A Spoonful of Sugar - Trinidad and Tobago Showboat Orchestra



All of the week we are listening to covers that use instruments that are not often found in popular music. This is Unconventional Instrument Week. Today's unconventional instrument is one that is actually pretty conventional in Trinidad and Tobago, in fact it is their national instrument! I'm talking about the steelpan.

The steelpan is also known as the steel drum, referring to the fact that the original steelpans were made out of steel oil drums used for shipping large quantities of oil. The instrument is actually called a steelPAN as it does not fall into the drum/percussion family of instruments.

Each steelpan can carry a different tone depending on its size. The larger and longer the barrel, the lower the tone. Different notes can be played on one steelpan depending on where on the playing surface the mallets strike.

Although they are not often heard in popular music, steelpans are used on occasion, the first instance being Carrie Anne by the Hollies in 1967. Steelbands have grown significantly in number since the formation of the first steelbands in the late 30s, and now there is even the World Steelband Music Festival that has been held in Trinidad every year since 1964, the largest steelband gathering in the world!

Take a listen to the excellent steelband style of the TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO SHOWBOAT ORCHESTRA as they play Mary Poppins' A Spoonful of Sugar, which can be found on BEAUTY AND THE BEAT: FAVORITE DISNEY TUNES IN STEELBAND STYLE.

Labels: beauty and the beat, mary poppins, spoonful of sugar, trinidad and tobago showboat orchestra

  ¶ 10:17 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Chim Chim Cher-ee - Famille Grendy



Hey, folks! Boyhowdy from all-folk, all-covers blog Cover Lay Down here; it's been a while, but it's very good to be back. And I'm especially pleased to be here today, as, conveniently, this amazing take on everyone's favorite faux-Cockney Disney cover had just fallen into my lap when Kurtis contacted me about the possibility of guest-posting.

In keeping with the international flavor of the ongoing Olympic Games, this cover is about as international as it gets: an American film classic about British characters covered by French vintage-slash-punk band FAMILLE GRENDY, who put down the electric guitars here to strip the tune down into a lovely gypsy-acoustic waltz, complete with tinkly xylophone, plucked guitar, and ukulele. In a tip o' the hat to a few other international sources, I found it on my favorite new Spanish coverblog, Torre De Canciones; another, much more raucous cover of the song, Chim Chim Cher-ee, was just recently posted here by a Canadian, Jamie of Fong Songs.

I'd say more about Famille Grendy, who come across like a ragtag traveling circus troupe from the early 1900s in their press pictures, but their entire website is in French. Apparently, according to both the occasional audible meow and the grainy, sepia-toned video which accompanies the song, the Mary Poppins cover was recorded for their cat, as part of their Acoustic Live in the Attic series. Their debut album ANY OLD HOW, released in October of 2008, is much more Punk than this, but that's not a bad thing, either.

Labels: chim chim cher-ee, famille grendy, folk, mary poppins

  ¶ 8:57 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Chim Chim Cher-ee - The Clumsy Lovers



Hey everyone! Jamie here again from Fong Songs with a very special Disney cover post for you today. You may not have realized it before but both Kurtis and I live in Vancouver (I'm a transplanted Albertan). Of course, our fair city is playing host to the 2010 Winter Olympics, which kicks off on Friday! With that in mind, I tasked myself with somehow finding a Disney cover song that's by a Canadian band and ties in with the Olympic festivities.

Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee
A sweep is as lucky as lucky can be
THE CLUMSY LOVERS are a folk group based in Coquitlam (a city that's part of the Greater Vancouver Region) who covered the classic Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins on their 2001 release STILL CLUMSY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. Of course, the song is about the good fortune of chimney sweepers, but for our sake let's pretend that extends to the sweepers of curling, Canada's other favourite ice sport besides hockey.

Curling has only been an official Olympic event since 1998 in Nagano where Canada's Women's team led by skip Sandra Schmirler took home the gold medal while our Men's team won the silver. At Salt Lake City, our Women's team won the bronze and the Men's won silver. Then in Turin, the Women's got another bronze while the Men finally swept their way to gold. With medals in each Olympic curling event to date, expectations are naturally high for our curling teams to do well on home ice. This year's men's team will be skipped by Kevin Martin leading an all-Albertan squad and Cheryl Bernard will skip a similarly all-Albertan team. Woo, Alberta pride!

Good luck will rub off when
I shake hands with you
Or blow them some kisses since that's lucky too! Good luck to our Canuck curlers and other athletes! Let's sweep up some golds on the podium. By the way, The Clumsy Lovers themselves will be playing a free all-ages Olympic show at Robson Square on February 25, 10-10:30pm.

Labels: chim chim cher-ee, clumsy lovers, folk, mary poppins, still clumsy after all these years

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  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Diana Ross & the Supremes
Here's another track from the unreleased album by DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is one of the best tracks on the album and one of the most fun too! Some of the words have been changed to be relevant to the gender. Here is an example:

Because I was afraid to speak when I was just a lass
Me father gave me nose a tweak and told me I was sassy.

Clocking in under two minutes, this track is a great cross between motown and showtunes and features a great horn section.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Diana Ross & the Supremes 1967

Labels: mary poppins, motown, showtunes, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, supremes, supremes sing disney classics

  ¶ 10:36 AM 3 Comments Links to this post

  Chim Chim Cher-ee - Mrs. Miller
To end your week of on a sour note, this month's Terrible Track is an oldie by none other than MRS. MILLER.

Mrs. Miller is notorious for her off-key renditions of rock, pop and showtune classics. She began her career in 1966 when Capital Records signed her based on her unique sense of style. Her debut album MRS. MILLER'S GREATEST HITS was a huge success. The album sold over 250,000 in three weeks and her Petula Clark cover of Downtown even made it to the Billboard charts! Everyone wanted to hear this new farce.

Or was it farce? By reading interviews with Mrs. Miller, it is evident that she might not have thought of herself as a bad singer. Was she in on the whole thing or was she totally oblivious to her joke of a career?

While she may have caught on to the joke by the time her second and third albums were out, she didn't clue into the fact that the label was getting her to record songs for her fourth album, MRS. MILLER DOES HER THING, that were all alluding to drugs. Songs like Mary Jane, Green Thumb, Renaissance of Smut, and Granny Bopper were all featured on the album as was a cover image of Mrs. Miller holding a plate of brownies!

This infuriated Mrs. Miller when she later discovered the meanings of the symbolism. But it was too late to stop the album as it was already in stores. She broke her contract with Capital and set out to form her own label where she could make her own 'serious' albums. She soon faded into obscurity.

Chim Chim Cher-ee Mrs. Miller 1966

Labels: chim chim cher-ee, mary poppins, mrs miller, mrs millers greatest hits, pop, terrible

  ¶ 5:52 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  I Love to Laugh - Louis Prima & Gia Maione
To finish off Mary Poppins Week (which also happens to be Obscure Disney Song Friday) I am posting a cover of one of the lesser remembered Mary Poppins, the song sung by the gravity-defying Uncle Albert, I Love to Laugh.

Uncle Albert was played by Ed Wynn, a comedic Broadway actor and radio personality in the 30s and 40s who went on to have on of the very first comedy variety shows on television.

Ed Wynn first worked for Disney in 1951 as the voice of the Mad Hatter. Other Disney credits include Mr. Hofstedder in That Darn Cat and Rufus in the Gnome-Mobile, but it is his role in Mary Poppins that most people remember.

Wynn died of throat cancer two years after the release of Mary Poppins.

This cover of I Love to Laugh is by the husband wife team of LOUIS PRIMA and GIA MAIONE of their album LET'S FLY WITH MARY POPPINS.

I Love to Laugh Louis Prima & Gia Maione 1965

Labels: gia maione, i love to laugh, jazz, let's fly with mary poppins, louis prima, mary poppins

  ¶ 10:35 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Jolly Holiday - Mary Poppins Musical Cast
In 2004, Mary Poppins: the Musical came to the Bristol Hippodrome Theatre in London and was a huge hit! And why not? It has all the fun songs, costumes and stories from the hit movie! Plus, it's just plain fun to go to the theatre!

The theatre rights were acquired by theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh from Mary Poppins author Pamela Travers in 1993 but it wasn't until 2001 that Mackintosh approached Disney about teaming up. I guess Mackintosh finally realized that the way to make money from a Mary Poppins theatre production is to include the songs and spectacle from the version that the general public is more familiar with. (Plus, I bet he got a budget increase.)

The musical uses the 1964 movie as its main source of inspiration but adds many things from the books that were left out of the film. One example is the inclusion of Neleus the statue from Mary Poppins Opens the Door whom Mary brings to life!

This scene is played out in the musical when Mary takes the children to the park (which we a know from the movie as the part when they jump into the sidewalk painting) and the song that is sung in the movie, Jolly Holiday, is reworked to include the story of Neleus. Then penguins, however, have been removed from the scene.

For you listening pleasure, I have included the Mary Poppins: the Musical version of Jolly Holiday just for you. It is from the original London cast recording from 2005 and features LAURA MICHELLE KELLY as Mary Poppins and GAVIN LEE as Bert.

Jolly Holiday Mary Poppins Musical Cast 2005

Labels: gavin lee, jolly holiday, laura michelle kelly, mary poppins, mary poppins musical, showtunes

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  Feed the Birds - Emile Pandolfi
Right smack in the middle of Mary Poppins Week is the 44th anniversary of the classic film which was shown on this day to an audience in Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

The movie was an instant success and would go on to be nominated for 13 Academy Awards, five of which they would take home for the win. Here's a list of Oscar nominations:

Best Actress, Julie Andrews (winner)

Best Film Editing (winner)

Original Music Score (winner)

Best Song, Chim Chim Cher-ee (winner)

Special Visual Effects (winner)

Best Art Direction (Color) (My Fair Lady won)

Best Cinematography (Color) (My Fair Lady won)

Best Costume Design (Color) (My Fair Lady won)

Best Director, Robert Stevenson (My Fair Lady won)

Music (Scoring of Music - adaptation or treatment) (My Fair Lady won)

Best Picture (My Fair Lady won)

Best Sound (My Fair Lady won)

Best Adapted Screenplay (Becket won)

The bag lady pictured above is one of Walt's favourite actresses, Jane Darwell, whom Walt had to plead with to make the cameo. She was reluctant to do the part due to her rapidly deteriorating health. But she did it, making Mary Poppins her last film appearance. She died three years later.

Today's Mary Poppins cover song is a piano instrumental version of Feed the Birds, Walt's favourite song in the movie, by pop pianist EMILE PANDOLFI.

I suggest that everyone watch Mary Poppins sometime this week to celebrate the anniversary!

Feed the Birds Emile Pandolfi 1993

Labels: emile pandolfi, feed the birds, mary poppins, once upon a romance, piano

  ¶ 3:07 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  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

Labels: chim chim cher-ee, domino, eurobeat, eurobeat disney 1, mary poppins

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  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 1989

Labels: a disney spectacular, chim chim cher-ee, cincinnati pops orchestra, erich kunzel, jolly holiday, let's go fly a kite, mary poppins, spoonful of sugar, step in time, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

  ¶ 2:54 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Louis Prima & Gia Maione
To start off your week, I have have chosen a track off LET'S FLY WITH MARY POPPINS, an album that LOUIS PRIMA recorded in 1965. The album was made up of songs from Mary Poppins arranged in Prima's unique style.

Mary Poppins was released in 1965 and was a huge success, and Prima, whose career was starting to wain, recorded this album to capitalize on the popularity. Unfortunately, the album was not considered on of his best.

Sharing the album credit is Prima's fifth wife, GIA MAIONE, who married Prima in 1964 and stayed with Prima and the band until 1975.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Louis Prima & Gia Maione 1965

Labels: gia maione, let's fly with mary poppins, louis prima, mary poppins, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

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  A Spoonful of Sugar - Harry Connick, Jr.
Today is the birthday of a very important person in Disney history. RICHARD M. SHERMAN celebrates turns 80 today!
To celebrate I am sharing a version of a song he wrote for Mary Poppins. This is HARRY CONNICK, JR. singing A Spoonful of Sugar.

Richard M. Sherman is one half of the ultimate songwriting duo known as the Sherman Brothers. Together, the brothers have written songs for over two dozen films, both Disney (Mary Poppins, Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh) as well as non-Disney (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Snoopy Come Home, Charlotte's Web), as well as countless other songs for musicals, theme parks and TV shows over the last forty years.

The Sherman Brothers have 9 Academy Award nominations, 2 Grammy Awards, 4 Grammy Award nominations and 23 gold and platinum albums. And even though Robert Sherman now lives in London and Richard is still in California, they still collaborate on many projects together.

A Spoonful of Sugar Harry Connick, Jr. 2001

Labels: harry connick jr, jazz, mary poppins, songs i heard, spoonful of sugar

  ¶ 3:54 PM 3 Comments Links to this post

  Sister Suffragette - Gia Maione
There are so many songs in Mary Poppins that it's easy to forget a few that are being overshadowed by Chim Chim Cher-ee, Stay Awake and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. So for Obscure Disney Song Friday I have chosen a classic Mary Poppins tune that often gets overlooked.

Sister Suffragette is about the Women's Social and Political Union that was formed in London in 1906 in order to give women the chance to be heard, particularly in the form of political votes. The group was formed to rally for suffrage, the right to vote, for women in the UK and all the members were called suffragettes.

Since Mary Poppins takes place around this time it is perfectly logical for Mrs. Banks to be active in this group and having her sing this song at the beginning of the film shows that she is more interested in being a suffragette than being a mother for her children.

This song was covered by GIA MAIONE, the fifth wife of the Jungle Book's Louis Prima. They married and, a year after the release of Mary Poppins recorded their first album together, LET'S FLY WITH MARY POPPINS, a collection of all the songs from the film in Prima's classic jazz style.

Sister Suffragette Gia Maione 1965

Labels: gia maione, jazz, let's fly with mary poppins, mary poppins, sister suffregette

  ¶ 2:41 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Supercalifraigilsitcexpialidocious - Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five
With beats that sound like they're straight outta the Powerpuff Girls, YASHUHARU KONISHI takes this classic Mary Poppins song and combines the electronic beats we heard on Monday and and jazz we heard yesterday and creates a wonderful cover song.

I can't stress enough how much I like the creativity that these guys bring to the table. The PIZZICATO FIVE was a group that Konishi formed in the late 80s. The group went through many different musical evolutions and eventually came to a style that sound quite similar to what you hear on this album. Pizzicato Five recorded over a dozen albums before breaking up in 2002. This album was released a year later by Konishi, probably as a way to get a couple more bucks out of the Pizzicato Five.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five 2003

Labels: electronic, mary poppins, pizzicato five, readymade digs disney, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, yasuharu konishi

  ¶ 7:29 AM 1 Comments Links to this post