Main Street Electrical Parade - Eccentric Opera

This week at Covering the Mouse is Disneyland Week, celebrating 53 years since the beginning of the magic. The actual day isn't until Thursday but I'll be sharing with you some info about the park, the rides and the music leading up to that day.

Since Main Street is the first thing to greet you as you enter the park, I though it would be fitting to begin this week by greeting you the same way. This version of the Main Street Electrical Parade is covered by the Japanese group ECCENTRIC OPERA and was recorded in 1998 for yet another Japanese Disney cover album called WE LOVE MICKEY: HAPPY 70TH ANNIVERSARY. You will hear the Baroque Hoedown and Unbirthday Song as well as some samples from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The song's main theme is actually called the Baroque Hoedown and was written in 1967 by Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley who were composing music with their early version of a synthesizer. The song became an early electronic hit and it wasn't long before Disney would secure the rights for his Electrical Parade in 1972. In 1977 the song was re-written, covered if you please, by Don Dorsey and Jack Wagner (that's Jack's voice you hear at the beginning of the track) which is the version you still hear to this day. So this cover is actually a cover of a cover.

The Eccentric Opera is Naomi Sagara, a soprano who graduated from The Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and Nahoko Kakiage, who also graduated from the TNUFAM but in composition. Nahoko is the one behind keyboards, computers and sampling. Together these two girls arrange and record classical music in their unique style. I suppose that this Baroque-esque piece is very suiting for them to cover.

Main Street Electrical Parade Eccentric Opera 1998

Main Street Electrical Parade - Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five

A few weeks ago, I posted a track from the wonderful album READYMADE DIGS DISNEY, a whole album of covers by YASUHARU KONISHI, founder of Readymade Entertainment. I was so impressed by this album when I heard it that I knew I wanted to devote a whole week of Covering the Mouse dedicated to it.

Now, the best way to listen to this album is from start to finish because the transitions between some of the songs are quite fun. But I have decided to pick a few choice tracks for this week and forgo the whole order thing.

This track is the Baroque Hoedown, the main theme for the Main Street Electrical Parade. The MSEP no longer runs at Disneyland but the music lives on forever on albums just like this. You will be able to hear a sample of the Unbirthday Song from Alice in Wonderland, another featured melody in the parade.

Main Street Electrical Parade Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five 2003

Baroque Hoedown - They Might Be Giants

It's sad that children these days don't get to experience the Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland. Yes, there are other variations of the Parade at in the other parks but none of them are the same. The Main Street Electrical Parade, and it's soundtrack, were a part of summer evenings at Disneyland for three decades and it is on this day in 1996 that it did it's last route on Main Street.

The soundtrack, which was created by cutting edge synthesizers, was written in 1967 and was synchronized to the thousands of blinking lights and animatronic characters. The main theme was the Baroque Hoedown, which was heard during the Blue Fairy float, but the soundtrack incorporated many Disney songs that went with the floats of the same movie.

This version of Baroque Hoedown is by quirky rock duo THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS. This pairing is perfect; the song is quite weird and the Giants use of electronica in their music works to modernize this tune using the same elements that made it famous in the first place. You will also hear a bit of the Unbirthday Song which was played during the Alice in Wonderland float in the parade.

I should note, in case you are unfamiliar with the band, that They Might Be Giants is not an electronica group. They are alternative rock that draw on many other styles of music to make up their sound. Check back in a few week and you'll hear another Disney cover from TMBG!

Baroque Hoedown They Might Be Giants 2004