Pooh Bear Medley - Tommy Emmanuel & Amanda

Hi everyone! Jamie here from Fong Songs guest-posting for a third time at the gracious invitation of Kurtis. Today I've got a Winnie the Pooh cover for you. Meanwhile Kurtis is moonlighting over at Cover Lay Down today with even more Pooh covers from a folk perspective. To complete the round of coverblog musical chairs, Cover Lay Down's Boyhowdy has taken over Fong Songs for the day.

While on my recent trip to China, I found this 1999 CD (not a bootleg!) called DUETS: A FAMILY CELEBRATION featuring Australian artists performing Disney covers with "their children, parents, or siblings". I am unfamiliar with the artists involved, but maybe you'll recognize them: Monica Trapaga, Joe Camilleri, Martin Plaza, Vika & Linda Bull, Red Symons, Debra Byrne, and Grace Knight. Guitarist TOMMY EMMANUEL, who carries the title of "Certified Guitar Player" as dubbed by Chet Atkins, sings a quaint version of the Winnie the Pooh theme with a couple surprises.

Simply dubbed Pooh Bear Medley, the liner notes describe the song as "Up, Up and Away / Winnie the Pooh". I figured Up, Up and Away was from one of those recent Pooh feature films that seem to crop up every couple years. The song kicked off and seemed oddly familiar, though I couldn't quite place it. Then as the chorus hit I realized with joyous wide-eyed wonder that he was in fact singing the theme song to the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. You know "Pooh Bear, Winnie the Pooh Bear, wherever you go, won't you take me please...". The show originally ran from 1988 to 1991, just long enough to bury itself in my subconscious at an early age. The theme was written by Thom Sharp and Steve Nelson, though oddly I can't find any mention of it being called "Up, Up and Away" anywhere other than this CD. Tommy also covers the original theme song and interspersed throughout is his daughter Amanda reading excerpts of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Enjoy!