune, which almost didn't exist: Producer Jerry Bruckheimer had the daunting task of bringing a certain Disney ride into the movie theatres. And one of the many, many challenges of this difficult project was the score. At first, Alan Silvestri was chosen as composer, but his music lacked the "Oomph!" Bruckheimer was looking for. His frequent collaborator Hans Zimmer had interest in helping out, but he was contractually forced to stay on his Warner Bros. film The Last Samurai. No side project was allowed. So, he recommended his protégé Klaus Badelt. But because of his friendship to Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski, Zimmer decided to compose one demo, hidden from the eyes of Warner Bros. The demo (called Pirates Day One 4.56 AM) compromised several melodies, on which Badelt based some of his tunes for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. One of these rearranged melodies became one of the most popular film tunes of the last few decades: He's a Pirate.

The catchy and epic score of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl certainly inspired the band ALESTORM. Many metal bands incorporate a Viking theme into their music, but they decided to go with an pirate theme and some of their bigger songs share similarities with epic swashbuckling movie scores. The members of Alestorm call their mix of heavy metal, folk metal and power metal - comically "True Scottish Pirate Metal", a new subgenre which gathers many fans.

Alestorm's debut album Captain Morgan's Revenge consisted of new material, one cover of a Scottish traditional and covers of their own songs from Alestorm's humble beginnings in 2004 as an independent band called Battleheart. The album was very well received in the metal community and only one year later the sophomore album BLACK SAILS AT MIDNIGHT came out. This album brought finally the new recorded version of the last remaining Battleheart song without an official release: No Quarter, an instrumental piece which last part is nothing less than an awesome metal rendition of He's a Pirate!

I think it captures the energy of the original and combines it with the power of metal, and so it's one of my favorite Disney covers. I mean, Pirates of the Caribbean AND metal, what's not to like?