Spectrum - Michelle Shocked

Today is the first day of Friday Features here at Covering the Mouse. Every Friday will have it's own theme and today, the last Friday of the month, is Obscure Disney Song Friday. Today's obscure track is The Spectrum Song originally sung by Paul Frees as Professor Ludwig Von Drake.

Way back in 1961, Walt Disney decided to change his black and white television program, Disneyland, to color as that was becoming more standard in households and Walt always liked being on the cutting edge of technology. The name became Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and the very first episode featured a new character, Ludwig Von Drake, who sang a song that was very apropos to the new title. The Spectrum Song was written by the Sherman Brothers who tied color and music together very closely for this song. The following excerpt is taken from Wikipedia:

The opening stanza of "The Spectrum Song" tied each color to a specific note in a major scale, similar to the color coding of a toy xylophone. Thus, the word "red" corresponded to the tonic, or octave note (Do), yellow was the major third or mediant note (Mi), green was the perfect fifth or dominant note (So), and so on. The first four notes of the song thus formed a major chord, do-mi-so-do (red-yellow-green-red), a playful variant on the exercise of singing scales, similar to the Rodgers and Hammerstein song "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music. The Shermans thus compare colors to musical notes, stating in the lyric that "Color has its harmony".

This version of the song is arranged and performed by Michelle Shocked, a singer-songwriter and political activist from Texas. In 2005 she released three albums at the same time! One album called GOT NO STRINGS is made up entirely of Disney cover tunes! I'll be posting more by her in the future and I'll tell you a bit more about Michelle at that time.

Spectrum Michelle Shocked 2005

When You Wish Upon a Star - Ringo Starr with Herb Alpert

Here is the closing track to the 1988 compilation album STAY AWAKE, featuring vocals by the legendary Beatles drummer, RINGO STARR, and featuring a wonderful trumpet solo from the legendary HERB ALPERT.

This arrangement of When You Wish Upon a Star is really nice but I can't help but chuckle a bit when I hear Ringo singing. He has really made a good career for himself despite the fact that he was never the strongest drummer, songwriter or vocalist. But over the years, like all musicians, his time in the spotlight is coming to an end. He has a new album coming out in early 2008 but will anyone really notice? Probably only die hard fans and musicologists.

And Herb Alpert isn't nearly as popular as he was with the Tijuana Brass in the sixties and solo throughout the seventies. Now it seems all he is known for Little Spanish Flea. Sad really, because he is a great trumpet player.

But all in all, this pair of fading music stars made a good recording of When You Wish Upon a Star, a song which takes them back to the beginning of their careers when they were unknown and only starting to reach for the stars.

When You Wish Upon a Star Ringo Starr, featuring Herb Alpert 1988

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - The Vandals

Punk music started as an underground music scene and to this day punk rules the indie market and bar scene. There are more punk bands in North America that any other style of music. The VANDALS started their career the same way in 1980. They played countless bars and clubs but stood out from the rest because they chose to sing about more humorous topics rather than being political like all the rest.

They jumped around to a few different labels and in 1995 ended up on Nitro Records, a record label owned by the Offspring's Dexter Holland. It was here that they reached the mainstream market with their album LIVE FAST, DIARRHEA which includes the Mary Poppins cover of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

This is not your standard punk cover. The Vandals don't just speed up the song and put it to a punk beat (which is what I find happens with most punk covers). They actually put some thought into crafting a good cover. They also take elements from two Bad Religion songs, We're Only Gonna Die and Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell, and mash them up with this song.

This isn't the only Disney cover that the Vandals do. There is also a version of Heigh-Ho by them, but that will be for another day.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious The Vandals 1995

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo - Jo Stafford & Gordon MacRae

JO STAFFORD'S career started in the late thirties when she started singing with her sisters. The Stafford Sisters made a name for themselves and soon Jo found herself joining another group, the Pied Pipers.

In 1944 she decided to go solo and recorded many records for Capital Records. It was here that she met GORDON MCRAE and together they recorded the hit Say Something Sweet to Your Sweetheart. They recorded a few more songs together, including Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo in 1949.

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo is not an original Disney song. It was written in 1948 and was popularized by two recordings in 1949. One by Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters and this one. This is why you will hear a few extra verses that were not included when Disney introduced this song in Cinderella in 1950. The Jo Stafford and Gordon McRae recording can be found on CAPITAL SINGS KIDS' SONGS FOR GROWN-UPS.

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo Jo Stafford & Gordon McRae 1949

Cruella De Vil - Hayden Panettiere

Hi there. I'm Jamie from over at Fong Songs, a music blog devoted mostly to cover songs and other music I'm interested in. Kurtis invited me to guest post over here and I eagerly accepted since I'm a Disney cover lover myself. With the 2nd season of Heroes starting this week, I thought it'd be apropos to discuss a Disney cover by Heroes star Hayden Panettiere.

The cute-as-a-button HAYDEN PANETTIERE plays the cheerleader Claire Bennet whose special power is "spontaneous regeneration", or alternatively, Wolverine's super-healing on steroids. Panettiere has provided voiceovers for several Disney projects. These include Dot, the little princess ant, in Pixar's A Bug's Life; Suri, a lemur, in Disney's 2000 computer animated film (non-Pixar) Dinosaur; and even the voice of Kairi in the Disney/Final Fantasy mash-up video game Kingdom Hearts and its sequel. She was also in the Disney Channel original movie Tiger Cruise... so as you can see, she is no stranger to the Disney empire. Let us all hope she doesn't become the next Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, though her upcoming debut album due this year or next is setting off warning bells. This bit of trivia surprised me: she was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for A Bug's Life Read-Along, but lost to something read by Kate Winslet.

Here, Hayden tackles the song Cruella De Vil from Disney's 101 Dalmatians. As with most songs from the DISNEYMANIA series, it suffers from being a wee bit overproduced. But it's not that bad and it's catchy. I'm quite partial to Dr. John's version, but let's leave that for another day. Thanks very much Kurtis for letting me be a guest on your blog. Swing by my blog to check out some Heroes-themed tracks. See you next time, folks!

I've Got No Strings - Gypsy Kings

The GYPSY KINGS have been doing their thing since the early eighties and have made quite a career for themselves. They were the first group to take their Rumba Flamenca style and craft it for the pop world. The tight guitar playing and rhythmic tapping and hand claps are impressive when you hear them and even more impressive when you hear them live.

For the 1991 project, SIMPLY MAD ABOUT THE MOUSE, the Gypsy Kings took a crack at the famous Pinocchio tune I've Got No Strings. Lyrically, this song about freedom fits perfectly with the gypsy lifestyle and rhythmically provides the basis for a really good cover.

I love the chord changes they make, turning some major chords to minor to create some more intricate melodies. I also love the hand claps. It takes a special group of people to stay on time like that.

I've Got No Strings Gypsy Kings 1991

Colors of the Wind - Vanessa Hudgens

VANESSA HUDGENS has been making quite a name for herself here on the internet. So I decided to post a song that the Disney Channel and High School Musical star recorded a few years back for DISNEYMANIA 5.

This is what I like to call a karaoke cover. There really is nothing special about this version of Colors of the Wind. The music is plain and ordinary. Whoever reworked the music didn't really out any effort into making it special. And Hudgens doesn't go out of her way to do anything with her vocals to make this version better than the Pocahontas original.

I do like that she included the 'You think I'm an ignorant savage' part at the beginning. It shows that this is actually a cover of the movie version of the song and not the radio version. But other than that, the song is pretty drab. But that is my opinion. What do you think?

Mickey Mouse Club March/The Ballad of Davy Crockett

Walt Disney was one of the earliest people to jump on the television bandwagon and the Disney presence has been there ever since. This medley strings together the themes from two of Walt's earliest TV projects.

The Mickey Mouse March from the Mickey Mouse Club (1955) is the first half of the medley and the Ballad of Davy Crockett from the TV serials that are commonly known as the Adventures of Davy Crockett brings up the end. This song is found on the 2003 release O MICKEY, WHERE ART THOU? which was made to capitalize on the bluegrass craze that swept the music world after the release of O Brother, Where Art Thou? While the music is nice, it's not really bluegrass. Certain elements, like Aubrey Haynie's fiddle and Randy Korhs' dobro, are bluegrass but there is far more country here than there should be.

Although no names are credited, the liner notes tell me that Bryan Sutton, Mark Casstevens and Kerry Marx played guitar, Randy Kohrs played the dobro, Larry Paxton played bass, Aubrey Haynie played the fiddle, Richard Bailey played banjo and Sam Bush played the mandolin. All of these players, and others, are top of the line session players and provide all the music for this album.

Mickey Mouse Club March/ The Ballad of Davy Crockett 2003

Prince Ali - Millar Brass Ensemble

Another thank-you goes out to Fong Songs for giving me a plug on his cover tunes site! I know you want to hear an Aladdin cover, so here it is!

This version of Prince Ali is taken from the album HEIGH-HO MOZART, a collection of Disney songs done in the style of classical composers, and is reworked to echo the styles of Béla Bartók.

The piece is performed by the MILLAR BRASS ENSEMBLE and is one of the only Aladdin covers I have that isn't A Whole New World! I hope you enjoy it!

Prince Ali Millar Brass Ensemble 1995

Mary Poppins Medley - Jim Brickman

Mary Poppins has over a dozen songs featured in the film and another dozen that didn't make the cut. How was it so easy for the Sherman brothers to write for Mary Poppins? Was it the lyrical content? Is it that they knew exactly what the movie called for? Or are they just that good? Whatever the answer, the songs of Mary Poppins have become ingrained in our heads since childhood.

It also appears that Mary Poppins is the movie that I have the most cover song of. I have dozens of versions of the various tunes as well as a few full albums devoted to Mary Poppins cover songs!

The track I have chosen for today is a medley by contemporary pianist JIM BRICKMAN off his album THE DISNEY SONGBOOK. He has seamlessly weaved Chim Chim Cher-ee, Feed the Birds, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Let's Go Fly a Kite together to create a very beautiful song.

Mary Poppins Medley Jim Brickman 1995

Second Star to the Right - Sun Ra and his Intergalaxtic Arkestra

SUN RA is of the Angel Race from Saturn who came to Earth to teach earthlings through his music. Sounds like an interesting guy, doesn't he? Even more interesting is his music. Sun Ra has been an influential musician since the 40s, developing his skills in free jazz and improvisation. He formed his group, which he calls his Intergalaxtic Arkestra, and they recorded many albums and played many gigs up until Sun Ra's death in the early 90s. The Arkestra continues today.

In 1988, Sun Ra was part of the Disney tribute album STAY AWAKE, contributing his version of Pink Elephants On Parade. Sun Ra liked the project so much it inspired him to incorporate other Disney songs into his roster. A year later he recorded a live performance of Disney covers in Austria and packaged it under the name SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT (SALUTE TO WALT DISNEY). This version of Second Star to the Right is from that album.

Second Star to the Right Sun Ra and his Intergalaxtic Arkestra 1989

Winnie the Pooh - Louis Prima

A big thank-you to Jerry Beck and Cartoon Brew for featuring Covering the Mouse on their blog! Jerry, this post is for you!

LOUIS PRIMA was one of the leading Swingers of the 30s and 40s and continued to make the music he loved up until his death in the 70s. You will recognize him as the voice of King Louie in the Jungle Book (the line 'I'm the King of the Swingers' from I Wan'na Be Like You was a reference to him).

Prima has done more work with Disney over the years, recording his swing versions of many Disney songs, including the theme to Winnie the Pooh. I found this old record called WINNIE THE POOH AND TIGGER sitting in a guys old stack of records. It was scratched beyond belief but it had this great version of Pooh's theme by Louis Prima that I knew I had to have. So here it is. Please excuse the all the pops. It was the best I could do to get it sounding good.

You'll notice, if you click the album cover below, that Tigger looks totally wrong. Tigger made his debut in Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day in 1968 and this record was released in 1968 and is a soundtrack to that short. I can only assume that the cover art was done well in advance so the artist never saw any character designs or concept art.

Winnie the Pooh Louis Prima 1968

It's a Small World - Rockapella

When Walt Disney created the Small World ride for the World's Fair in 1964, he went to the Sherman Brothers for a song. He originally wanted the ride to feature all the nations theme songs, but when he realized that it would end up sounding like a garbled mess the Sherman Brothers wrote him a song that would unify all the worlds. Little did they know that It's a Small World would go down in history as one of the most annoying songs ever.

However, this version of It's a Small World is by the awesome a cappella group ROCKAPELLA. The group, which is most famous for their Folgers commercials and the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? game show, turns this annoying tune into a very complex piece of music.

For those of you who don't know about this style of music, a cappella is music that is made completely with the human voice. There are no instruments used at all. Every single sound you hear is made with the human voice! Way cool.

It's a Small World Rockapella 2002

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf - LL Cool J

LL Cool J has had a remarkable career. Since 1984, he has had multiple platinum albums and number one hits, he put Def Jam on the map, he launched the FUBU clothing line, acted in numerous movies, has his own record label, and he's still going strong!

In 1991, Disney put together a series of music videos in a direct-to-video/soundtrack album package called SIMPLY MAD ABOUT THE MOUSE A MUSICAL CELEBRATION OF IMAGINATION. The videos are all acts who were top acts of the time and LL's contribution to the album is one of the more interesting renditions.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf from the 1933 film Three Little Pigs was Disney's first hit single. People loved the Frank Churchill song because of the allegory to the Great Depression, and later to Nazi Germany. But above all, people loved the song because it was a great song. It has lasted generations and it is still loved all over the world. LL takes verses that tell the tale of the Three Little Pigs and raps them in his signature 90s-rap style. And with most standard rap songs, it samples the Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf chorus.