On this day in 1920, Daphne Milne, wife of the famous author Alan Alexander Milne (more famously known as A.A. Milne), gave birth to a son and the couple named him Christopher Robin Milne.
It was this child that inspired the world of Winnie-the-Pooh. A.A. Milne created characters based on his son's stuffed animals. That was in 1926.
Forty years later, Disney released Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, forever placing Winnie the Pooh in pop culture history.
The version that I have posted today is by YOKO SHIMOMURA, a Japanese composer and musician. She is best known for her work in the video game world having provided soundtracks for Street Fighter II, Super Mario RPG and the Kingdom Hearts series.
It is the KINGDOM HEARTS SOUNDTRACK where you can here many video game soundtrack versions of some of your favourite Disney songs and here is a small sample.
Winnie the Pooh - Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five
Now we go to the other end of musical styles and take a listen to a jazzy rendition of Winnie the Pooh. I know it sound completely different than yesterday's track but when listening to the album as a whole it's not really a shock to hear it.
This album sort of reminds me of the soundtrack to the anime Cowboy Bebop by Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts which switches from jazz to country to techno to rock in a heartbeat but for some reason all seems to fit together. That is what a well produced album sounds like and I believe READYMADE DIGS DISNEY to be just that.
Winnie the Pooh Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five 2003
Way back on April 14 in 1969, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was awarded an Oscar for Best Short Subject. The short, which originally aired in 1968 before The Horse in the Grey Flannel Suit, is an important one in history because it is the first appearance of Tigger in a Disney production. The story of the storm that floods the 100 Acre Wood and destroys Owl's house was later compiled with the other Pooh shorts to create the feature film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
I have chosen to post this classical version of the Winnie the Pooh theme by SHANGHAI QUARTET. The track comes off HEIGH-HO MOZART, an album in which Disney songs are interpreted in the styles of famous classical composers. Winnie the Pooh is arranged in the style of the famous Russian composer, SERGEI PROKOFIEV.
Sergei Prokofiev was a child prodigy. In 1896, he composed his first piece when he was five and he asked his mother to write it down because he couldn't do it himself. He continued to pursue his music and composed many symphonies, operas and even a film score for the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky.
Prokofiev's life got harder after WWII when the Soviet government decided that his music was a form of Russian Formalism and needed to be censored. This caused Prokofiev to withdraw from society in order to work on his music. It soon became common for theatres to refuse to play his compositions causing Prokofiev to withdraw even further. His health suffered and soon he was only working on his music for about an hour a day.
His last public presentation of his work was his Seventh Symphony in 1952 which he was asked to rewrite the ending to make it more cheery. He died a year later of a cerebral hemorrhage. Prokofiev's life and his work have become important in Russian history as he is considered to be one of the greatest composers in the 20th century.
Today is the 31st anniversary of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the feature film that took the three Winnie the Pooh short subjects, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, and tied them together in a seamless package.
Today I have chosen to celebrate this anniversary with a song heard at the end of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day from 1968. Hip Hip Pooh-Ray was sung to Pooh after he 'saved' Piglet from almost certain death and to Piglet after he gave up his home for Owl. It was written by the Sherman Brothers and is one of the lesser known Pooh songs.
In 2000, Eurobeat record label A-Beat-C released a series of Eurobeat Disney albums. The fourth in the series focus on Pooh and featured a few obscure Pooh songs, all by Eurobeat's top talent.
One of most recognized names in the Eurobeat is DOMINO who has recorded a number of Disney songs. Domino, whose real name is Allesandra Mirka Gatti, was part of the duo Dave and Domino with her husband until they divorced in 2004. Together, they were one of the top Eurobeat groups and have made a name for themselves since their split.
Thanks to Jamie for turning me onto this album! He doesn't think it's that great (I do agree that it is super cheesy and can get quite annoying a few songs) but the Eurobeat albums are far greater than any of the American produced Dance remix albums.
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.
This week at Covering the Mouse I'm focusing on Disney songs that have been remade by a pop artist to be featured the sequel. Today I present a version of Winnie the Pooh that CARLY SIMON wrote for the Winnie the Pooh sequel Piglet's Big Movie in 2003.
Carly wrote all of the songs Piglet's Big Movie and Pooh's Heffalump Movie which also featured her version of the theme song. Carley was the perfect person to write and perform the songs for these films. The acoustic-folky style that she has settled into these past few years works really well for the world of Winnie the Pooh.
I love the original Winnie the Pooh shorts from the 60s but I began to really despise what Disney was doing to the franchise in the 90s. Making Pooh and his friends cater to preschoolers along with the onslaught of merchandise caused me to turn my back on these characters.
However, I like this movie. It has fun, adventure, charm and it doesn't make me feel like I'm stupid because I don't know how to share. Best of all, they 'flashback' to scenes from the original shorts but change them so that it makes Piglet look like the hero.
Piglet's Big Movie was just a little gem in the sea of bad Pooh poop. This film contains the last appearance of Owl and one of the last major appearances of Christopher Robin. These days most of the characters have become minor secondary characters only making cameos here and there. Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Roo get the spotlight and new characters like Lumpy the Heffalump, Kessie the bluebird, and the six year old girl named Darby steal the spotlight.
I long for another good interpretation of the classic stories but I doubt that will happen. At least we'll always have The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh on DVD.
Hi everyone! Jamie here from Fong Songs guest-posting for a third time at the gracious invitation of Kurtis. Today I've got a Winnie the Pooh cover for you. Meanwhile Kurtis is moonlighting over at Cover Lay Down today with even more Pooh covers from a folk perspective. To complete the round of coverblog musical chairs, Cover Lay Down's Boyhowdy has taken over Fong Songs for the day.
While on my recent trip to China, I found this 1999 CD (not a bootleg!) called DUETS: A FAMILY CELEBRATION featuring Australian artists performing Disney covers with "their children, parents, or siblings". I am unfamiliar with the artists involved, but maybe you'll recognize them: Monica Trapaga, Joe Camilleri, Martin Plaza, Vika & Linda Bull, Red Symons, Debra Byrne, and Grace Knight. Guitarist TOMMY EMMANUEL, who carries the title of "Certified Guitar Player" as dubbed by Chet Atkins, sings a quaint version of the Winnie the Pooh theme with a couple surprises.
Simply dubbed Pooh Bear Medley, the liner notes describe the song as "Up, Up and Away / Winnie the Pooh". I figured Up, Up and Away was from one of those recent Pooh feature films that seem to crop up every couple years. The song kicked off and seemed oddly familiar, though I couldn't quite place it. Then as the chorus hit I realized with joyous wide-eyed wonder that he was in fact singing the theme song to the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. You know "Pooh Bear, Winnie the Pooh Bear, wherever you go, won't you take me please...". The show originally ran from 1988 to 1991, just long enough to bury itself in my subconscious at an early age. The theme was written by Thom Sharp and Steve Nelson, though oddly I can't find any mention of it being called "Up, Up and Away" anywhere other than this CD. Tommy also covers the original theme song and interspersed throughout is his daughter Amanda reading excerpts of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Enjoy!
Howdy, folks! It's boyhowdy again, host of the folk-music coverblog Cover Lay Down, back at Kurtis' generous request to lay another sweet acoustic track upon your Disney-fied ears. I'm still a bit gigged up on candy corn, so what better way to take the edge off than with a silly song about everyone's favorite silly old bear? Today's tasty treat is an Irish Jig about a British bear beloved by a global generation, in part, because Disney reimagined these cute stuffed innocents as American. Ladies and gentlemen: THE CHIEFTAINS take on Winnie The Pooh.
Irish Trad-folk band The Chieftains are known for their covers and collaborations -- in addition to recording pretty much every traditional Irish song under the County Clare sun over a run of almost forty years, these immortals have convinced not one but two albums worth of guest musicians, from bluegrass heroes Jerry Douglass and Tim O'Brien to folk goddess Patty Griffin and alt-country geek Lyle Lovett, to join them at the overflowing trough of traditional pipe and bodhran tunes. But The Chieftains can go beyond the traditional with aplomb, and as if to prove it, they bring this same fine musicianship and craft to their cover of the theme song to Winnie The Pooh.
One of the things I love about The Chieftains version of Winnie The Pooh (as opposed, say, to the sweet simple version Carly Simon recorded as a theme song to the last "good" Winnie The Pooh television show, back before Disney dumped Christopher Robin for Darby, that tomboy pretender to the throne) is how playful it is. I mean, it's a jig, but then there's something squeaking in the background, and is that a tuba chugging around at the base of all this? It is, indeed.
The jaunty rendition brings just the right tone of childlike wonder to the tune -- to me, the joyful noise that results calls up images of Pooh and his friends taking a Sunday constitutional through the 100 Acre Woods, a forest glen frolic interrupted only for a mock-stately interlude that slowly swings back into the pipe and whistle and drum, the whirl of the woods around.
In the end, The Chieftans cover of Winnie The Pooh is a perfect reimagining of a wonderful, elegant little tune. But don't take my word for it. Hit the play button below, and hear for yourself. And when you're done, pick up your own copy of TAKE MY HAND: SONGS FROM THE 100 ACRE WOOD. Where else can you hear Kathy Lee Gifford and the Roo-ettes doing The Kanga-Roo Hop?
Need a further Disney coversong fix? No worries, mate! Kurtis keeps the archives up for your listening pleasure, and I've got an Alison Krauss cover of Baby Mine up today as part of a larger post on folkcover kidsongs over at Cover Lay Down. Enjoy!
A big thank-you to Jerry Beck and Cartoon Brew for featuring Covering the Mouse on their blog! Jerry, this post is for you!
LOUIS PRIMA was one of the leading Swingers of the 30s and 40s and continued to make the music he loved up until his death in the 70s. You will recognize him as the voice of King Louie in the Jungle Book (the line 'I'm the King of the Swingers' from I Wan'na Be Like You was a reference to him).
Prima has done more work with Disney over the years, recording his swing versions of many Disney songs, including the theme to Winnie the Pooh. I found this old record called WINNIE THE POOH AND TIGGER sitting in a guys old stack of records. It was scratched beyond belief but it had this great version of Pooh's theme by Louis Prima that I knew I had to have. So here it is. Please excuse the all the pops. It was the best I could do to get it sounding good.
You'll notice, if you click the album cover below, that Tigger looks totally wrong. Tigger made his debut in Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day in 1968 and this record was released in 1968 and is a soundtrack to that short. I can only assume that the cover art was done well in advance so the artist never saw any character designs or concept art.
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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