Chim Chim Cher-ee - Domino

One of the most famous songs from Mary Poppins is the song of the chimney sweep, Chim Chim Cher-ee. So to take us through Mary Poppins Week, we are going to take a look at this song.

Chim Chim Cher-ee was written by the Sherman Brothers after seeing a painting of a chimney sweep by one of the screenwriters Don DaGradi. DeGradi explained to the Shermans that in ancient British folklore shaking the hand of a chimney sweep could bring good luck.

The character of Bert was already an amalgamation of several characters from the Mary Poppins books, so the Shermans decided to make Bert a chimney sweep as well and Chim Chim Cher-ee became his theme song.

This Eurobeat version is by the famous UK Eurobeat artist DOMINO and serves as one of the better tracks on the first album of EUROBEAT DISNEY.

Chim Chim Cher-ee Domino 2000

Mary Poppins Medley - Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Since this Wednesday is the forty-fourth anniversary of Mary Poppins, I thought it would be fun to declare this week Mary Poppins Week! All of this wee will feature songs from the classic movie!

To kick off the week, I'm sharing with you the Mary Poppins Medley that was recorded by the CINCINNATI POPS ORCHESTRA, conducted by ERICH KUNZEL, with the Indiana University's Singing Hoosiers providing the vocal work, from the Grammy nominated album, A DISNEY SPECTACULAR from 1989.

The medley is well put together and includes a good variety of the different songs featured in the film. Here is what you will hear in this medley:

Chim Chim Cher-ee
Jolly Holiday
A Spoonful of Sugar
Let's Go Fly a Kite
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Step in Time

Mary Poppins Medley Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra Year 1989

Chim Chim Cher-ee - Disney Singers

Here is a fun track to make your Monday morning a happy one! Chim Chim Cher-ee DISCO STYLE! This one is for you, Janet!

I'm sure that many of you remember the 1979 record MICKEY MOUSE DISCO. The album had a few new songs but also a bunch of disco covers of Disney classics. The album sort of missed the disco bandwagon but it still managed to peak at #35 on the Billboard Pop Album Charts!

The album has been released on vinyl, cassette and CD but have long since gone out of print. I was fortunate to find a copy of it on vinyl for 75 cents at a thrift store. Disney has, however, released the album as digital downloads on iTunes!

Chim Chim Cher-ee Disney Singers 1979

Chim Chim Cher-ee - Seldom Scene

Here's a nice short cover of Chim Chim Cher-ee that I thought I'd share with you today. It's done by a bluegrass group called SELDOM SCENE who have been making music since 1971 and, dispite constant member changes, are still performing today.

Seldom Scene is based out of Maryland and performs in the surrounding states. They started out as four guys who just got together with their guitars to jam and it was six years before they started playing shows. They found fame by being in the right place at the right time. Bluegrass was their style and it just so happened that bluegrass became all the rage in the early 70s with their progressive bluegrass style being particularly popular. They went on to have a successful 25 year career.

But in 1996, founder and lead singer for 25 years John Duffy suffered a heart attack and died. The group disbanded and it wasn't until 2000 that they would get back together to record and perform.

This cover of Chim Chim Cher-ee is the lead track off their 1973 release ACT III and features John Duffey on lead guitar backed by Mike Auldrige on Dobro and Tom Gray on bass. It's beautiful. I think it's my favourite cover of this song. Too bad it's so short.

Chim Chim Cher-ee Seldom Scene 1973

Chim Chim Cher-ee - Louis Armstrong

A very happy 82nd birthday goes out to Dick Van Dyke today! Disney fans will know Dick as Bert the Chimney Sweep in Mary Poppins!

Dick's first role in the movie biz came in 1963 when he starred in the film adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie. The film was a hit and a year later Dick found even more fame with the mega hit, Mary Poppins!

The Cockney accent that Dick uses for the character of Bert in the film is so ridiculous that many people say that it is the worst attempt at a British accent by an American actor! Well, I like it no matter how wrong it is because I didn't know what a Cockney accent was when I was little and now it just sounds like "Bert's Accent" to me. It gives him character and humour.

To celebrate his birthday, I have posted Bert's theme song from Mary Poppins, Chim Chim Cher-ee, sung by jazz legend LOUIS ARMSTRONG off of his Disney tribute album DISNEY SONGS THE SATCHMO WAY. I hope you enjoy it!

Chim Chim Cher-ee Louis Armstrong 1968

Orange Blossom Special - The Polyjesters

We continue Country Music Week today with a non-Disney cover from the Polyjesters. I'm not in the habbit of posting non-Disney songs but you'll see why I'm posting this one once you hear it.

Orange Blossom Special is a fiddle tune named after the Orange Blossom Special passenger train that ran in New York City in the early to mid 20th century. Now, before I get many comments about how this track is actually bluegrass, let me explain:

While traditional bluegrass music has roots in jazz, blues and folk, there was a movement in the 70s that introduced electronic instruments into the all acoustic genre creating what people call progressive bluegrass, or newgrass. This style has become popular amongst modern country artists and many have recorded bluegrass albums. Today's post is an example of traditional bluegrass while tomorrow's post will be more progressive.

But let's talk about this track for a bit. Orange Blossom Special was written in 1938 by Ervin Rouse and Robert Russell "Chubby" Wise and popularized by the grandfather of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. Johnny Cash has a version of it too on the album of the same name.

The POLYJESTERS have taken this song and have stuck in a few other songs just for fun. You'll hear Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Mary Poppins), Be Our Guest (Beauty and the Beast), I've Got No Strings (Pinocchio), and Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins) as well as the theme to James Bond.

Check out this other post for more info on the Polyjesters.

Orange Blossom Special The Polyjesters 2001

Chim Chim Cher-ee - John Coltrane Quartet

JOHN COLTRANE is on of the most well known jazz sax players. He began recording albums in 1955 and did what he love right up until his death in 1967. He was a pioneer in the free jazz and avant-garde sytle of improv, a category which Sun-Ra also fits.

Many say the album THE JOHN COLTRANE QUARTET PLAYS, released in 1965, is the beginning of the Quartet's evolution into this spaced out, trippy, weird style of playing. It is here that we find Coltrane's version of Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins. You will hear him playing a soprano saxophone, an instrument he popularized in the jazz world.

Rounding out the Quartet we have McCoy Tyner on the piano, Jimmy Garrison on the double bass, and Elvin Jones on the drums.

You'll notice that the track fades out at the end. This is because the track is actually twenty minutes long! The producer must have felt that the track would be too long for the record and shortened it. Recently, the twenty minute version has been released on a few albums. You can purchase it for a buck here.

Chim Chim Cher-ee John Coltrane Quartet 1965

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