Yo Ho/Grim Grinning Ghosts Medley - Chris Calabrese

Coming up on Friday, September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! So everybody better batten down yer hatches for all the scalawags and landlubbers will be speaking like Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones and Captain Hook! Arr!

It would seem so fitting to post a cover of Yo-Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me so that is exactly what I'm gonna do! This is a medley of the themes to the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion attractions at the Disney theme parks in a delightful ragtime style by none other than Main Street performer CHRIS CALABRESE!

Yo Ho/Grim Grinning Ghosts Medley Chris Calabrese 1998

Country Bear Jamboree Medley - Chris Calabrese

Day two of Disneyland Week brings us to an area of town that wasn't around when the park first opened in 1955. In fact the Country Bear Jamboree didn't even make it to Disneyland until 1972, a year after appearing in Walt Disney World in Florida.

The original idea for the Jamboree was that it would be a nice attraction for skiers at the ski resort that Walt was planning to build in the mid 60s. But legal issues and then Walt's death never saw the resort come to life. But the Imagineers kept the Jamboree alive and placed it in Frontierland in Walt Disney World in 1971.

The reaction was abundantly positive so the Imagineers immediately brought it to Disneyland and placed it in the area of the park known as Indian Village. That section of the park was renamed to Bear Country as it was the only attraction on that side of town. Bear Country was later renamed Critter Country in 1988 when Splash Mountain was added.

This wonderful ragtime medley comes from CHRIS CALABRESE'S Disneyland tribute album RAGTIME AT THE MAGICAL KINGDOMS. Country Bear Jamboree Medley is composed of five songs from the attraction:

Pianjo

Bear Band Serenade

Heart, We Did All That We Could

Blood on the Saddle

Come Again

Sadly, Country Bear Jamboree is no longer at Disneyland as they have replaced it with a Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride. Many fans were upset when this happened but I always remind myself that Walt's plans for this park were to have the attractions constantly changing so that the experience would be new every single time you went. Besides, it's still at Walt Disney World for you to enjoy.

Country Bear Jamboree Medley Chris Calabrese 1998

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - Chris Calabrese

Have you ever been walking down Main Street in Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom and heard from a distance some New Orleans-style ragtime piano? Chances are you were hearing CHRIS CALABRESE, the resident ragtime pianist at the various Disney parks.

In 1998 he released an album of songs from Disneyland in his ragtime style, RAGTIME AT THE MAGICAL KINGDOMS. The results are really fun. You'll hear common tunes like Yo Ho, The Tiki Tiki Room and It's a Small World and you'll also hear tune that are not so common. Miracles From Molecules, You're a Lifetime Journey and One Little Spark are all tunes that the common Joe can't hum but Chris knows them so well that the ragtime versions on this disc perfectly represent the originals.

I'm posting Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, a short one-and-a-half minute piano rag because Song of the South hit the theatres on this day in 1946. The theme park connection is that this song is featured on the Splash Mountain ride. Most kids these days would probably know this song from Splash Mountain and have no idea that it is actually a tune from Song of the South. That is how tight a grip Disney has on that 'politically incorrect' film from the 40s.

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Chris Calabrese 1998