Today's cover is by Orville Richard Burrell. Don't recognize that name? Maybe you know him by his stage name, SHAGGY.
Shaggy is a nickname given to him by his peers in high school due his name, Orville Richard, striking a close resemblance to the actual name of Scooby-Doo's companion, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. The name stuck and he kept it as his stage name once he started his career in 1993.
In 1998, Shaggy covered Under the Sea for UNDER THE SEA - 18 COOL REGGAE HITS, a pop/reggae compilation album that was co-produced by Disney and Polygram. His unique vocal style and reggae tendencies really bring the song to life.
After being discovered on the Australian tv show New Faces in 1990, PETER ANDRE has released a half dozen albums and has had seven top 5 singles, the most of any Australian male singer!
In 1998 he released a cover of Kiss the Girl which would end up being his last single as he took a break from recording and performing to look after his new children.
Peter has since gotten back into the business with the release of a new album with his model wife, Katie Price (the album is titled and features a cover of A Whole New World). They currently star in their own reality show and are working on their second album together.
Happy birthday to ASHELY TISDALE who is celebrating her 23rd birthday today. Tisdale, who started her career as the girl whose head turns into a giant orange in the Gushers commercials, is best known for her roles as Maddie Fitzpatrick on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Sharpay Evans High School Musical.
Ashley will reprise her role as Sharpay Evans in the upcoming High School Musical 3: Senior Year which is actually getting a theatrical release rather than premiering on the Disney Channel like the last two.
While Ashley hasn't really branched out of the Disney world since becoming famous, she has branched out into other areas of media. She has released her own pop/rock record and has provided the voices of a few Disney characters including Candace Flynn in Phineas and Ferb, Camille Leon in Kim Possible and the Lead Blueberry Scout in A Bug's Life.
Kiss the Girl is a small sample of her music. While most of her stuff falls in the ultra-cheesy pop catagory, this song is a fun, high-energy version of the Little Mermaid ballad. I actually kind of like it a lot.
The mid 90s saw a trend that was becoming popular for every artist. The dance remix. It seemed that every hit song needed to have its own techno version so that the clubs could play it. Remix albums became super popular and often found at the end of those albums was a megamix.
A little late on the bandwagon, Disney released DISNEY REMIX MANIA in 2005 which was an album of techno remixes of the already electronic-heavy versions of past DISNEYMANIA cover songs. And yes, you can find a megamix at the end of this album.
This megamix is remixed by DJ SKRIBBLE and features Under The Sea by Raven-Symone, I Won't Say [I'm In Love] by the Cheetah Girls and Cruella De Vil by Lalaine. All three tracks were originally heard on DISNEYMANIA 3 and have their own individual remix on DISNEY REMIX MANIA.
I'm not really a fan of these dance/techno remixes, but megamixes are fun. And I like medleys and hearing the way the songs are tied together. However, this megamix is not that great. It is pretty much three songs tied together with a beat. There is no mushing them together at all. I prefer a little bit more creativity.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the recording of Under the Sea by the swing band from North Carolina, SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS. Apparently, the Squirrels recorded the track for the release of The Little Mermaid on DVD in 1999. Disney was in the middle of purchasing Mammoth Records, the band's label, both all parties involved seem to have a different idea of what should happen with the song.
To make a long story short, the song got shelved and never saw the light of day until 2002 when it was released on the band's greatest hits album.
This track features MAKI NOMIYA, Pizzicato Five's lead singer. Nomiya, a recording artist since the early 80s with the New Wave band Portible Rock, joined Pizzicato Five in 1991 as lead singer and stayed with the group until they broke up. She has since continued on as a solo artist and is still active today.
Part of Your World Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five 2003
Way back when, Christine requested the SUBURBAN LEGENDS version of the Oscar winning Under the Sea. The song is often used as the band's show closer as it is a huge fan-favourite. Unfortunately, we may never see an album recording of this song due to licensing issues.
I don't know what show this live recording is taken from. If you search youtube you can find many different recordings from many different shows. If any of you out there knows what show this comes from, please leave a comment!
Since their formation in 1998, Suburban Legends has used many Disney songs in their live shows. Their fun ska/funk style turns this song into a great crowd pleaser. It makes me want to go to their show just so I can join the dancing crowd! I'll post more Disney covers by Suburban Legends in the future with a special track coming in May. Stay tuned!
Finishing up our Pirate Week is a mermaid lullaby sung by an Oregon based pirate rock band. CAPTAIN BOGG & SALTY formed in 1999, performing original songs with a pirate theme. They have three self-produced album on their own record label and are very popular in the Portland area. The consistantly play sold out shows everywhere from libraries, schools and zoos to bars, clubs and casinos! They are popular with children and adults all together.
On their third album, PRELUDE TO MUTANY, you will find a familiar track. A certain pirate version of Part of Your World from the Little Mermaid. Not only is this a great version of the song, the novelty of it being sung by a pirate is priceless! Although it my get old in the future, I'm not getting tired of it yet.
I hope to see one of their shows sooner or later but I don't think they ever come up to Canada. You hear that Captain Bogg? Set sail for the Port of Vancouver!
The Little Mermaid was one of the first movies I saw in the theatre and the first Disney movies I saw in the theatre. So imagine being eight years old and seeing Ursula, an octopus sea-witch, casting evil magic spells, turning merpeople into little plants and growing several stories high! She was frightening!
But looking at her character now, I can see even more evil in the form of sneaky deception. Her true goal is taking down King Triton for banishing her from the kingdom many years earlier but this is not revealed until the climax of the film. The whole movie makes you think that she is playing with Ariel's mind for no reason other than to have fun, but then -BAM!- she reveals that she has had a plan all along! That's my kind of villain!
Poor Unfortunate Souls is a song from which I never thought we'd hear a good rock cover. I thought it to be too 'showtuney'. Too much starting and stopping and playing with tempo. But the JONAS BROTHERS proved me wrong with the amazing cover! They cut a bit of the 'showtuney' parts out of the middle but the rest is there and it rocks!
A few of the lyrics are changed to remove any mention of magic. I'm not sure why.
ORIGINAL: They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch. COVER: They weren't kidding when they called me kinda strange.
ORIGINAL: And I fortunately know a little magic. COVER: And I fortunately know a little secret.
ORIGINAL: They come flocking to my cauldron, crying "Spells, Ursula, please!" COVER: They come flocking to me, crying "Will you help us, will you please?"
I can only assume that Disney wanted to make the song a little more kid friendly. Or maybe the Jonas Brothers don't believe in magic and only agreed to the song if they could change the lyrics. Who knows?
A cover of Poor Unfortunate Souls was one of the earliest request I got so I am happy to be able to finally fill it. Have a great weekend!
The first song I ever posted here at Covering the Mouse was a cover of Part of Your World by a Japanese pop band and several months and over a hundred songs have past and I haven't posted another! Well, it's time for that to change! Joshua wants to hear JESSICA SIMPSON'S version of Part of Your World, so here it is!
In 2002, Disney produced an album of their biggest songs reworked by the some of the biggest names in pop of the time. This was before Disney decided to use these albums as a vehicle to promote their own artists. You won't see the Jonas Brothers, Ashley Tisdale or Miley Cyrus on this first volume. Instead, DISNEYMANIA will treat you to Usher, NSYNC, Smash Mouth, Ashanti, S Club and Jessica Simpson! If you enjoy this genre then DISNEYMANIA is worth the money you pay (or don't pay).
This was also back in the day when Jessica Simpson was a respectable singer instead of a bad actor and a blonde who is constantly getting different sorts of plastic surgery. Simpson actually does a fine version of Part of Your World, mostly because I feel that Jessica really identifies with Ariel and means the lyrics she sings. She longs to explore new horizons apart from her over-protective father/manager. Unfortunately she obtained this 'freedom' and went on to star in Employee of the Month. Good job Jessica.
Hey, Ray here from Cover Me. Kurtis was nice enough to let me take the helm – an appropriate metaphor for today’s song – and I hope to return the gesture soon.
As a kid, The Little Mermaid was the Disney movie I hated. It had too much girl-whining and hair-combing for a seven-year old boy who is far more interested in a pirate’s sword or a dwarf’s axe than a redhead’s clam-shell bra. However, there was one song I’d rewind the tape for again and again, a song probably thrown in the movie just to give all us Y-chromosome children something to enjoy, Under the Sea. Ariel doesn’t sing a word and any ideas about boy-girl romance (ew, cooties!) are miles away. Practical issues such as breathing didn't enter my mind as, hearing how much fun the ocean's depths sounded, I planned my move there.
Turns out though the song doesn’t need Sebastian the crab’s faux-Jamaican accent or careening steel drums to be effective, as evidenced by Kevin Davis and Jason Lamb’s guitar and harmonica rendition. A songwriter from southern Illinois, Davis is a little-known, record-label-less gem of a performer, using simple instrumentation and straightforward singing to focus on the melodies. It’s a technique that lends itself to great covers like this one: just enough instrumentation to make it interesting, but not to distract from the great lyrics and vocal presentation. Add in Lamb’s harmonica wailing in the background on this one and you’ll see just why it’s hotter under the water.
It's the fifth Friday of the month and that means that I am going to fulfill a reader request. The first request I got was one from an anonymous reader asking for covers of Poor Unfortunate Souls and Les Poissons, obviously this person is a Little Mermaid fan.
Well, I don't really have any covers of either of these songs, except a version of Poor Unfortunate Souls by the Jonas Brothers. But I do have this one from the Disney's On the Record Broadway musical. It is a medley of Lady and the Tramp's Bella Notte and Les Poissons. Is this an unusual pairing for a medley? Yes. But it is part of the seventh session in the musical that features songs about animals (Bella Notte is a little bit of a stretch because it's not really about animals).
Take a listen anyway. It's cool how they mash these two songs together. And I don't really have anything to say about the history of this song or the performers or anything, except that today is the day that On the Record began performances in Chicago at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.
I am not a country fan really at all. But of all the versions of Kiss the Girl that I have heard, I would have to say that I like this one the best. The Little Mermaid song has been crafted into a modern country hit by LITTLE TEXAS in 1996 for the Disney tribute album, THE BEST OF COUNTRY SING THE BEST OF DISNEY. The song reached 52 on the US Country Music Charts.
A year after this single was released Little Texas broke up. Ten years later, four of the original members decided to get back together again to record and tour. They released an album in June 2007. How long will they be around this time? Who knows. I just hope they cover another Disney tune.
BIBBIDI-BOBBIDI-BACH is the second of two albums that take classic Disney songs and reinterpret them in the styles of various classical composers. On this album the Little Mermaid's love ballad Kiss the Girl was scored in the style of Finnish composer JEAN SIBELIUS. This piece is performed by the ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA.
When I first heard this piece I thought it sounded a lot like Wagner. But I when I looked at the liner notes I saw that it was in the style of Sibelius. Now I'm no expert on classical music so I searched Sibelius on Wikipedia and found out that Wagner is one of Sibelius' greatest inspirations!
This version of Kiss the Girl takes on a more dramatic approach. It turns this love song into a full out opera. It is unique and inventive. You have to listen very closely or you may not even recognize the song! The themes are there but they go through a few different variations.
Suemitsu Atsushi is a wonderful composer/pianist/vocalist who may be best known for composing and performing the main theme to the anime, Nodame Cantabile. In 2004 Suemitsu took part in part of the Japanese Disney project, MOSH PIT ON DISNEY under the moniker SUEMITSU & THE SUEMITH.
SUEMITSU & THE SUEMITH became a big hit due to the exposure from this album and in 2006 he released his first album, MAN HERE PLAYS MEAN PIANO.
The track he recorded for MOSH PIT ON DISNEY is Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid. His Billy-Joel-like piano playing and upbeat tempos have turned this from a song of longing into a song of determination. It is a great cover and one of the best on this album.
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.
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