It was 66 years ago on this day that Walt Disney released his fourth animated feature film to theatres! Dumbo is one of the most touching and enduring movies from the House of Mouse and it is still a favourite of children and adults today!
The film has a many songs but the obvious favourite is Baby Mine, the lullaby that Dumbo's mother sings to put him to sleep. As far as covers go most artists tend to stick pretty close to the original. Any why shouldn't they? It works so well as a love ballad and to drastically change it would be like eating garlic flavoured ice cream.
JIM BRICKMAN'S version combines his beautiful piano playing with the sweet voice of KASSIE DEPAIVA. DePaiva is a soap opera actress in my mind. I was surprised to hear her singing on this track but upon research I found that she perfomed at the Grand Ole Opery at the age of 18 and has a few albums out. Who knew?
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.
Over the years, many musical artists have paid tribute to the music of Disney. This blog pays tribute to those artists.
You won't find any original Disney songs here, these are all covers, interpretations and variations on the tunes we all love.
Covering the Mouse is not associated with Disney or any major record label. If you wish to have a song removed from my site, please email me and I will be happy to comply.