Zippity Do Da - Marvin Mouse



Hey all! This is Ben Century from the Classical Gas Emissions blog. Kurtis was kind enough (I paid him) to let me write on his blog. Blogosphere dominance is just a few dollars away!

What we're going to hear is a song sung by a mouse. I'm sure you know who he is. He's got round ears that stick up, a cute little black nose, and always has a smile. You know who he is... You love him, I love him, he's everybody's favorite mouse in the whole wide world, It's....

MARVIN MOUSE!!!???

Marvin was one of the main characters on a local children's TV show in Canada (Winnipeg, Manitoba to be exact). Him and other characters were created by mastermind Bob Swarts who voiced all the puppets on his show. The song we're going to hear is taken from the album "Funtown with Petite and Mayor Bob".

  

This album mostly consists of material made by other, more famous artists. The credits for the songs on the album were given to either Petite the dog or Marvin Mouse. The artists who actually did the songs on the album (Anne Murray, Ringo Starr, Phil Harris, etc) received no credit whatsoever.

All the songs done by female artists were likely 33 RPM records, but played at 45 RPM! All of the Anne Murray songs make her sound as if she just finished sucking on a bunch of helium balloons, and the Chipmunks are doing the backup vocals.

Anyway, I've yammered on enough. This song is Bob Swarts voicing Marvin Mouse, singing Zippity Do Da (sic) over someone else's recording. Enjoy!

Also, if you'd actually like to see an actual episode of the low-budget children's show that Bob and Marvin appeared on, there's one on Youtube HERE.

Labels: childrens, fun town with mayor bob, marvin mouse, song of the south, zip a dee doo dah

  ¶ 7:40 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Winnie Puh - Tatiana
TATIANA is a very prominent figure in the world of Disney. However, you may not have heard of hear unless you are from Mexico. Tatiana is a children's entertainer who longed to perform from a young age and now, thirty years later, has recorded over two dozen albums, 24 of which went gold, 8 platinum and 4 diamond! Wow! Not bad for a children's entertainer!

If you watch any Disney DVDs with the Spanish audio track there is a good chance that you are hearing Tatiana as the lead female. She has a contract with the studio and is the go-to girl for Spanish female dubs.

In 2002, Tatiana released LOS MEJORES TEMAS DE LAS PELICULAS DE WALT DISNEY, an album of Disney music reworked into her pop/dance style. I have posted a sample of her work from this album, a song called Winnie Puh, the Spanish way of saying Winnie the Pooh. A year later she released a second album of Disney tunes.

I know this album is for kids and that means potential for major cheese, but this one is the cheese whiziest. The beats and sounds take me back to the eighties. When I first heard this song I almost couldn't tell what song it was supposed to be. It wasn't until I heard the chorus the second time that I knew for sure, and then in the verse when she says 'Christopher Robin' in a very American accent.

Winnie Puh Tatiana 2002

Labels: childrens, los mejores temas de las peliculas de walt disney 1, many adventures of winnie the pooh, pop, tatiana, winnie the pooh

  ¶ 6:26 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Why Should I Worry - Starlite Singers
A few months back, coolshades requested something from Oliver & Co. and while I do have a few covers of songs from that movie, none of them are really good. Here is Why Should I Worry by the STARLITE SINGERS.

The Starlite Singers are a group of studio musicians that crank out album after album of cheaply produced covers of popular music. They range in genre from pop to dance to oldies to Christmas. There are three volumes of Disney music, called CHILDREN'S CLASSIC FILM FAVORTIES, which are terrible. The modern songs try to sound exactly the same and the older Disney classics are made to be more modern but in a bad way.

I found this disc in a five dollar bin and knew it would be awful but had to get it anyway. Some of the tracks are actually hilarious because they are so bad. This cover of Why Should I Worry is one of the better ones. But if you were doing a cover of a Billy Joel song, wouldn't you try to make it quite different? Because if you tried to make it sound like Billy Joel you would just fail! This cover by the Starlite Singers is a perfect example.

Sorry about the crappy Oliver cover, coolshades. I'll post a better one at a later date.

Why Should I Worry Starlite Singers 1997

Labels: childrens, childrens classic film favorites, oliver and co, pop, starlite singers, why should i worry

  ¶ 10:33 AM 6 Comments Links to this post

  Never Smile At a Crocodile - Kimbo Educational

Hi, folks - Boyhowdy here, host of folk cover blog Cover Lay Down. As a teacher and a parent of two girls ages two and five, I'm always on the lookout for good kids music, though I'm usually suspicious of any company which claims to be "educational" -- too often, the word belies a set of creative choices which sacrifice quality and care for curricular relevance and namby-pamby sappiness. But the other day I discovered this wonderful version of the Peter Pan classic Never Smile At a Crocodile on SIX LITTLE DUCKS, a CD from a company called KIMBO EDUCATIONAL, which might just change my mind.

The songs on Six Little Ducks are typical preschool sing-along fare, heavy on the tune and rhythm, light on the kind of nuance which most adults would look for in a "good" song. But that's not a bad thing, in the context of a playroom or family car ride. The whole point of music for the tiniest tot set is to introduce the simplest songs to another generation, and provide an opportunity to engender movement and enjoy the simple pleasure of a good tune.

In the case of Never Smile At a Crocodile, this means an upbeat acoustic guitar and clear, uncredited storysong vocals, supported by bouncy synthesizer, percussive sax, and a crisp drumbeat. It's a perfect setting for this playful tune, one which exposes its silly-yet-honest moral without crossing the bar into cheesiness. In short, for what it claims to be, this is one of the best songs around.

Amazon reviewers -- all parents and preschool teachers -- universally describe Six Little Ducks as the best CD in their collection, both for its breadth and its catchiness. And a quick browse through the Kimbo Educational catalog shows a bevy of other Disney tunes on their other CDs, too. If you're a parent, or just a serious collector of Disney tunes wherever you can find them, I can't recommend the Kimbo Education series highly enough.

Looking for more coversongs for kids? Then head over to Cover Lay Down, where our regular kidfolk feature compiles the best coversongs for cool moms and dads in a variety of folk styles.

Never Smile at a Crocodile Kimbo Educational 2000

Labels: childrens, kimbo educational, never smile at a crocodile, peter pan, six little ducks

  ¶ 8:11 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Never Smile at a Crocodile - Fred Penner
One of my childhood memories of growing up in Canada and in the eighties is coming home after school to watch Fred Penner's Place on CBC. He was a very entertaining performer and he fit right in with my other tv friends, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Dress-Up.

I'll talk about FRED PENNER when I post another Disney cover song of his in the future, but right now I want to tell you about this song.

Never Smile at a Crocodile can be found on his 1993 release, POCO. The tune is heard as an instrumental piece in Peter Pan whenever the Crocodile is getting close.

The tune was written by Frank Churchill who wrote most of Disney's music in the 30s and the early 40s. Walt had planned to make Peter Pan in the early 40s and asked Frank to start writing the music for it. But when legal rights got in the way, the feature, and its music, was shelved.

Years later, Walt was finally able to make Peter Pan and asked Jack Lawrence, who was working on Sleeping Beauty at the time, to write some lyrics for the tune that Churchill wrote. Although the words were never heard in the movie, the song has gone on to be a popular children's song, especially in Australia.

Never Smile at a Crocodile Fred Penner 1993

Labels: childrens, folk, fred penner, never smile at a crocodile, obscure, poco

  ¶ 7:19 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Hakuna Matata - The Chipmunks
It's Terrible Track Friday and today I'm posting a track that is not only terrible, but also has a movie coming out today that looks equally as bad. That's right, it's the Chipmunks.

THE CHIPMUNKS were created in 1958 by Ross Bagdasarian when he wrote The Witch Doctor and sang it under the name David Seville. He used cutting edge technology to speed up the recording of the Witch Doctor's vocal track which gave it a 'chipmunk-sound'. The song was a suprising hit, peaking at #1 in the US for two weeks! It went on to win a Grammy Award for engineering!

Realizing the money making potential he had created, Bagdasarian began recording album after album, starting with the hit song The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late).

To date, the Chipmunks have released over 40 albums! Including WHEN YOU WISH UPON A CHIPMUNK in 1995 which features ten songs from Disney movies done in their trademark squeaky voices. The album has novelty value (as any cover album does), but this one gets boring after the first minute of the opening track, Hakuna Matata. And while some of the songs get new musical arrangements, this one sound exactly the same as the original except with vocals in a higher octave. Boring!

Take a listen and see for your self. It sounds just as bad as the trailer for the new movie looks.

Hakuna Matata The Chipmunks 1995

Labels: childrens, chipmunks, hakuna matata, lion king, showtunes, when you wish upon a chipmunk

  ¶ 7:11 AM 4 Comments Links to this post

  It's a Small World - Rodney Allen Rippy
What is the one thing that RODNEY ALLEN RIPPY is known for? It certainly isn't his music. The track that I have posted here is proof of that.

This cover of It's a Small World is off the TAKE LIFE A LITTLE EASIER LP from 1973. The whole album shows that not every child star should release a record. He is just not that good at all.

So what is little Rodney known for? If you grew up in the 70s you would know that he was the little kid who couldn't eat Jumbo Jack hamburgers on the Jack in the Box commercials because they were "too big to eat!"

By the way, I'm posting a cover of It's a Small World today because it was today in 1965 that was the final day of the 64/65 New York's World Fair. The fair was the first home to four Disneyland attractions: General Electric's Carousel of Progress, Ford's Magic Skyway, the State of Illinois' Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and Pepsi-Cola's It's A Small World.

It's a Small World Rodney Allen Rippy 1973

Labels: childrens, it's a small world, pop, rodney allen rippy, take life a little easier

  ¶ 7:35 AM 1 Comments Links to this post